You're probably getting a ton of email right now. You may not even see this in the fray. I'm posting it to my weblog (below) because it is as much an open commentary as it is a comment for you.

You did the right thing.

There are a lot of people in this country right now who are scared and angry, because of 9/11. Their fear and their anger makes them weak. They don't want to see things like this because they can't take criticism. They aren't strong enough. They want to be right, and they want the enemy to be wrong, and they want to destroy the enemy and gloss over the details. It feels good to be right.

But wars are won in the mind long before they are won in on the battlefield, and if we become the kind of society that won't acknowledge its humanity, who won't think critically... who either shovels overzealousness under the rug or worse, encourages it, then we will become what the radicals who oppose us believe that we are. Thats when they win.

We have to show the Arab word that we are an honest, fair society that mostly wants their region to be peaceful, free, and successful. We can't convince them of this by saying it. In fact, many of us aren't convinced of this even though we say it all the time. We have to convince them of this by showing it... by actually being what we claim to be. That means showing that we are strong enough to take criticism. That means we acknowledge that open, honest dialog helps us make smarter decisions rather then "weakening our resolve."

We have to be willing to acknowledge things like this and investigate them fairly and deliberatively, and handle them appropriately depending on the facts. We have to be willing to seek out our flaws and deal with them, rather then denying them while they fester. We have to be confident enough in the honesty of our intentions that we know it will shine through enemy propaganda. And ultimately we have to make sure that the people watching us do this understand it, and understand the difference between this and the alternative. Otherwise, we've already lost.

Thank you for risking your life to bring us information from these places.

[ I second that. Well said, Decius. -k]

My open letter to Kevin Sites