BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi authorities freed 500 detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on Monday in a goodwill gesture to Sunnis ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.[...] After a brief ceremony outside the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, the 500 freed detainees left the area on public buses. They were the first of 1,000 to be freed before Ramadan begins next week, the U.S. military said.

This is eerily reminiscent of what Saddam did himself to “please the masses”. Either these guys should be in prison, or they should not. But freeing them as a “goodwill” gesture is wrong any way you look at it. The United States should not be keeping people in prison that are innocent enough to be released for a PR move.