For some time Abu Ghraid prison has been a wild hair up the you-know-what of obsessive US haters who fantasize about a US plot to rule the world and who see Abu Ghraid as proof. A story from the New York Times (not a Bush supporter) sheds a clear light on what has been a overblown expose. "To some, the grave misdeeds at Abu Ghraid, where three soldiers worked for six months in 2003, have become a symbol of the American military occupation of Iraq. But the scandal is also one rooted in th behavior of military reservists working at the prison, an environment that testimony has portrayed as more frat house than military prison, a place where inmates were routinely left naked and soldiers took pictures of one another simulating sex with fruit." "The reservists' treatment of Iraqi prisoners and their entanglements with one another-- pieced together through court documents, e-mail and interviews-- have produced a dark soap opera , one whose episodes have continued to play out in the months since the scandal erupted, and culminated in the Texas courtroom last week." "As with any soap opera, past episodes help explain the most recent." ""Private England, who is now awaiting charges to be filed against her again,and Private Graner began dating while they were training with their Army Reserve Unit based in Crespatown, Md. A hell-rasing young woman from W. Virginia, Private England, now 22, was married at a whim. She joined the Reserves to make money for college. Private Garner, 36, a Pennsylvannia prison guard and former Marine was fresh from an ugly divorce in 2000. His ex-wie had taken out three restraining orders against him...." "Just after their unit received orders to go to Iraq, in February 2003, Private Garner, Private England and a third reservist held a last party weekend. They drank heavily. When their friend passed out, Graner and England took turns taking photos of each other exposing themselves over his head." "In Iraq, Private England was disciplined several times for sleeping with Private Graner. She flouted warnings to stay on the wing where she worked as a clerk, and spent most of her nights in the cellblock where Graner worked the night shift." "One night in October, He told her to pose for photographs holding a leash tied around a naked and crawling detainee. He e'mailed home to his ex-wife saying "Look what I made Lyndie do". The infamous pictures of detainees masterbating were also sent home as a birthday present."The story goes on the talk about another female reservist, Private Ambuhl a medical technician, who dropped her affair with one soldier and started an affair with Graner, in December. In January, Graner was again caught sleeping with England and demoted. That same month, a soldier slipped investigators a disk with the graphic photos. Were the soldiers at Abu Ghraid members of an elite death squad, the CIA, the neo-con world conspiracy? Of course not. They were horny, bored reservists with perverse ideas of what was funny. Does the US encourage and condone this conduct? No. The army was already investigating the conduct of these three soldiers before it became public. Does the conduct of these three represent the US. Of course not. Anyone who still thinks it does has "Imperialismus Americanus Phobius."