In his article in last week's New Yorker, Seymour Hersh made headlines with pointing out that the background for torture in Abu Ghraib didn't lie in inclinations of a few soldiers, but in decisions taken in the highest echelons of the US military. He also depicts the concepts about how to treat Arab people, how to dominate and humilate, which are en vogue among the neo-cons. A book valued for its insights is said to be "The Arab Mind," a study of Arab culture and psychology, first published in 1973, by the late cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai. "The bible of the neocons on Arab behavior", it helped them to understand that "Arabs only understand force and that the biggest weakness of Arabs is shame and humiliation". Jonathan Raban wrote an essay in last weeks Guardian, trying to explain why Abu Ghraib sparked less outrage in the Arab world than one might think: because "it is precisely what they expected from America". And last: read a shorter article in today's Independent about the latest pictures and - how orientalist mind frames continue to inform Western politics.

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