I don't know what to believe about Abu Ghraib any more. Certainly the first round of stories coming out it was disturbing. Now Bush and his people are blocking the release of a second round of photos, said by those who have seen them to be much worse than the first. Bush is also fighting a bill to prohibit torture in our interrogation procedures, despite the fact that it has Republican co-sponsors (McCain and Graham).
Are the stories that our guards have sometimes allowed children to be raped true? Are they enemy atrocity propaganda? What is the evidence one way or another? I just need to know. I love America and I want to believe the best about us. If we're violating our own standards, I think we deserve to hear about it.
Every war produces atrocities. Yet, in the Second World War, German and Japanese prisoners were not beaten or tortured. Some Germans, late in the war when the number of Germans surrendering was overwhelming, did die in our captivity, but relatively few, and not by intent. We were decent to prisoners who had fought for Nazi Germany, for God's sake. Is it unreasonable to expect that the same standards be applied to those whom we have captured in Iraq?
And for those who argue that America is doing no worse than many other countries, I reply simply: we're not other countries. We must set the highest standards of conduct. If America is what we say it is, a shining city on a hill, then we are morally obligated to root out our own abuses, forthrightly and honestly. No other option will do.
(Thanks to jpol on Booman for the original story.)
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