I am Victoria Firmo-Fontan, working for the moment at Sabanci University,
in Istanbul.

I am currently writing a book on this precise topic, focusing on the
polarization parameters existing between occupiers and occupied in Iraq,
and building on the idea that the occupiers also feel humiliated by the
occupied: soldiers do feel humiliated by the Iraqi resistance on a daily
basis, and that is the reason that some of them are turning against all
Iraqis. Episodes of looting of political offices in Fallujah by members of
the 82nd airborne illustrate this (you will find an account of this in a
Human Rights Watch report on the April 2003 shootings -alias the US Bloody
Sunday)

To put it bluntly, many soldiers I spoke to made it clear that they
thought that the Iraqis were ungrateful to them, targetting them after
they, the US especially but also the UK, undertook to 'liberate' them at
great risk to their own lives. Remember that these pictures were taken in
October and November, during the first pic of resistance in the area of
Abu Ghorayeb. This is a typical case of the -perceived- victim becoming
the victimizer, or at least that's one side of the story.

For the rest, I have no means to tell you if this is standard procedure or
not, but the use of civilian contractors in interrogations ought to be
questionned as well. The fact that less advantaged strata of US society
take part in and reiterate such practices may also result in the
institutionalisation of a bonding exercise. I will seek to interview
Lyndie England in due course, but would not be surprised to find that by
taking part in such acts, she also felt accepted as a woman by her male
team members and her low-ranking team members by 'hot shots' CIA or
civilian contractors. This would have been a way for them to also project
themselves socially into a perceived better cast of US society.

Best regards,

Victoria
Dr. Victoria Fontan
Conflict Analysis and Resolution Program
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Sabanci University
Tuzla,Orhanli
34956 Istanbul
Turkey