Makes us Proud

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As others condemned the reported abuse of Iraqi
prisoners, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe on Tuesday expressed outrage at the
worldwide outrage over the treatment by American soldiers of those he
called "terrorists" and "murderers."

"I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged
by the outrage than we are by the treatment," the Oklahoma Republican
said at a U.S. Senate hearing probing the scandal.

"These prisoners, you know they're not there for traffic violations,"
Inhofe said. "If they're in cellblock 1-A or 1-B, these prisoners,
they're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents. Many of them
probably have American blood on their hands and here we're so concerned
about the treatment of those individuals."

Coalition military intelligence officers estimated that about 70
percent to 90 percent of the thousands of prisoners detained in Iraq
had been "arrested by mistake," according to a report by Red Cross
given to the Bush administration last year and leaked this week.

The report also said the mistreatment of prisoners apparently
tolerated by U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq involved
widespread abuse that was "in some cases tantamount to torture."

This from Reuters. Let me just say that Oklahoma has had more than its fair share of bad press. The Dust Bowl effected much of Texas, Eastern Colorado and Kansas, but is most closely associated with Oklahoma. Oklahoma lives with a perpetual inferiority (undeserved, I think) complex for a variety of reasons with jokes about hicks, trailer parks and then tornados. But through it all, Oklahoma has tried to rise above that bad press. During the OK bombing, locals responded in a way that made the national media look stupid. Then Representative Coburn said that showing Schindlers List on television was bad because of the sex and nudity. That doesn't help. Now we have Inhofe--himself a national disgrace, but even he tops himself. Despite the knowledge that many most of the prisoners are not terrorists or murderers, he says that they are. He is appealing to the baser side of American politics--the side who really doesn't care if we execute innocent people here and certainly don't care if we kill or abuse prisoners over there. Because this side of America has no sympathy, no compassion for anyone other than themselves--despite their professed Christianity--and have no clue about how much damage this does to our image as a civilized and moral people.