I agree that the abuse does not put us on the same level as Saddam Hussein’s regime, but I don’t know how comforting that is–I would hope the bar for American conduct would be set a lot higher. I’ve seen the whole transcript now, and much of the time Limbaugh is disputing the idea that the abuse was “systemic” and making other sound points. He says, “[L]ook, this is a tough, tough line here, because I don’t want you to think that I think this ought to be standard operating procedure. But I don’t think that it is, and I think everybody is overreacting” (by jumping to the systemic conclusion). I see what he was trying to say. It was a tough line he was trying to walk. But when he ended up comparing the abuse to a fraternity initiations ritual, I’m afraid he fell on the wrong side of it.