***scroll for updates…Rep. Mark Kennedy: Where’s the Outrage?***

It’s not just human rights groups who are unusually silent. I agree with Jim Hoft, who thinks President Bush should step up:

[N]ot since US soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, has America witnessed the horrible slaughter of brave, young, American soldiers in such gruesome fashion as what was described on Tuesday in reports from Iraq.

And, as Americans learned more and more about the brave young men and their barbaric demise, the story grew more savage and shocking throughout the day.

America is feeling raw, enraged, confused, saddened and unsettled by this inhumanity.

So, where is President George W. Bush? Where is the comforting or determined speech that you would expect from a leader at this time?

It doesn’t have to be an 30 minute address with an aircraft carrier in the backdrop, but how about using this “coincidental” information from Tuesday to define to the Free World and America what we are up against?

The terrorists pushed the moral argument back on the side of freedom, yesterday.

It doesn’t have to be a Gettysburg Address, President Bush, but help yourself and remind America why we are fighting today…Say something!

Allah highlights a passage from the NYTimes backgrounder on Privates First Class Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker, who both enlisted in 2005:

If the two soldiers had one thing in common, it was their determination to join the Army and fight in Iraq, believing it to be the right thing to do. It is a message they tried to impress on their families, who worried incessantly about phantom snipers and hidden bombs.

Newsbusters highlights Private Tucker’s family’s appearance on the Today Show:

Although the appropriateness of publicizing the grief of bereaved families is often debated, their dignity is a frequent source of inspiration. Here, the father of PFC Thomas Tucker of Oregon, reportedly tortured and murdered by the new al-Qaeda leader in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Zarqawi, made this impressive statement:

“We don’t understand the big political picture. We understand what has happened. Our son has died for the freedom of everybody in the United States. We are very proud of our son.”

Army Specialist David Babineau, who died in the terrorist attack on Friday while on patrol when Privates Tucker and Menchaca were kidnapped, will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Congressman Mark Kennedy’s floor statement this afternoon:

“Mr. Speaker, where is the outrage? We hear stories today of two of our soldiers having suffered unspeakable torture, and left in a nearly-unrecognizable condition. Yet where are the cries of outrage against this brutality?

Instead, we hear today of the EU leadership focused on closing Gitmo, and members of this body rushing to judgment on national TV before the facts are known about what our troops in the field have done.

Yes, we should hold our troops to the highest ethical standards, but we must be outraged by acts against our troops.

Our troops deserve our full support, and we must recognize the intensity of evil that we face, the lengths they will go to harm America and undermine our values, and the need to make sure we win this War on Terror to keep our families safe at home.”