I’ve been absolutely slackjawed this week watching the right twist itself in knots to defend the torture at Abu Ghraib. Here are some common rationalizations:
-It’s not as bad as the terrorists did to us.
-No one apologized to us when they killed 3,000 people.
-No one’s perfect.
-It wasn’t “abuse.” It was just having a good time, letting off some steam.
-This is war – what’ya expect?
-This wouldn’t have happened if women weren’t allowed in the armed services.
-This wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t so much left-wing indoctrination on college campuses.
-Frat boys do worse to each other all the time.
-If they were going to do it, why oh why did they have to take pictures of it?
-This is just a few bad apples. And who cares about a naked pyramid or two?
-Bush apologizing is like FDR apologizing to Hitler.
-“Get off his back.” -Dick Cheney, on Don Rumsfeld
-Hey, this is great! Maybe this will teach them not to mess with us again.
-They hate us anyway, so what’s the difference?
None of these are made up, or even exaggerated. They come directly from right-wing pundits, who can collectively bite my shiny metal ass.
UPDATE: La Shawn Barber, who provided the FDR/Hitler item above, tells me in the comments to this post on her site that she’s not tying herself in knots over the torture at all. She heartily endorses it.