Michael Berube recaps on Colin Powell's comments in the immediate aftermath of the exposure of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. He was quoted at the time as saying:-

Watch America. Watch how we deal with this. Watch how America will do the right thing.

At the time Berube limited his comments to a send-up of the "See Spot Run" nature of the quote. In the light of all that has happened since, he is no longer in such playful mood, and extends Powell's comments with the benefit of hindsight:-

Watch America. Watch how we deal with this. Watch how America will do the right thing. You’ll see, you foreign leaders. We will take the civilian administrator in charge of Iraq by the scruff of his neck, and we will force him to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We will haul the Secretary of Defense out into the open, and, ignoring his natural shyness and disdain for the limelight, we will tell the world that he is the best Secretary of Defense this country has ever had. And just you wait until we get our hands on the little creep who came up with the rationale for torture in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib in the first place! When we find this guy, we won’t hold back-- we will display him in public for days on end, all in the course of promoting him to the highest law-enforcement position in the United States!