As I attended to some housecleaning last evening, Fox News' War Stories popped on and Oliver North began narrating the Second World War's Burma campaign. Quite relevant to the "forgotten battles" were the Rising Sun's systemic and horrific war crimes, which North took time to enumerate. Two points were immediately clear to me: first, Errol Morris' exercise in moral equivalence operated largely on historical omission; second, although military commanders have worried since time immemorial of what unrestrained soldiers might do to those at their mercy, cruelty's familiarity makes it no less reprehensible. Thankfully, the American military is one whose honor is without precedent; those few responsible for the humiliation and torment of Iraqis will, as Will Collier put it, "spend most of the rest of their lives in Kansas making small rocks out of big rocks."

OxBlog found a report on the true work of American GIs (via IP):

A new multipurpose recreation facility has opened in the Al Dura neighborhood, benefiting thousands of residents in Baghdad's Al Rashid district. The Al Dura Sports Complex includes a soccer field with bleachers, basketball court, a place for volleyball and a playground with several types of exercise equipment. The area was a vacant lot full of trash when the project started. It is an example of renovating and improving areas for public recreation called for by Ambassador Bremer in his Baghdad Beautiful initiative. This success is the result of neighborhood District Advisory Council (DAC) leaders working together with the US Army First Cavalry Division to determine a project which would most help the area.

...The children liked it as well. A twelve year old named Jafa said, "This is a very good idea. I play soccer, and my brother is on the field right now playing for the Iraqi Police Service team." His friend Mustafa added, "Thank you, American Army!" A soccer game was played between the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) and the Iraqi Police Service (IPS). IPS was victorious by a score of 2 to 0.

Justice will be served — America has a reputation to defend.