Stunning revelations yesterday about American torture of Iraqi prisoners.

Brig Gen Kimmitt said: “These pictures may reflect the actions of individuals. But, by God, it doesn’t reflect my army. If we can’t hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity and respect, we can’t ask that other nations do that to our soldiers.”

It looks like the Army is responding appropriately, with court martials of those involved for dereliction of duty, cruelty, maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another person. But I wonder if they’re being court martialed for what they did or for getting caught. How widespread is this, in Iraq and elsewhere, and is it allowed or even encouraged except when caught in the glare of the media?

This fuels the fire of the “Ugly American” image. Sometimes the Ugly American line isn’t justified at all, but things like this validate the stereotype, as does mass media (TV and movies, mostly), which is the only thing many people in the world see about Americans that’s actually created in America. We’re understandably bothered about the depiction of America on Al-Jazeera and elsewhere, but the message we convey about ourselves is infinitely more troubling.