Dr. Mohammad T. Al-Rasheed, comments@d-corner.com

America is in anguish. The torture scandal keeps growing and an end is not in sight. The International Red Cross has said that it told US officials about the abuses long before they became public and, more importantly, they said the abuse was more widespread than officials would like us to believe. Apologies are coming fast and furious.

America is waking up to a basic fact in human relations: No country is fully good and no country is completely evil.

The pendulum of American reaction to this continuing saga swings from “this is not torture” to furious demands for heads to roll. Many Americans are backpedaling and trying to defend the indefensible.

This is understandable, since it simply is too painful to admit that anyone we claim as one of “us” is capable of such behavior. But the truth is there in full color and people have to live and deal with it.

Mistakes in political terms are not corrected by apologies. Rumsfeld knows that. The world knows that. America can take pride in its public airing of its disgust. But this is the time for action. If the president does not take charge, someone else will do so come November.

Rumsfeld said this behavior is “fundamentally un-American”.

I agree, since it is also fundamentally inhuman.

That’s what made Saddam’s fall such a celebrated event. But I would like to say that when the atrocities of Sept. 11 happened, no one wanted to believe us when we said that such behavior was “fundamentally un-Islamic”. The Arab world is asking why it should believe America now when America did not believe it then.

President Bush said, “This is not the America I know.” When the shoe was on the other foot, we said that this was not the Islam we knew. The circuitous route of historical events is baffling in its consistency.

Would it be right now for Arabs to brand all Americans as depraved torturers and sexual fiends? Of course not, but try telling that to the mob.

To add insult to injury, old Republican Guard generals and Saddam henchmen are now back on the scene with the full blessing of America.

How “evil” can the erstwhile “evil regime” have been after this? The uncomfortable fact is that the situation in Iraq is a fiasco moving steadily toward disaster.

America cannot afford to play partisan politics with this issue. There is so much at stake that saner and more honest sentiments should prevail.

Those defending Rumsfeld simply because they agree with his political hue should think twice, since the issue is not Rumsfeld but America itself. He admitted responsibility for whatever happened “on my watch”, as he put it.

In a democracy, that is reason enough to step down. Rare are the politicians who are given a second chance in such circumstances.

Yet the terrorists have a new lease on life since they are now off center stage.

I bet they are celebrating in their caves this misguided Rumsfeldian bonus.