Before anyone else e-mails me, the video apparently showing the beheading of an American in Iraq has been picked up by a website with a history of peddling a septic tank of gore and brutality under the flimsy guise of First Amendment rights.

Indeed, a picture of my own accident once featured on the site's forum, much to my disgust. Such is the nature of the digital world, though, that if you publish material out there you've got to expect that someone, somewhere may choose to use it in ways you never intended.

The gruesome video will certainly spark a fundamental shift in the debate over the Abu Ghraib prison abuse pictures, taking some of the pressure off the White House and allowing administration officials to contrast the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners with the infinitely more brutal fate of Nick Berg.

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