The comment “It’s the fact that the entire war is an atrocity.” is from a member of the U.S. army quoted in the Independent (12/7/2007).
The point is made that in U.S. both Republicans and Democrats are portraying atrocities highlighted in Abu Ghraib prison as aberrations rather than part of a systemic problem: the entire war operation. It has been clear for a long time with the focus on numbers of war dead from U.S. and allies compared to the much larger number of Iraqis killed that this is a war between the nations. Nevertheless the pretence that the invading forces are there to protect life and rebuild the country is still an underlying assumption. Nor is the massive civilian presence representing multinational business interests included in the count. In U.S. as well as U.K. all parties end up playing the same game.

Meanwhile Bush holds firm that the surge must be given time to work. How many more casualties that will cause is not the consideration, what was started needs to be justified. While there is mounting opposition it is not expressing the full horror of the enormity that is the Iraq conquest, just an argument among friends.