Frenzy

May 10, 2004

The media and political frenzy over apparent prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq continued to spiral out of control over the weekend much to the detriment of our nation, the war on terrorism and the 135,000 men and women currently trying to do their job in Iraq.

Hypocrisy, always at high levels in this city, was at record levels by Sunday night. How else can one explain Senator Ted Kennedy jumping on Rumsfeld for not acting fast enough to deal with the prisoner abuse reports? Senator Kennedy is hardly in a position to lecture anyone on timely reporting in view of his actions at Chappaquiddick.

If everyone would take a deep breath this reality would emerge: The scandal is being aggressively investigated, the first court-martial will begin in nine days in full public view and everyone from President Bush down is committed to justice being served.

That should be enough for the critics, but it isn't. Why? Because there are a whole lot of opportunists, as well as outright enemies of the U.S., who want to exploit the problem and harm our nation or use it to serve their own narrow political purposes.

Let's look first at our enemies throughout the Muslim/Arab world. Governments and commentators throughout the Middle East, many of them associated with the worst kinds of thuggery, have suddenly discovered human rights. They are silent when American citizens are dismembered, decapitated, torched or blown up. They take to the streets to celebrate when Israelis are murdered on buses, in worship or at funerals. But now they are outraged that murderers and thugs have had a bad time of it in prison.

We should take whatever steps appropriate to correct prison abuses because such abuses violate our own values. But there is no reason we should permit these Middle Eastern propagandists working for Al Jazeera TV and other stations to claim the moral high ground. They are no where close to being able to sit in judgment of us.

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