Two U.S. soldiers, missing for three days since their abduction in an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, were found dead, a military spokesman said Tuesday, and a top U.S. commander ordered an investigation into why the men were isolated from a larger force in such a dangerous part of Iraq.
Although details remain sketchy, it seems that privates Kristian Menchaca and Thomas L. Tucker were captured by insurgents, brutally tortured, and beheaded.
Perhaps these two men never should have been there in the first place, just as all U.S. troops never should have been there in the first place, but there is absolutely no moral equivalency here, whatever the inclination of some of the war's anti-American critics to suggest otherwise. Yes, Gitmo and Abu Ghraib were (and, in the case of the former, still is) bad -- and I've made that case repeatedly here at The Reaction, arguing that the U.S. should be held to, and should aspire to, higher standards -- but we do not do this to our enemies.
This is not a justification for the war, just some necessary perspective (of which there is often far too little).
No comments:
Post a Comment