  I'm about to make a statement that may shock and outrage some people. It could be interpreted as bigoted, hateful, and uncaring. It might even be considered (shudder) politically incorrect. I DON'T CARE ABOUT ABU GHRAIB! Ahh, that feels better. Here's the truth: The liberals in America got wind of the "torture" (read: embarrassment) of some prisoners in Iraq and decided that Rumsfeld should resign. After all, he was the one who was torturing those poor men, right? Good grief! We embarrassed some enemies while they were our POWs, and it's being treated like we beheaded every last one of them. Why? The Dems say it's because "we aren't winning their hearts and minds with this kind of behavior. " For Pete's sake, there is *no way* to win their hearts and minds. They have been taught from childhood that America is the "Great Satan" because it supports Israel, and that America must be defeated. Each time we try to be nice to them, each time we go out of our way to make sure they understand our goodwill, they only repay us with terrorism.
They won't understand kindness, because they view that as weakness. I feel that the liberals in America tend to hold a double standard in war. They want to put our soldiers on trial for embarrassing a few prisoners, while they are saying nothing about the Iraqi guards who repeatedly raped and beat their prisoners. The liberals call it bigotry when someone refers to the Muslim world as "backward" and "uncivilized," claiming that we should treat them like a highly civilized people capable of democracy even though the Muslims have never experienced democracy and haven't the slightest clue of how it works. Amid their exaltations of the obviously morally superior radical Muslims (they never invaded another country unilaterally, right? ), they call on the U.S. to treat the prisoners like dignitaries, complete with banquets and caviar. That's stupid. First they argue that the Muslims are just as advanced in their knowledge as we are, and then they tell us that the Muslims should be allowed using barbaric means such as terrorism (i.e., in Israel) because they are backward and that is the only means available to them. Then they argue that we should treat the barbarian radicals even more kindly than we treat prisoners from our own country.
I know that seems like horrible logic, and that's because it is. Lest you think that I'm living in a dream world and that even the liberals wouldn't use such faulty arguments, I must tell you that I have been in arguments where those arguments were all used. Liberals generally have somewhat differing opinions, just as conservatives do, and therefore the arguments I have mentioned don't apply to all liberals, but I have seen that they do use such erroneous reasoning.
Allow me to say that I am not actually bigoted. Not all Muslims are "barbarians. " However, the Wahabi and Shiite sects are both radical and militant, and they, along with other militant sects, make up a large part of the Muslim population. Militant and radical Muslims are barbarians; I stand by that and I won't recant. Remember the people who danced in the streets in Palestine on 9/11?
They were barbarians. Remember the guerillas who try to blow up our soldiers? They are barbarians. If we capture them, we should not interrogate them over crumpets and tea. We should intimidate them and scare the crap out of them until they talk. Pump some Truth Serum into them, for goodness' sake. If our enemies won't abide by the rules of war, we shouldn't feel obligated to abide by them either when dealing with such animals. I won't condone the sexual perversion of the Abu Ghraib incident. It was sinful. However, the outrage over the whole thing is completely overblown. Nick Berg was beheaded, not embarrassed, and none of his captors were worried about winning the hearts and minds of Americans.
I have seen much more coverage of Abu Ghraib than of Nick Berg, and personally, I would rather the media not try to mislead me into thinking that we are the bad guys by covering our mistakes more than our enemy's intentional and planned atrocities. We are fighting a new kind of enemy in this war; the kind that has no conscience and will do anything for the sake of Allah (and perhaps the 70 virgins he thinks he will get upon death). These animals (people, whatever) cannot be won to our side because they have already made up their minds for Allah.
The Radical Muslims will only understand a show of force, just like disobedient little kids. Children will not stop disobedient activity if they are offered candy. They will only intensify their disobedience because they see the result of their actions is something good. Humans tend to associate actions with their consequences. If an action brings about something good, we consider the action good. This goes back to the "sowing and reaping" principle; we know that we reap things of the same character of that which we sowed.
The radicals see themselves blowing up and beheading Americans, and then they see their prisoners being released. Since they want more prisoners released, can you guess what they are going to do? As the saying goes, "Don't feed the animals. " We must wake up and take a good whiff of reality. Our enemies must be defeated, and the only way to achieve that is through force. It's pretty sad when a country like America's bark is worse than its bite, but when we can't even bark like we're tough, it spells doom. Peace (through strength), Y'all. 
