Abu Ghraib. Many would have us believe that the atrocities committed there will taint America's image among Arabs for generations. Some fairly senior members of Congress and other partisans lay the blame at the feet of Secretary Rumsfeld. Candidate Kerry blames the President, of course.

Let's agree that the acts of the 7 soldiers accused so far are reprehensible. Those acts do not represent the America that we hold as an ideal to the world. Those soldiers--and any who abetted them, ordered them, or photographed them--should be punished, if they are found guilty after a fair trial.

However, let's not forget that the general in charge did not spring into being in late January of 2000. Nor did the officers who commanded the reserve troops who are at the center of this scandal. They were all in the military for some time. The training that they received--or didn't receive--should have taken place earlier than the immediate maelstrom that the war on terror became after 9/11.

I am not blaming the Clinton Administration per se. I am pointing out that the so called "peace dividend", the task force to cut the size of government--those initiatives of the Clinton Administration cut military head count and material during the 90s. The rapid expansion of the economy in the 90s left military salaries behind the civilian sector as well. Many of the best NCOs (Sergeants and Navy Chiefs)--the ranks where the real "soldiering" takes place--left for better paying civilian jobs.

The situation reminds me of many wars in the past. At the beginning, incompetent, ill equipped, poorly led soldiers were thrown into battle and expected to make do as best they could. Kasserine Pass, the Battan Death March, early reversals of the Northern forces versus the Confederacy; take your pick, they fit the bill.

If the war is going to last a very long time, as everyone expects, we should expect failures like this as the strains on our forces wax and wane as they adapt from their former peacetime roles to combat conditions. There will be a weeding out of incompetent troops and commanders, of weak leaders and people of weak character. We will recruit many more Pat Tillmans to fill the ranks and serve honorably. We will show the world--the part of the world that can be shown anything that doesn't fit their preconceived view of America--how we can adapt, and how the vast, vast majority of our fighting men and women uphold the American ideal. Those who commit crimes will be tried and punished if found guilty, just as they are at home.

If the Iraqis as a whole have lost faith in us, the 25 million or so of them could wipe out the 140,000 US troops in a day or so unless we used nuclear weapons to defend them. That hasn't happened. That is enough of a "poll" for me to establish in my mind that most Iraqis--like most Americans--only hope for a peaceful, stable country that will provide them economic opportunity and a safe place to raise a family. The ideals that President Bush offers them--and by extension, all of us offer them--are the ideals that all mankind strive for, whether they can articulate them in a Jeffersonian fashion or not.

We will do the right thing to set this right. I like the idea of destroying Abu Ghraib, and rebuilding a more humanely designed prison in its stead. We are figuring out many aspects of the post war period as we go, just as we did in Germany and Japan nearly 60 years ago. Although we have no General George Marshal or General Douglas MacArthur to lead the occupation of Iraq through the trials of today towards a stable postwar entry into the family of civilized nations, let us prove by our deeds and words that we are willing to live up to the American ideal.

For my part, I don't need to see any more sick photos or any video to make that goal happen.