100 MPs guarding 8000 prisoners, assuming three rotating shifts of 8 hours each, would mean that about 30 MPs are on shift at any given time, with another 30 for QRF (quick reaction force) and 30 who are asleep. They probably haven't had a day off in months.
Their prisoners are well fed, well rested, and can communicate in Arabic. They could discuss slitting your throat right in front of you, and you'd have no idea. Also, if they don't speak any English you don't know if they are resisting because they don't understand, or because they don't intend to cooperate.
This means that at any given time the active MPs are outnumbered and surrouded by thousands of potentially hostile and physically capable prisoners. I'm not an MP, but I can almost guarentee that they didn't have anywhere near the manpower or resources needed to adequately care for this many prisoners.
Also, the Army's rules on what is considered EPW abuse are extremely strict and often unreasonable given the circumstances. How do you convince someone that wasn't there and didn't know the situation that the actions that you took were necessary as part of self defense?
So there they are, in a war torn foriegn land, physically handling thousands of prisoners a day, arranging for food, showers, medical treatment, interrogations, and documenting. All day, every day, you're dealing with hordes of angry, resisting prisoners who physically resist you, spit on you, and who 'don't respect women' to put it nicely. (Note that two of the dendendents are women)
Now, it's easy for us to sit back and say 'Beating prisoners isn't the America way' or 'If they can't hack the stress, they shouldn't be MPs'. I'm telling you that these troops were set up for failure by being forced to work under such unsafe conditions with inadequate resources. It was just a matter of time before someone lost their cool and overreacted due to stress. There is no indication that these abuses reported were during interrogations or for pleasure.
If this is the worst abuses that the enemy has faced in our care, then we're saints compared to anyone else who's ever run an EPW camp. Most of the blame for this should be placed on the leaders that put the troops in this position in the first place.
And add to that the solders look as if they have excellent records.
Paul Feenstra, spokesman for Republican U.S. Rep. John Peterson of Venango County, said the congressman had not asked for an inquiry. However, he said the MPs have "impeccable records" while those they're accused of abusing were Baath Party officials and Syrian terrorists.