Local citizen says he will not ‘whine for Baghdad’ For the most part, I am a quiet, passive man, and a recent AARP recipient whose thoughts and opinions usually go no further than the boundaries of my kitchen table. However, the latest deluge of reports on prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq that has invaded my home through the television, newspaper and my other windows to the world have rekindled an old fire in me that has been smoldering since Gov. Jim Florio decreed that more taxpayers’ money is the only true prescription to cure the ills of New Jersey. But before you think that I’ve jumped upon the Democratic anti-Bush/Rumsfeld/Republican bandwagon, let me explain the basis behind my reawakened rage. For a while now, I have been subjected to unspeakably appalling photos and video clips of Iraqi extremist groups treating American captives with such a sadistic, barbaric, almost animalistic-like behavior that even the TV stations feel the acts of these savages are too brutal for the public’s viewing eyes. Daniel Pearl, with a gun pressed to the back of his head before being murdered and decapitated. The four American civilians in Fallujah, who, after their car was attacked, were set afire and their charred bodies mutilated in the streets; one tied to the bumper of a car and dragged until there was nothing left, while the others were decapitated and their naked bodies hung from a bridge. Nick Berg, from West Chester, Pa., whose masked captors posed with their trophy in front of the camera lens before beheading him for being American and a Jew. Pfc. Jessica Lynch rescued with a head wound, spinal injury, fractures to the right arm, both legs, right foot and ankle, along with other signs of being raped and tortured. Thomas Hamill, Pfc. Patrick Miller, Spc. Joseph Hudson, Keith (Matt) Maupin — the list goes on and on. So, after being subjected to the never-ending parade of atrocities directed at Americans by these so-called servants of Allah, it really gets my goat to now see the Democratic liberals exploiting this prison debacle for use as a political stepping stone to the White House, or listening to those journalists and news reporters pretending to be so aghast and outraged at the shameful choice of actions by a few American guards, instead of using their media powers to shine an illuminating spotlight on the inhumane treatment of their own fellow country­men. Granted, there is an old adage that says, "Two wrongs don’t make a right," and I certainly believe the actions of those in charge of Abu Ghraib should not walk away unpunished, but the prisoners there aren’t exactly as you would find here in the United States. These people weren’t put in that place because they were found with a nickel bag of pot under their car seat or caught selling some stolen product on eBay. These are the people responsible for planting roadside bombs or smuggling rocket grenades or shooting up police stations, and from the photos I’ve seen, it appears that what those in control at Abu Ghraib did was more in the line of a frat party gone awry than any acute violation of the Geneva Convention. Remember, there is also an­other old adage that states, "What’s good for the goose is good for the gander." So I will say a prayer for the safety of all those young men and women who are fighting in Iraq and putting their lives on the line for the betterment of the world, and I will raise my glass of beer to toast them when they return home, but there will be no whine for Baghdad. Leo J. McGann Woodbridge