"The System Worked"

Something tells me the average neocon will look at this story (earlier version here) and insist that "the system worked:"

After being held for more than seven weeks in solitary confinement in an American military prison in Iraq, Cyrus Kar, an aspiring filmmaker from Los Angeles, was freed Sunday in Baghdad, exhausted and hungry but relieved that his ordeal was coming to an end.

"I am very happy to be out," Mr. Kar said in a late-night interview in the hotel room where he was staying with his Iranian cameraman, who was also released. "My family wants me home soon, and I'll be very happy to talk to everybody as soon as I get out of Iraq."

Mr. Kar, 44, said that on the advice of his lawyers, he would not discuss the details of his treatment until he was safely back in the United States. As he sat shirtless on the couch in his room, a dark bruise was visible on his right arm and an abrasion on one of his legs, but he otherwise appeared in good health...

Mr. Kar said he had been able to recover all of the film he had shot during what he said were two weeks of work in Iraq before he and his cameraman, Farshid Faraji, were detained by Iraqi troops on May 17.

The two men were arrested after the taxi in which they were riding was stopped at a checkpoint near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, and a search of the vehicle turned up 35 washing-machine timers, devices that military officials said were sometimes used by Iraqi insurgents in making bombs.

In the American military's first detailed statement about the matter on Sunday, a spokesman defended Mr. Kar's detention, saying that he had represented "an imperative security threat to Iraq" and that his case was resolved "appropriately."

The statement said a panel of military officers had reviewed the case of Mr. Kar, a naturalized American who was born in Iran and served in the Navy, allowing him to testify and call witnesses in his own defense.

"This case highlights the effectiveness of our detainee-review process," the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Don Alston of the Air Force, said in the statement. "We followed well-established procedures, and Mr. Kar has now been properly released."

In other words, seven weeks for making the mistake of getting in the wrong cab--with the added bonus of having his lawyer--and family--kept largely in the dark regarding his incarceration. But, the neocons will insist that Kar's release shows that "the system works." Of course, some will also suggest that Kar had "no business" being in Iraq in the first place, freedom not really meaning "freedom," after all. Indeed, you can expect the odd wingnut or two to suggest that Kar wasn't punished enough, despite the fact that he'd committed no crime (and, indeed, according to his sister, generally supports the Bush policy). Because, after all, to certain wingnuts, the fact that Kar is Iranian-American is plenty criminal enough.

However, I'd like to see a neocon's reaction should THEY (or a family member) receive such treatment. In fact, plenty of neocons have ALREADY shown their hand--to cite Wolcott again (writing about the terrorist attack in London):

The curious thing is that so many of the rightward bloggers and Fox Newswers who are hailing the Brits for their quiet stoicism and pluck don't seem to realize they're issuing an implicit rebuke to themselves and their fellow Americans. They're saying, in effect, "You've got to admire the Brits for showing calm and quiet perserverence after these explosions--they don't get all hysterical, overdramatic, and overreactive the way we Americans do." They don't seem to realize the example shown by Londoners might be a lesson to them, a model they might follow instead of playing laptop Pattons at full volume every time they feel a rousing post coming on.

In other words, I'd bet most neocons would go apeshit should they not be accorded proper respect at your average drive-thru, much less get locked away for seven weeks--without any charges being filed. And, if this is how a US citizen gets treated, imagine what's happening to the average Iraqi (note to neocons: the Iraqis are the people you're the military is ostensibly fighting for).

Welcome to the New World Disorder.