Iraqi Prisoners

In this article Bush responds to the allegations of abuse of the Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel.

While the abuse here was particularly atrocious it does not really surprise me. This is a product of a mentality that treats any people as "others." Abuses are bound to occur when people cannot relate on a human level with a race. Much of the hostility on both sides of the "war" could be avoided if we understood the other side better.

Bush stated that "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America." I'm sad to say that this is the very same abuse, probably not as atrocious, that goes on in our prisons here in the US, not to mention the Private Prisons. The same mentality that allows the abuse to occur in the first place the same mentality that allows it to continue. When you label as person as a criminal the general public no longer cares what happens to him, since he is "just getting what he deserves." No person should be treated as something less than human, that is not what are country stands for.

And if you are disturbed by the abuses that are going on in Iraqi, just imagine what is going on in Guantanamo. There haven't been any complaints yet but that is perhaps we are not allowed to speak to them let alone know who they are...