Perception vs. Reality

The fall out from the Abu Ghraib photos

by Heidi Parent
05/16/04

There is perception and then there is reality. And very often, they fail to mirror one another.

For example, everyone perceives that dogs have it easy. They don’t have to work, they get to sleep a lot, they don’t pay taxes, and their blood pressure doesn’t go up listening to Ted Kennedy because, frankly, they can’t understand him. But the reality is, they only live an average of 10 years, they have to ask permission before they can go to the bathroom, they can’t operate a remote control, and they can’t eat chocolate. So much for a dog’s life.

The same confusion can be found when discussing America’s reputation throughout the world. Many around the globe, and I’m sorry to say many here at home, perceive America as an evil bully selfishly pursuing her own interests. But the reality is America has liberated more people, at a tremendous cost to herself, than any other nation in the history of the world. Not the work of a selfish bully. But no matter what evidence is offered, some will always view America as they wish to perceive her.

And that is why I’m not wringing my hands over the effect the pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib prison will have on the “Arab street.” The Arab street is already anti-American. (Remember the dancing in the literal Arab streets on 9/11?) And no matter what proof is offered showing this to be an isolated incident, and one that will result in punishment for the perpetrators, those who already hate America will continue to hate America. So these pictures aren’t changing attitudes, just reinforcing perception.

We do, however, deserve a better response from our elected officials. Sadly, in many cases we’re not getting it.

Liberal Democrats know the reality of the situation, but in an effort to gain political advantage they are trying to manufacture a scandal. Despite the fact that there is no evidence to support their charges of a cover up, many Democrats, led by Ted Kennedy and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. Said Pelosi, “Mr. Rumsfeld has been engaged in a cover up from the start on this issue and continues to be so.”

John Kerry tried the same approach. Implying the Bush Administration is dragging its feet Kerry said, “The response of the administration, certainly the pentagon, has been slow and inappropriate.”

Slow? This story first came to light in January when a soldier found out what was going on and blew the whistle. The Pentagon immediately launched an investigation and announced their intentions at a CENTCOM press briefing. No one in the media or on Capitol Hill had to pressure them into taking action; they did it on their own. Now six soldiers are facing criminal charges. And additional investigations still continue. Moreover, the pentagon has appointed an independent committee to investigate the on-going investigations. So despite claims by Democrats the system is working. There has been no cover up and the incident has not been swept under the rug.

Democrats are also displaying quite a bit of outrage, a necessary emotion when one is trying to whip up the masses. But their hypocrisy is almost embarrassing. Where was their outrage when four American citizens were savagely murdered and their bodies dragged through the streets of Fallujah? Where was their outrage when video of Daniel Pearl’s execution was released? Where was their outrage over Saddam’s acts of torture? Where was their outrage over the discovery of Saddam’s mass graves? Where was their outrage when Iraqis subjected captured U.S. soldiers to similar treatment?

But Democrats aren’t alone in their hypocrisy. The mainstream media are also acting with a huge double standard. For example, they made a decision to no longer show images of the 9/11 attacks for fear they would be too inflammatory and lead to a revenge mentality. In other words, showing them would lead to support for the war. But when inflammatory images appear that could end up undermining the war effort, the media don’t hesitate to broadcast them. And won’t hesitate to broadcast each additional photo that gets released.

But that double standard is really par for the course. Just watch the manner in which they cover the war. They would rather dwell on the bad news than report any of the good. Rather than focusing on what the majority of soldiers have accomplished in Iraq (building schools and roads, opening hospitals, restoring water and oil supplies, repairing the electrical infrastructure, not to mention liberating 25 million people), the media would rather focus on the negative actions of a very, very few.

There is an expression used by the media to describe an out of the ordinary story. They call it a “man bites dog” story. And generally those are the stories they like to report. But they have neglected to report one of the biggest man bites dog stories ever and that is what we have accomplished in Iraq and the manner in which it has been accomplished. If waging war can be done in a civilized manner, the Iraq War is the example. We have gone out of our way to not bomb innocent civilians. We have held off bombing areas that house religious shrines. We have been in Iraq for over a year and this is the first we’re hearing of mistreatment. All in all, this has really been an amazingly humanitarian war. And one incident shouldn’t change that reality.