ARE YOU OUTRAGED OR IS IT JUST ME? 

 Army Sgt. Graner was convicted by courtmartial to 10 years in prison, reduced in rank to private, with all pay forfeited and dishonorably discharged.  I didn't follow the Abu Ghirab situation closely because my attention was focused on the presedential election.  I do recall very clearly reading and hearing a great deal of outrage from the left and from our "friends" the appeasers, I mean Europeans.  Of course, the "Muslim street" was terribly offended and outraged.  Mr. Graner claimed in his defense that he was ordered to "soften up" the prisoners for interrogation by others.  The military prosecutors countered that Mr. Graner was simply "a sadist".  Frankly, I don't who to believe.  I want to believe that Graner was following orders,but, I also know that authority has a way of bringing out the inner sadist in some people.  What I firmly believe is that this courtmartial and the ones to follow are the US goverment's way of saying to "the world" that we are fighting this war with honor and we will bend over backwards to be fair to our enemies.  I detect the foul stench of PC(political correctness) and a massive double standard at work.  Does anyone still remember Daniel Pearl? Nick Berg? Paul Johnson? Margaret Hassan? Where the hell is the outrage about AMERICANS BEING TORTURED AND BEHEADED BY OUR ENEMIES?  Where were the "moderate muslims" in our country on this one?  What did the "Arab street" have to say about this?  Has the media kept in touch with the families of these people? Or is everyone too busy discussing the sociological implications of "Desperate Housewives" ?  WE ARE AT WAR WITH A WORLDWIDE ORGANIZATION THAT HAS ONE GOAL: CONVERT OR KILL.   In George Orwell's 1984 O' Brien, while torturing the novel's protagonist Winston Smith, says: "...We convert him,we capture his inner mind,we reshape him. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. We make the brain perfect before we blow it out."  The "We" in the preceeding quote was "The Party" but try substituting Islam for "Party" and it would read like this: " Islam converts him, it captures his inner mind and it reshapes him.  Islam makes him one of us before we tell him to kill someone.  Islam makes his brain perfect before he blows someone else's out."  Maybe it's the Brooklyn in me,but, we've been far too kind in the way we've fought this war.  You fight to win. You wage war to make lasting peace.  If your enemy cannot make war against you then that is true peace.  Peace is not the absence of conflict.  It is the realization on the part of your enemies that an act of war against you would be an act of self destruction for them. "Winning hearts and minds" is a waste of time.  Let the Iraqis and Iranians fight for democracy if that's what they want. Not one American life should have been sacrificed for the goal of a "free and democratic Iraq".  WE OWE THEM NOTHING. They behead innocent civilians but we destroy a Mr. Graner to show "them" that we're not as bad as "they" think we are.  "They" must be laughing their asses off at us.  Cold comfort for Mr. Graner and his family.