Standards of behavior:
Tom Friedman makes the point that even though Newsweek screwed up, the bigger crime was the killing of Muslims by Muslims in the rioting.
In the same issue, the Times exposes brutal treatment of prisoners held in American custody. Is that worse than this only because we're better than them. That seems to be the implication, although I don't buy it.
We should endeavor to be as decent as the circumstances allow, and punish gratuitous cruelty by our own. But the energy we expend in hand-wringing would be better spent in condemning the everyday over-the-top brutality of the people we're up against.
(BTW, here's an image of The Sun's front page, showing Saddam in his underwear. Imagine having to endure seeing this on every newsstand on the way to work, as folks in Britain are doing today.)
