Today's NYT:

[Mr. Muhammad] described in harrowing detail a night spent at a military police building with 350 other captives, where he saw people being tortured with burns and electric shocks. Seven of his 10 brothers disappeared or were killed after the arrests, he said. He was only 15 years old at the time, he said, but he was tortured and kept in prison for almost four years.

Mr. Hussein interrupted Mr. Muhammad's narrative at least once, saying "these are not our ethics," after Mr. Muhammad described the torture he had witnessed.

A few weeks ago:

Bush did not confirm or deny the existence of CIA secret prisons that The Washington Post disclosed last week, and would not address demands by the International Committee of the Red Cross to have access to the suspects reportedly held at them.
...
The U.S. government is aggressively taking action to protect Americans from terrorism but "we do not torture," President Bush said on Monday, responding to criticism of reported secret CIA prisons and the handling of terrorism suspects.

UPDATE: another instance via Digby: you hear a stray reference to someone being taken to Abu Ghraib and abused. Is your first assumption that this is something we did, or something done by Hussein's regime?

I'm not trying to exculpate Hussein here in any way shape or form, just noting a disturbing parallel. I hope the people in Iraq are able somehow to come to terms with what he did to their country and their families and move on.

I have the same hopes here in the US w/President Bush.