Canadian Cynic

Looking for that American compassion

There's so much to write about the recently-revealed torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military and civilian "contractors," it's impossible to know where to start (but we'll be doing some of that in the near future anyway). However, a frightening beginning might be to take a quick look at some of the reactions of Americans back home, excerpts from this Boston Globe article.

The article, entitled "Town turns against conduct of the war," contains such delectable excerpts as:

'In the Corner Lunch, John Fox, who joined the Air Force back in 1958, looked at three fellow retirees and said, "They're doing today what they should have done two weeks ago -- take out that whole town, that whole 'Fallu' over there.'

and

' ... across the room, Sheril Brambach responded fiercely: "You ask me, we should blow that whole side of the map off.'

Lovely -- the kinds of attitudes guaranteed to win hearts and minds. And recent surveys worldwide show respect for the United States and Americans in general to be at pretty much an all-time low. Gee, isn't that a puzzler? Go figure.