This Is Not a "Scandal"

Almost every news story I see, hear, or read about the Iraqi prison abuse situation labels it a "scandal." The use of that word, in this context, seems to me to diminish and downplay the significance of what went on there. To me a scandal is something that embarrasses and disgraces people in power, but doesn't really have an effect on other people's lives. A president having an affair with his intern, for instance. Merriam-Webster Online seems to back me up on this, defining a scandal as "a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it." For my money, accusations of torture and sexual abuse rise well beyond offending propriety. But maybe I'm wrong.