But it's cute when I do it

I have to say, the fact that Abu Ghraib didn't result in mass resignations/firings from the US Defense Department and White House continues to baffle me. Well, it would baffle me if I actually thought these people had any moral compass to speak of.

To put it bluntly, the US has always had a bit of a double-standard when it comes to human rights abuses. Sadly, not only when Republicans are in charge - though especially then:

For seven months in 1967, an elite platoon known as Tiger Force went on a rampage, killing hundreds of Vietnamese men, women and children. The soldiers mutilated bodies, wore necklaces made of human ears and executed unarmed civilians at close range. It was the longest known series of continuous war crimes in the history of the Vietnam War. Tiger Force fought in the theater of operations where the My Lai massacre later happened, a fact that suggests atrocities in Vietnam occurred due to the failure -- or even the design -- of leadership as opposed to the isolated actions of a few rogue soldiers.

The Army began an investigation of Tiger Force in 1971. Despite overwhelming evidence of war crimes, no charges were ever filed against any Tiger Force soldiers or made public. The investigation was apparently killed at the highest levels of government in November 1975 -- the same month Donald Rumsfeld began his first term as defense secretary under President Gerald Ford and Dick Cheney began as White House chief of staff.

How the Republican party can be so unrepentantly vicious amazes and confuses me. Here are national leaders who do everything but say "go get 'em, boys" and then claim they had nothing to do with the results. Whether its Vietnam or Iraq, the motto of the GOP seems to be "no bar to low."