Lessons learned and lessons taught

America learned once again, thanks to Abu Ghuraib, that our freedoms are a two-edged sword, especially when trying to instill our overreaching principles on another people.

For all the breast-beating and second-guessing that we're hearing, I'm still proud of the USA, precisely because of what happened at Abu Ghuraib.

The humiliations inflicted on the prisoners were wrong, but that is a small (albeit important) part of the story. A soldier knew that it was wrong, and reported it to his chain of command. The military immediately began an investigation. The people identified in the investigations are being brought up on charges. The media was informed of the investigation at the very beginning, by the military itself.

America proved to the world that not only do we talk the talk, but we walk the walk. We've given the whole world a lesson in American-style freedom, and it is being noticed and talked about.

From BlackFive:

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 lots more, all worth reading.

Posted by Ted at May 17, 2004 11:48 AM | TrackBack