Stanley Kubrick's film Full
Metal Jacket must rank as one
of the grimmest portrayals of
the Vietnam war. A leading
character, dubbed "Joker", is
asked why he volunteered; he
replies: "[I] wanted to meet
interesting, stimulating people
from an ancient land ... and kill
them." Confronted with the
harrowing photographic
evidence of abuse by British
soldiers in Iraq, it is tempting
to add the phrase "humiliate,
sexually abuse, and torture" to
this admission. We seem to
have moved a long way from
the promise of restoring
democracy to the Iraqi people.