the people who are all "outraged at the outrage" (free subscription req'd) piss me off. they're angry that so many americans, especially democrats, apparently, are so outraged at the torture of prisoners in the abu ghraib prison in iraq. they claim that the prisoners there are murderers and terrorists, and we should not, therefore, be too bothered when they get abused a bit. they say that the prison abuse tactics pale in comparison to the acts committed by the prisoners against fellow iraqis and against americans. they say that we should not worry about a few isolated incidents of abuse, especially when those soldiers responsible are being punished as we speak (write).

they are missing the point.

actually they are missing a couple of points. the first is that, regardless of whether the actions of the soldiers in the prisons is or is not legal or sanctioned or in accordance with the geneva conventions, the torture committed by american soldiers says to the arab world, loud and clear, that we are not to be trusted and are not there to make iraq a better place. we are instead there to beat the arab world down and steal their oil. we are no better than saddam. as if arabs needed another reason to hate us. the second point is that the prison abuse is very clearly prohibited article 3, provisions 1a and c of the third geneva convention, which, as a supposedly civilized country, we should be observing.