The Silver Lining in a Dark Episode for the USA
If the current scandal over mistreatment of POW's by US citizens in uniform demonstrates to Americans and the world that we lack the moral standing to justify acting as the world's moral and political cop when no one but ourselves and an embittered exile community favors our use of force, it will have done all of us an inadvertent service. Yes, we have a right to defend ourselves. In that respect we are no different than anyone else, nor need we claim to be. To the extent that our foreign policy goes beyond that and bases itself on a claim that our civic righteousness is exceptional, we are badly deluded.