Victor, I think your explanation is rational, which may be its fault; you're
also missing a significant piece of the story reported in the media, which
is that U.S. intelligence officers were in charge of the prison and they
instructed (or just 'encouraged'?) the soldiers to "soften up" the prisoners
waiting for interrogation. In other words, those in power encouraged the use
of (that) power in the service of psychological and physical abuse. The
soldiers were reprieved from any moral responsibility; moreover, someone
evidently understood sexual mores for Arabic males -- and targeted their
genitalia. The eroticism associated with this sort of humiliation can't be
overlooked, even if it evokes extreme disgust from our (more rational)
perspective. The soldiers were having fun -- joissance. Isn't this something
different from the banality of evil? (just doing our job) and not merely an
exercise of revenge.
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