As an American, what matters to me most is that our civil servants are doing their job in a responsive and responsible manner. We are a land of laws, with a constitution that requires certain checks and balances within the government and puts the "We, the people" at the helm of this nation.

The American people will not tolerate any behavior that would sully our image and tarnish our reputation. If there exists systemic and human failures, they'd have to be dealt with swiftly and transparently. In so doing, we show the world that the US does not condone such abject acts, and those involved will be held accountable.

We have gone well beyond just winning hearts and minds in Iraq to trying to salvage our moral core. What the neocon ideologues forgot, when they were muddling through the international political landscape, is that they were not operating in a vacuum; they were, however, thinking in a vacuum.

To those who are trying to spin the current events of torture and abuse of the Iraqi prisoners I'd say stop using moral equivalency equivocations; instead, let us focus on upholding our laws and protect our moral and ethical standing in the world.

Global security requires cooperation, not coercion.