LET’S STIPULATE that the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad were as serious as the pictures suggest. But America now has images of a different kind to absorb.

In a video posted on the website of Muntada Al-Ansar, a militant group with links to al Qaeda, you see a young man sitting on the floor. He is wearing what appears to be an orange jumpsuit, something a prisoner might wear. Behind him stand five men clad in black who are wearing head scarves and black ski masks.