This is not us

A soldier who deserted from the US Army in Iraq because he found the war morally objectionable – partly because of the treatment of prisoners – faces the same punishment as those who abused the prisoners at Abu Ghuraib. I turn to those more knowledgeable: Can he plead that he deserted because the orders were illegal?

Apologies for absence. Some more immediately personal concerns to deal with: Joe the Plumber is going to cover the conflict in Israel, but apparently not Gaza. Because he is Christian, he will be safe. It is only Jews and Muslims who are unsafe. What of the Palestinian Christians? Are they not true Christians? Or is JtP the truest of Christians and therefore Christ-like? h/t Atrios. Bilal actually interviewed Palestinians as to what they thought of Obama. Although it is from prior to the current crisis, it is still instructive. Bridezilla hints at something that is on my mind. This cannot…

Sept. 11 Memorial Obscures a Police Cadet’s Bravery – NYTimes.com. And Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, one of two Muslim members of Congress, was brought to tears during a Congressional hearing in March while describing how the man, a Pakistani-American from Queens, had wrongly been suspected of involvement in the attacks, before he was lionized as a young police cadet who had died trying to save lives. Despite this history, Mohammad Salman Hamdani is nowhere to be found in the long list of fallen first responders at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan.