Unabridged inanity

We realize that criminal lawyers are charged with defending their clients zealously. And that, at times, enthusiastic advocacy can, shall we say, stretch the bounds of reasoned argument.

But this - this is beyond the pale.

The lawyer for accused Abu Ghraib prison abuse ringleader Specialist Charles Graner Jr., responding to a photo of his client near a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners, said this:

"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year? Is that torture?"

No, but listening to such babble is.

It's bad enough that the attorney makes no sense: Cheerleaders are not prisoners under the complete custody and care of U.S. forces, and are neither forced to perform their feats, nor induced to execute them naked. Why, the comparison is so ludicrous that it feels superfluous to explain the difference.

Making matters much worse, however, is the fact that the case has an international stage: Graner's attorney's drivel - which seeks to trivialize the indignities suffered in Abu Ghraib - is being watched around the world, making Americans look even worse than before.

We realize the bar cannot discipline one of its own for mere banality, even that which harms our national interests.

But such unabridged inanity brings glory to neither the legal profession nor, in this case, to the United States of America.