The outrage over cruelty makes us the people we are.

How outraged should an outraged American be?

This became a question thanks to Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe. When he took the microphone at the hearings on Abu Ghraib prison, he did not begin with a question for the military man seated at the table--which is what he was there to do.

Instead, he said he was "more outraged by the outrage" than by the treatment depicted in photographs from Abu Ghraib.

I guess I'm a little confused. I thought we, as Americans, were proud to be do-gooders. I thought we took pride in not sinking to the level of the people who hate us. I thought we felt good about offering an example to the world of how a civilized country can and should look.

I thought the greatest part of this nation was its willingness to cast an eye upon itself, to examine its leaders, its behavior, and see whether we were living up to our high standards or if we could do better.

I thought we took pride in never adopting the dogma of "our leaders are always right" or "our soldiers are always right" or "our politicians are always right." I thought that was exactly the kind of lockstep fascism we deplored in places like, well, Iraq.

Inhofe's statements confused many people. For one thing, his insistence that the detainees are all "murderers and terrorists." How would he know that? Nobody else seemed to. Abu Ghraib was clearly a ball of confusion, few people knew what anyone was or wasn't doing, and between 70 percent and 90 percent of the people brought there were reportedly innocent of anything. Two of the Iraqi men in those awful photographs were actually interviewed by U.S. newspapers. They'd been released. If they were murderers or terrorists, why were they let go?

But Inhofe can say those things, because it reflects a convenient lumping together of almost anything Arab into the big funnel of Sept. 11. It's getting to the point where if they look like Arabs, they must know something.

I don't know if anyone bound, gagged or naked in those photos had anything remotely to do with the terrorism of Sept. 11. But I do know those photos will inspire some angry Muslims to sign up for more.

Americans can be outraged by bad conduct without hating the military. They can be outraged by Abu Ghraib without joining the enemy. They can be outraged by one act and still be outraged by another, such as the beheading of Nicholas Berg. Outrage is not mutually exclusive.

Quite the contrary. It is our anger at cruelty that defines us--as a caring, human people. Maybe politicians like Inhofe should stop making speeches when they're supposed to be asking questions.

Mitch Albom is the author of the bestsellers "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "Tuesdays With Morrie."