Not liberating conduct

War degrades and de-sensitises. By how much depends on how the armies view each other and how strongly discipline is enforced.

Viewed in this perspective, the awful pictures of US and British soldiers torturing Iraqis suggest, first, that the occupying armies have scant regard for the prisoners (and for Iraqis in general?) and, second, that the senior commanders have not been able to enforce the kind of discipline that they would like to claim.

The result, regardless of the damage limitation actions that the two countries take, is bound to be hugely embarrassing for both. Their credibility was already low because the original justification for invading Iraq "" to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction "" turned out to be spurious.

The subsidiary justification (links with al Qaeda) has also not been established. That left the always weak argument that Iraq was being "liberated" from the tyranny and torture of Saddam Hussein, because Hussein was never the world's sole or worst dictator. So when it turns out that the liberators can be torturers too, moral authority evaporates.

The Arab world is reported to be seething with anger, and no one should be surprised. The rest of the world is shocked. The going, already heavy, is going to get even worse for the occupation forces because more will be persuaded to join the resistance in Iraq.

The monthly toll of dead bodies may therefore climb further; and now, thanks to these revelations, woe betide any coalition soldier who has the misfortune to be captured.

US officials and commentators say this was an aberration. Perhaps. Many, including Henry Kissinger, have said that the context should be kept in view. This may or may not be valid, but it is an argument that can be used to justify anything (the security forces accused of human rights abuses in Kashmir, for instance, will smirk).

A senior US army commander has said that these were reservists but adds that the regulars are equally to blame. There are unconfirmed reports of deaths in custody. One thing seems clear: Iraqi prisoners are not being treated as they should be.

This is not a new problem, because the conduct of security forces often reflects the coarsest attitudes in the street. Japanese POWs in World War II received different treatment from German ones.

After Pearl Harbour, the naturalised Japanese Americans were herded into concentration camps; the Germans were not. Madeline Albright has said that America must have higher standards. Yes it must. Because establishing coalition control over Iraq is as much a matter of military might as of moral authority.

One question that will be asked is how this will affect Mr Bush's election prospects. It is hard to say. Initial reports from the US suggest that it will not have much impact. For that reason, his opponent John Kerry may choose not to make too much of the issue. That makes for sad comment on the evolving nature of the "war on terror" and how it is changing America.