Americans Who Are Sick of Hearing About Prison Abuse Are Short-Sighted

Written May 29, 2004

Americans who are fed up with hearing their fellow Americans criticizing the Iraqi prison abuse situation are short-sighted.

I have heard their many retorts:

"This is war and war is ugly!"

"What about how they behead and kill and drag American bodies through the streets and hang them up on poles!!!"

They are letting their emotions get ahold of their thinking. This is understandable, because there is nothing more gut-wrenching and emotional than watching one human pummel and degrade another, no matter what the setting. In fact, it is news footage of southern blacks being gushed by water hoses and kicked by bigot sheriffs -- not articles but images -- that awakened many indifferent people's sensibilities to the justness of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.

But those who dismiss criticism of American military personell and their leadership in this prisoner of war issue are missing the point: The Bush administration has not proven itself capable of managing this project they started. If you are ambivalent -- apathetic even! -- about the suffering of Iraqi prisoners, then you ought to be concerned about the planning and management skills of the Bush administration. If this is how "out of control" their staff gets -- then how can we hope that under the Bush administeration guidance we can shape the direction of those we invaded.