Tales of Monstrous England. I'm just finding it delicious that the most prominent surname involved in the Abu Graib scandal is 'England'. 'England' is being dragged through the mud by the British press. It's almost as funny as noting last spring that England's cricket captain was called Nasser Hussein- now does that show tolerance or what? (or what?) On the other hand, a childhood friend of mine changed his surname from 'Gay' when he was about ten years old. Still, it's not the name that counts, it's what words are appended to it. My friend objected to 'GayLord'.

That's why I feel sorry for Lynndie England when I find that the BBC's Clive Myrie has described her as 'a monster' in a recent article. For holding a leash and pointing at penises, or have I missed something of Ms England's heinousness? I don't like it at all. Name-calling of the most hurtful and opportunistic sort from the most authoritative of sources can also be called bullying. Especially when looking at pictures of Ms England I am persuaded she's a lot more vulnerable to rape than any of her Iraqi inmates, even in their difficult circumstances.

Don't worry though- her name isn't being taken in vain, since Myrie frames this appendage 'monster' as part of a broader question: 'What was it about the war in Iraq that turned her into a monster? '

Indeed we can see who the bogeyman is now, can't we?

Putting aside the obvious attempt to smear the Iraq campaign with some kind of mysteriously cursed quality, like the mist that seems to surround those cinematic-blockbuster shots of the Vietnam jungle, what about this term 'monster' being used in its rightful place by the BBC- to describe Saddam Hussein? I ran the searches and this is the best I could come up with, from Roger Hardy:

'Ask Kuwaitis, and they will tell you Saddam Hussein was a monster who is now safely behind bars. '

So we have one second-hand condemnation of the tyrant using this term 'monster', yet Lynndie England gets it full in the face as soon as an august BBC commentator becomes aware of her existence. Nice work, fellows.