It is hardly surprising that John Moody, Senior Vice President of Fox News Editorial, would serve up what is perhaps the most ignorant, fact-denying, reality-defying, illogical piece of dreck yet attempting to minimize the Iraq prisoner abuse-torture story.
I am truly sorry -- I am sorry, sorry, sorry -- to do this to you, but take a stroll with me through what passes for Mr. Moody's mind:
Now that President Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and several top officers in our armed forces have apologized for the mistreatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib (search) prison, it seems only fair to ask — what is the apology for?
Don't misunderstand. There's a reason to regret what happened and make sure it doesn't occur again.
I just fear that we, as a country and society, are saying sorry with the wrong motivation. The pictures of naked prisoners tethered to leashes, contorted into human pyramids and pinioned to their cell doors are distasteful to us as we sit in our living rooms.
Actually, Mr. Moody, there are quite a lot of reasons to "regret what happened." More Iraqis, and Arabs and Muslims in general, hate us more than they ever have before. Al Qaeda's new recruiting brochure is filled with those photographs. New terrorists are bred by the hundreds, if not the thousands, with each new photograph that appears. In case you don't understand the import of that, Mr. Moody: it's not a good thing.
The pictures are "distasteful to us"? Like a dirty napkin at the dinner table? Like the cat throwing up a furball on your shoe? "Distasteful"? No, Mr. Moody, they are not "distasteful." They are a testament to the inhumanity of man to man; they are witness to the inability of far too many people to recognize the inherent dignity and value of all human beings, especially when U.S. officers themselves admit that at least 70% and perhaps as many as 90% of the people who have been detained are completely and utterly innocent. The photographs are nauseating, revolting, and sickening to any remotely sentient, decent, civilized person.
http://coldfury.com/reason/comments.php?id=P1873_0_1_0