Prisoner Abuse

When I heard the news some three years ago that the USA was setting up a detention center in Guantanamo, my thought processes activated the fact/myth from WWII stories of how our German POWs were so well-treated and became very pro-American as a result. So, my pictures of our detention processes included a frame in which our treatment of prisoners revealed us as humane, tolerant, ethical, and kind human beings who loved freedom and human rights. I thought we were going to win friends and influence thinking in the Middle East.

Now that things have proven different, I am being forced to question my apparently naive beliefs. Did the German POWs really love us that much? How about the Japanese POWs? If they didn't learn, like the Germans, to love us and democracy, why not? Did we have so much more in common with Nazis than emperor-worshippers?

If we are now much more hated and resented in the rest of the world, it is not because of bad public relations; it is because of bad actions. Someone is responsible for the treatment of the prisoners who, unlike the Germans, happened to NOT be white Christian Europeans. Could that be at least part of the reason for the numerous cases of mistreatment? Do we feel so superior as the bastion of freedom and Christianity that we unthinkingly set lower standards of treatment for captives who happen not to be white or Christian?