Gitmo, Abu Ghraib and three soldiers

Right now seven thousand plus US troops are searching for three soldiers captured in an ambush a couple of weeks ago, the body of one of the three has just been found floating in the Euphrates River.

How can we decry the brutal treatment of our soldiers when everybody knows their treatment by the enemy is approximately the same as Iraqi nationals get at the hands of Americans?

Is there a war crime here? Or only equal treatment?

We put Abu Ghraib on Iraqi national television for the whole country to partake of. They know how we treat prisoners in our hands. What argument from us can compel them to give better than equal treatment to our people who fall into their hands?

Are the insurgents more cruel and brutal toward American prisoners or only equally cruel and brutal as they know Americans are toward their Iraqi prisoners? Which we showed them on their TVs. Which one's brutal action is more brutal or less brutal than the action of the other?

Recently two men, Charles Krulac, Commandant of the Marine Corps (1995-99), and Joesph Hoar, commanding officer of US Central Command(1991-94) wrote an article called "US Policy on Terror Breeds New Enemies." In it they said:

"Right now, White House lawyers are working up new rules that will govern what CIA interrogators can do to prisoners in secret. Those rules will set the standard not only for the CIA, but also for what kind of treatment captured American soldiers can expect from their captors, now and in future wars. Before the president once again approves a policy of official cruelty, he should reflect on that."

I can only pray for the other two soldiers because I'm certainly not optimistic the characters of George Bush, and Dick Cheney are capable of generating that much thoughtful reflection or compassion.

Update
Link added by Ron