The only perspective that matters

I haven’t commented on the whole Iraqi prisoner abuse thing because I didn’t think it bore commenting on. The media feeding frenzy is yet another example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. The only possible comparison one can make between the American government and the former Iraqi regime is that the Americans who perpetrated the abuses are now in custody awaiting courts-martial, while under Saddam such behavior was enshrined as policy at the highest levels.

In any case, Omar provides some Arab views. A couple of examples:

Here we have the president of the greatest nation on earth apologizes for what a small group of pervert soldiers did. And here, the American press proves that it’s free to show the truth. We lived with similar pictures for years until they became the basics of every prison’s daily life and we never heard an Arabic paper point them out. These are lessons from the western culture entering the hearts of Arabs, whether the Arab leaders liked or not. — Sa’eed – Diwaniyah/Iraq

I’m very happy to see Iraqis condemning the abuse and defending the rights of the prisoners and this is the first time they do something like this, which was impossible for them to do under the dictator’s regime. I think that our Arab brothers should mind their own business and take a look at their own prisons. — N – Jordan.

I think that president Bush was honest in what he said. Those abuses do not represent the American people. As a matter of fact, we can find cruel men with no morals in any country; that’s why we should not judge a whole nation for the violations of a small group of people and I’m sure that these will get the punishment they deserve. Here I’d like to direct my question to the Arabic media “where were you when Saddam mass-executed my people and used all kinds of torture against us?” — Reemon A’adel Sami – Iraq

Read the whole thing (including, lest you think I whitewash, the negative comments).