Instead of asking deeper questions, many journalists will stay at the surface and keep the Abu Ghraib story bubbling because of its ugly reality, because it reduces both a key GOP strength (pride in our soldiers) and a key Democratic weakness (John Kerry's Vietnam-era maligning of our soldiers), and because hearings are easy to cover. But the rest of us, even as we ask authorities to punish those guilty of unnatural acts and natural cover-ups, should demand more.

 We should debate the contention of some international organizations that no prisoners should be subjected to sleep deprivation and solitary confinement. I'd suggest that if those practices can ferret out from terrorists information that could save lives, guards should receive a flashing yellow light. But we won't have that debate if reporters lump together tough information-gathering practices and forced participation in pornography.

 We also need to debate the larger questions: Is Iraq better or worse off than it was under Saddam Hussein? Because of the war, are residents of New York and Washington more or less likely to be victims of terrorist attacks? We should look straight-on at Abu Ghraib, photos and all, without seeing it as the tip of an iceberg that may not exist, or as an opportunity to create a political earthquake. We should also steel ourselves to look at the Nick Berg snuff video, and then not lose track of those who have now added his name to a long list of terrorism's victims.