The prison abuse story is America's moral crossroads.....

[kentuck]

America strides the world with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Into one ear, America hears that this is war. This is what happens in war. The Geneva Convention was just a nuisance. We didn't need it after we were attacked on 9/11. We were dealing with people that only understood force. Anyway, our abuse and torture was nowhere near as bad as Saddam and other tyrants might perpetrate on their people. People that question our actions are hurting our war effort and putting our troops in harms way.

In the other ear, America hears that this is wrong. We must abide by the rules of the Geneva Convention. We are better than those third world tyrants that torture their citizens. We should all be embarrassed by what happened in that prison. We should bring to justice those that have betrayed what America stands for. We must speak out against these types of abuses and torture, otherwise we become just like those third world tyrants that we despise.

So we stand at the crossroads. The devil is shouting loudly that we did nothing wrong. It is war. It was nothing worse than fraternity hazing at a college. The angel whispers softly that it is wrong to treat anyone in that manner. There is such a thing as human rights. Which direction will America take? The wrong way and she may be lost forever.

[shraby]

1. A tremendous share of the

American people are horrified with the turn of events and will hear the angel whispers and notify their congressmen that actions need to be taken against the ones who perpetrated this crime. Some elements in the government..those with the power to do what is right will listen to the devil shouting and do their best to cover the crime up at the higher levels of complicity. I guess we'll just have to keep yelling until we drown out the devil and we get heard.
If not, there is an election coming in November and again in two years and our duty is to purge the perpetrators from office..it's just too bad we also can't give them a felony charge to go along with their "retirement".

[Eye and Monkey]

2. Perhaps the most recent crossroads. The US has made wrong turns -

Many, many times.

[kentuck]

3. That is true but have any been as obvious at the time....

as now?

[Eye and Monkey]

4. Perhaps the delay of the "slavery question" during the first years -

of the founding of the US?

[kentuck]

5. In hindsight, it looks very clear to us now....

But we cannot know what most people thought at that time. Will we look back someday from now and ask "How could we have permitted such abuse to go on in our own prison systems?" You make a good point and it is incomprehensible that our nation would survive so many years with that yoke on our consciences....

[Eye and Monkey]

6. "we cannot know what most people thought at that time" - please -

It's not very difficult to locate opinions from that particular period, concerning precisely that topic.

[kentuck]

7. Some, but not necessarily, "most".....

But our nation has suckled life from the backs of labor, and slaves were the labor that had built our country up to that point. But you are correct, many people did speak against the immorality and inhumaneness of it, and I would guess that it was one of those crossroads which we had to pay the price with many rivers of blood...