US abuse of prisoners - Buck must not stop at raw recruit

IT is hard to avoid the perception that US army reservist Lynndie England is being used as a scapegoat in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal.

Her lawyers claim the 21-year-old soldier was following orders when she was photographed mocking naked detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

While that in no way excuses her conduct, it could explain why the raw young recruit acted as she did.