Um, does the rubbish below somehow exonerate American torturers?

It's the "lookie there!" defense/logic of a good many people on the right.

"You think you caught a Republican pulling some dirty crap? We won't even
discuss that, but instead we will switch the subject to Clinton's blow job.
Lookie there! Lookie there!"

"You think some aspect of conservatism doesn't stand up to logical scrutiny? We
won't even discuss that, but instead we will
throw some wacky iberal idea up for discussion and redirect the conversation.
Lookie there! Lookie there!"

"There's a chance or an allegation that a tiny percentage of our miltary
personnel are not behaving like professional soldiers in Iraq? We certainly
won't adress that either, just point out that the behavior of the regime we
feel consisted of despicable intolerable, inhuman *******s did even worse!
Lookie there! Lookie there!"

There is no doubt that we have been regaled with all the gruesome details of
hideous abuses committed by many of Saddam's interrogators. Personally, I
believe those stories have some foundation in fact.

There is also no doubt that the actions of our own *worst* actors will be cast
as typical American tactics and indicative of
American philosophies and values. The pendulum swings both ways. If we are as
truly civilized as we aspire to be, we should try to see that our own *worst*
actions aren't all that bad, and that stories of atrocities and torture by
Americans do not have a foundation in fact.

When the military justice system is arresting and charging US interrogators who
step over the line into torture and sadism, the system is working about as well
as we can hope.