“Dear Mr. Derbyshire—I recall we once celebrated a West Point classmates

birthday by tying him naked and spread eagle on a clothing rack, painting

him blue, edge-dressing his privates (edge dressing is glossy veneer used to

paint the side of your shoe soles pure black), then wheeling him around

campus to the cheers of his fellow cadets.

“Abu-Ghraib style we took photos. I think I have some copies in a shoebox

somewhere. What fun!

“Of course that probably helped create the permissive atmosphere that lead

to Abu Ghraib.”

I advise you to burn those photographs, Sir, before they fall into the hands

of the New York Times.