Briana Joslin, Garfield High School student

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES “We just need to set an example and show we don’t need to stoop to those levels. We are Americans.”

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And the sophomore at Seattle's Garfield High School won't budge when the what-ifs are thrown at her: What if a prisoner might know about hostages being held or a terrorist plot ?

"We just need to set an example and show we don't need to stoop to those levels," she says. "We are Americans."

In invading Iraq, the United States promised democracy, fair treatment and opportunity, says Joslin, 16. "If we lose all of our standards, we look like we lied, we look as bad as they do."

Joslin, who didn't favor the Iraq war but does want terrorists tracked down around the world, has been talking a lot about the prisoner-abuse case, both at school and at home.

The other night, she watched a program that focused on the prison-abuse scandal. She listened as a female soldier, not much older than she, described the treatment of Iraqi detainees. "I felt really gross. I couldn't understand why she thought it was OK for any type of abuse to happen."

It's not that Joslin thinks such behavior goes against human nature, or that somehow Americans are on a higher moral ground.

"I felt it was always in us," she says.

But Joslin thinks some of the troops may be too traumatized and too young to make sound judgments.

"I can see they're going through a lot and watching their best friends die and go through these life-changing experiences at 19 and 20 years old. Maybe they can't stand up to older people telling them what to do. I don't know. But we can't lower our standards."

— Beth Kaiman

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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