Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Do the Right Thing: Amid all the uproar over the prisoner-abuse scandal, let's remember to put it in perspective. It's nothing compared to what Saddam Hussein's regime has done. It doesn't come close to what terrorists are doing to hostages from America and other countries.

I know the Arab street is outraged by the images of the Iraqi prisoners. But I don't remember hearing their outrage when burnt American bodies were pulled through the streets and hung from bridges among cheering Iraqis. I don't see them condemning the terrorists who blow up busloads of innocent victims, including children, in Israel and other parts of the world. I don't see the shock in their faces when terrorists recruit kids to carry out suicide bombings.

The United States is condemned for taking pictures of naked people, while the United Nations elects the Sudanese to a spot on the Human Rights Commission, despite presence of slavery and genocide in their country. Then the Sudan has the balls to criticize us.

The U.S. soldiers who committed those terrible acts will be punished. That just shows how the United States, the lone superpower, holds itself to a much higher standard than most of the world.