You're quite correct, but these days we seem to lack the fortitude to call a spade a spade, if you will.
One great American trait is our willingness to publicly and repeatedly bash ourselves over the head with past sins, real or imagined. At the risk of generalizing, you don't often see other countries doing this. While an admirable trait, it makes us much more vulnerable to hostile IO operations than other countries might be. When, for example, was the last time you saw France (a random example) apologize for *anything*? Instead of contrasting our conduct with opponents who routinely behead those they capture or kidnap, we insist on cudgeling ourselves with Abu Ghraib, GITMO, and so on. We should, and on average do, hold ourselves to a high standard of conduct. But we seem very unwilling to point out the conduct of those we are fighting.
I'll step down from the soapbox now...
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