Crimes Against Humanity

What can they be thinking, those Arab people, when they observe us, Bush? When they see our people--even those they know to be responsible for hideous acts--exonerated, mis-tried, or at most given light sentences for crimes against the humanity of their own? When they see that no one--not one person, Bush--in a senior position of responsibility, whether military or civilian, is held accountable? And when they see their people, by contrast--even those they know to be innocent of any crime--hunted down, imprisoned, kept for years behind barbed wire without the possibility of trial. Tortured. Killed. So what can they be thinking?

I'm talking here about perception, Bush. Not about truth or justice. Not about who's right or wrong. I'm simply talking about the perception of crimes against humanity. And those crimes did take place, on our part as well as on theirs. They are still taking place, no matter which side is responsible for them. The results of those crimes are palpable to those close to them, Bush. We only see the lurid photographs, here in the United States. We only read reports, or see them on our television screens. I imagine there can be few Iraqi families who have not had some direct contact with the horror.

So, right or wrong--though probably a good bit of both--what can they be thinking? I ask myself this question on V-E day, the day that World War II in Europe ended. The day after Holocaust Remembrance Day. While the bombs continue to explode in Iraq. While the innocent continue to be held, along with the guilty, in Guantanamo Bay. While holocaust continues to be perpetrated, this time in Darfur, as the world looks on.

So what are we all thinking, for God's sake, Bush? What are we all thinking?