Check this one out. While in these here parts there has been much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth regarding the abuses at Abu Ghraib, our local Socialist-Communist-Catalanist-Green coalition had a prison uprising at Quatre Camins to deal with back on April 30. Naturally, the uprising was put down violently. So far, so good. I have no problem with the crushing of prison uprisings.

Here's the fun part, though. 26 of the prisoners involved in the uprising were "mistreated" by jailers after the uprising had been put down. These jailers are responsible to the Generalitat, the Catalan government, not to the central government.

Let's follow the story as it develops and compare it with the American reaction to Abu Ghraib. The American government admitted wrongdoing. There was a serious internal investigation in which names were named. Those accused of the actual abuses are being tried by military courts and will be punished severely if convicted. Several top military officers (Karpinski, Sanchez, Abizaid) have had their careers ruined.

Now, of course, the enlightened Socialist-Communist-Catalanist-Green government we have here in Catalonia had a lovely time damning the Americans after the Abu Ghraib news broke. Wonder how they'll react now that their people are the torturers?