Abu Ghraib: Why Decency Over There Matters Over Here

People often questioned, "Why does torturing our enemies matter?".  The average person on the street wonders why it matters at all.  It all goes back to how we treat people, and we aren't doing a heckuva job at it now:

(CBS/AP) Guards at a juvenile-detention boot camp kneed and struck a teenager who had apparently gone limp while being restrained the day before he died, a videotape released Friday showed.

The scenes from the tape outraged the parents of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. His mother said it proved the guards killed her son, despite a medical examiner's ruling that Anderson died from internal bleeding unrelated to the confrontation.

Its this kind of consequence that inevitably happens when a society drops its ability to empathize.  

This is why Seymour Hersh was so upset when he gave his talks on Abu Ghraib and let everybody know that he only saw darkness in this whole mess.  I agree.  This will lead further down a dark path.

Yes we have 'enemies' in Iraq.  We have all sorts of imaginary enemies everywhere.  Even 'enemies' at home.  I thought we were fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here.