The Difference Is...

More sad news out of Iraq: a combined British/Iraqi raid on a police intelligence headquarters revealed evidence of mass torture of prisoners (presumably a mix of enemy combatants and civilians) and resulted in the arrest of a death-squad leader. Of course, I'm sure the left-wing blogs will have a field day with this, pointing out the "quagmire" that is Iraq, and how things were actually better off under Saddam (and in their minds, better off back then than the United States is itself today).

Let us leave aside the foolish notion that things were somehow any different under Saddam: we know there were death squads and torture facilities, so it's just silly to think that. But here's the difference, a point I think completely missed by the Nutroots: under the new regime, they were caught and will be punished. Under Saddam, they would have received a paycheck. Sad news indeed, but still, a sign of progress when bad behavior by government agents does not go unpunished.