A vile discovery and a grave allegation apparently backed up by hideous photographic evidence have made the United States look hypocritical in its promotion of democracy and human rights in the Middle East. The discovery, by America's own troops, was of 173 starving prisoners, some tortured, in a building run by America's allies in Iraq's interior ministry. The grave allegation concerned the use, by American soldiers when they recaptured the rebel town of Fallujah last year, of white phosphorus. Did the Americans flout the rules governing the use of chemical weapons, one reason for ousting Saddam Hussein?
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