Reaction shows cultural gulf

To the editor:

Like most Americans, I have been watching in horror as the pictures of abuse and torture by our military come pouring out of Iraq. But what is worse is Cape Girardeau's own Rush Limbaugh has adamantly defended the behaviors of the abusive soldiers, whose acts include walking a naked man on a leash like a dog and making other naked men simulate sexual acts. This should make even the most hard-core followers question Limbaugh's judgment, morality and character.

It is a lesser version of this same cultural ignorance and total lack of humility -- as regularly demonstrated by those of the Bush administration -- that has now alienated critical allies while driving the Middle East to the brink of crisis. It is an arrogance that says, "We never do wrong." It is an arrogance that says, "We know what's best for others," even for very different sorts of people in very distant lands. It is an arrogance that has a fast and ready rationale for everything and anything but is woefully slow to take responsibility for obvious mistakes.

May God forgive every one of us for what has been done in our names, for the thousands of dead Iraqi civilians and for the tortured. May God also bring some sense of basic human decency to Limbaugh and those people who continue to listen to him. If this isn't a dark day for Cape Girardeau, I don't know what is.

JOY BELL

Cape Girardeau