Uh, DougR, I hate to disagree with you (actually, I love to disagree with you, but usually on more important matters) but I don't think this was started with all the grace, equanimity and reason that Rick would have brought to it. In fact, the title shows that it was started as a kind of rebuttal to "American soldiers torturing iraquis." But these people were probably not Iraqi, and there is only one American involved, which makes two significant distortions in a thread name of only three words! Although Kim claims this to have been an honest mistake, it is still the same kind of distorton that allowed George Bush to convince most Americans that Iraq sent over the 9-11 Hijackers. This is not a balanced or even accurate statement of the situation. It is instead right-wing propoganda supporting a neoconservative agenda, whether intentionally so or not.

This, I think, is why it upset some of us. I think Rick Fielding would have been more careful.