Double Standards on Abu Ghraib
By Newt Gingrich
The Wall Street Journal
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
May 7, 2004
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The media coverage of the violations of American law against Iraqi prisoners is in grave danger of setting a dangerous double standard for America and the Arab world. The administration must be very careful in explaining how we feel and what we will do. Otherwise our enemies will use our own words as an excuse to exploit this double standard.
To be clear, a very small number of Americans did a terrible thing. And because we live under the rule of law, and we take protecting the constitution seriously, the accused will be investigated and, where guilty, punished.
The incidents themselves are to be condemned.
The process of exposing wrongdoing; investigating the charges; having a fair and honest trial of the accused where there is a presumption of innocence until guilt is proven; and then punishing the guilty, is something we as Americans, should be proud of, and unequivocal about.
Explaining our anger at these misdeeds and our determination to punish the wrongdoers is appropriate. Appearing overly contrite or overly apologetic, however, will be a big mistake.
Not surprisingly, the anti-American left in our own
country and in Europe-with its selective memory,
remembering forever any American mistake while forgetting
every anti-American and anti-human atrocity by others-is
already on radio and television exploiting this as an
opportunity to condemn America.
The pan-Arab media, with its selective outrage, honors and
gives prominence to terrorists and barbaric mobs. The
smallest American error is given banner headlines, but is,
in contrast, excoriated. It is suicidal to reinforce this
double standard.
One needs to point out that the pan-Arab media said
nothing when the Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad destroyed
Hama and killed more than 30,000 of his own innocent
people, or when Saddam Hussein used poison gas on Iraqis
and created 300,000 anonymous graves.
Nothing negative was said by the pan-Arab media when
Americans were burned, mutilated and dragged through the
streets of Fallujah, or when two Palestinian gunmen
ambushed a pregnant woman last Sunday in her station-wagon
and at point blank range methodically killed her four
children ages two to 11, killed the eight-month-old baby
she was carrying, and then killed her.
It is worth remembering that Eason Jordan, a CNN
executive, wrote an article admitting that his network had
deliberately covered-up and ignored Saddam's atrocities to
retain access to Baghdad-a policy of caution which, of
course, is not reflected in their current coverage of
charges against America.
One American newspaper, with a half page dedicated to the
allegations of brutality in Iraq, referred to the Sunday
killings of a mother and her five children as "violence
marred the Sunday Likud election." No outrage, no shock,
no horror, just another day of viciousness and brutality
by our enemies.
We should firmly state our commitment to our values and
denounce any American acts which violate those values. But
while we publicly uncover and explicitly demonstrate our
commitment to punish the guilty for their crimes under our
rule of law, we should not play into any double standard
where America is allowed to be condemned by anyone who
accepts Arab viciousness, terrorism, mutilation and
barbarism as normal behavior.
With equal firmness we should demand of the Arab
governments and the Arab media their condemnation of
barbarism, brutality and terrorism in their own
communities.
Finally, we should angrily reject anyone who would smear
the 200,000-plus courageous decent men and women who have
risked-and are risking daily-their lives for a free Iraq,
and for a safe America. Any effort by the anti-American
left or the Arab media to generalize the acts of a few
into an attack on America, or on America's armed forces,
should be repudiated and condemned.
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Mr. Gingrich, former speaker of the House, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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