[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Because Americans, like everyone else in history, have always committed atrocities in war.
American atrocities are typically much milder than our enemies.
We often prosecute those that commit atrocities.
The focus on the low grade atrocities in this war has been politically motivated bullshit.
We have to continually point out that in spite of our problems we are still far more humane than our enemies because many in the media and many of the leftist posters on this board tend to ignore this.[/quote]
The difference is, this time, the atrocities are coming from the top down. American soldiers murdered prisoners in previous wars, that happens to all armies, like you said.
But this is different, it’s not just isolated incidents, it’s a decision to make torture an accepted part of U.S. policy. Bush didn’t kill detainees at Abu Ghraib, but the abrogation of the Geneva Convention, and the decision to blur the line on torture, led directly to probably the majority of atrocities we’ve seen.
And no one disputes that Islamists treat Americans they’ve captured worse than we treat our prisoners. That’s obvious. The most deluded Michael Moore disciple wouldn’t argue otherwise. That is not the point.