Even to those who are aware of how bad things are in Iraq, this report totally shocks and disgusts:

One international official told me of reports among his staff that a 15-year-old girl had been beheaded and a dog’s head sewn on her body in its place; and of a young child who had had his hands drilled and bolted together before being killed.

The author of this dispatch, TNR’s Lawrence Kaplan, seems to be arguing that Iraqis are simply barbarians so we should just carpet bomb the whole country.

Or something like that.

Of course, doing so would take away the ONLY remaining rationale for the war in the first place.  Remember, there were no WMDs and Saddam didn’t pose a threat to us.  The only remaining rationale is that we were doing a wonderful service to the Iraqi people.  If we just go in there and shoot up the place indiscriminately, we’re left with no moral high ground.

UPDATE:  The same kind of stomach-churning stuff in Afghanistan, too:

Taliban use beheadings and beatings to keep Afghanistan’s schools closed

The letter pinned overnight to the wall of the mosque in Kandahar was succinct. "Girls going to school need to be careful for their safety. If we put acid on their faces or they are murdered then the blame will be on their parents."