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Unlike Walter Shapiro, I am not "ashamed to live in a country that somehow came to accept that torture and prisoner abuse were simply business as usual." I am most definitely ashamed of everyone who participated in the insanity of Abu-Ghraib, yes, but I do not paint all the rest of our military or our citizens or even our politicians with that same brush.
If Salon or Walter Shapiro has evidence that "the country" came to accept these abuses as "business as usual", then bring that material forward. It simply does not exist. To argue that Republicans in congress didn't investigate as fully as Shapiro felt necessary may have merit but it does not bolster that stubborn conclusion of his. For the record, the "country" was shocked and outraged at these photos and the vast, vast majority of our citizens believed that such practices had no place, even in a military prison.
I am a life-long liberal Democrat who worked many years as a journalist but when I see Walter Shapiro reaching so hard to make such a wrong-headed conclusion, I can see why many Americans are exasperated by both Democrats and journalists. Bad news should not be used as a "gotcha" for anybody's political beliefs. When people who represent my country behave badly, I understand the need for their punishment and it brings me sorrow. But I am not ashamed to live in my country. I am ashamed of them.
This is a serious issue. I defend Salon's right to publish still more of these pictures (if you feel you have to) but I am very angry that you are doing this, not out of love of country, but out of hate. Please, get a clue.
