perfidy

Blackfive has an email from a Marine Colonel in Iraq:

A little more than one week ago the world awoke to the shocking and graphic images of the horrific treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of their U.S. captors at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Global condemnation was swift and the Arab street was whipped into a mad frenzy as anti-western television stations ran the photos nonstop 24 -7. No other message would penetrate for days. No manner of reconstruction successes or steps towards sovereignty would seal the rift that these terrible photos had opened in the hearts and minds of many in the Middle East. To many, it was hard proof of what they had already believed about the United States all along.

Within days, the President apologized to the world for the horrendous acts of a few misguided soldiers that cast a dark shadow on all of their 135,000 compatriots. The Department of Defense announced that it would put together a system of compensation to repay victims of the abuses and the United States Congress launched into full investigative mode. . . . These investigations have so far resulted in criminal or administrative actions against at least 12 individuals, including the relief of the prison chain of command and criminal referrals of several soldiers directly involved in abuse. General Courts-Martial will be convened as early as next week as charges have already been brought against a handful of the soldiers involved in the outrageous acts. Unfortunately, with the election season now upon us, there are those in Washington who see political gold in professing their righteous indignation. As the volume of their shrill voices continues to drown out reason, many have lost sight of the real story here. Donald Rumsfeld said it best last week when he testified before the United States Senate. "Judge us by our actions", said the Secretary of Defense. Watch how Americans, watch how a democracy deals with wrongdoing and scandal and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes and weaknesses. And then after they have seen America in action -- then ask those who preach resentment and hatred of America if our behavior doesn't prove the lies in the falsehood and slander they speak about our people and way of life. Above all, ask them if the willingness of Americans to acknowledge their own failures before humanity doesn't light the world as surely as the great ideas and beliefs that first made this nation a beacon of hope and liberty to all who strive to be free. And believe it or not, this is exactly what has happened. Iraqi media, almost unbelievably, have in recent days begun to editorialized astonishment at how the United States has responded. No covers ups. No denials. The President of the United States, the world's most powerful man, formally apologized to the people of Iraq. The U.S. Congress grilled a senior member of the Administration and all the while the U.S. media was allowed to report on the unfolding story with full freedom and access. "Why does Arab media fail at self criticism and why can't Arab human rights NGOs pressure Arab governments the way their counterparts do in America?", asked the host of satellite news channel al-Arabiy's (one of the harshest critics of the United States) "Spotlight" news program. The follow up commentary was even more astounding, given the source. "The Americans exposed their own scandal, queried the officials and got the American Government to accept responsibility for the actions of its soldiers," stated the host before asking her guests why this sort of open and responsive action isn't taken in the Arab world.

There's much more. Go read it all.