There's only you and me and we just disagree

The irony is too rich. The State Department (whose boss is Condi Rice, in case you forgot), has roundly criticized Iraq for human rights abuse. Keep in mind that any government functional in that poor country has been installed by, you know, the USA.

Read about it here in the NYTimes:

The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illegal detentions by police officers and functionaries of the interim administration that took power in June.

In the Bush administration's bluntest description of human rights transgressions by the American-supported government, the report said the Iraqis "generally respected human rights, but serious problems remained" as the government and American-led foreign forces fought a violent insurgency. It cited "reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions - particularly in pretrial detention facilities - and arbitrary arrest and detention."

On the same day, in a pot meets kettle moment, the US government is chasticised for some human rights violations of its own:

A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody.

U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an "enemy combatant," a designation President Bush gave him in 2002.

"The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant," Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. He gave the administration 45 days to take action.

Sad that we can criticize the puppet regime that we installed for not being real nice, when we have such a great record here at home.

But, you know, 9/11 changed everything, and freedom is on the march.