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Optic rectosis
Whoever is responsible for the mistreatment of the Iraqi POWs is going to pay. Big time, as our veep would say. But you know what? That's the difference between the US and the Islamofascists who fear Democracy. Saddam's government not only approved of torture, but legitimized it. In fact, what we see in the recently released photos is tame by Iraqi secret police standards. Where are the plastic shredders? The gallows? The piles of kiddie corpses? I can almost hear Saddam chuckling, asking "Is that all you've got? What a bunch of amateurs!"
I'm not excusing torture by anyone, or the gentle cluck-clucking of the Bush apologists and right-wing pundits who downplay the whole incident. They have their heads further up each other's asses than any of the poor devils in the photos.
But so, too, does anyone who really thinks the US has lost the moral high ground because of this incident. Equating America with Saddam is firey rhetoric, and looks great on a t-shirt, but it doesn't hold up to the facts. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good rant, right?
Abusing POWs is reprehensible, and the accused Americans will receive the justice they deserve. Not because they violated some barometer of international opinion, or drew the ire of a morally relativistic world community, but because Americans are better than that, and the world knows it.
1.5.04 19:19
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(1.5.04 23:50) I'm new to this blogging business, so I don't know how it all works. But I'm sure Martha would declare it a good thing. Thanks for the comments you left regarding the Religious Policeman. Prisoner mistreatment scandals pale in comparison to the imagined weapons of mass destruction and the links to Al Quada. Citizens in the U.S. and the U.K. are used to the idea that all of our democratic and military institutions are made up of real people who make real mistakes. The fact that we tend to air these things transparently and get them cleaned up quickly is our real virtue. Regarding photographic evidence of the uneven texture of our moral constitution -- We know we're not perfect and it's no big deal. We also know that we have none of the superhuman characteristics of our great comic book characters, who are just projections of our national persona. We can't leap tall buildings in a single bound or run faster than a speeding bullet. As far as our "enemies" are concerned, the ones that can read may understand that neither the US or the UK have magical powers to rewire the Iraq power grid over night or fix systematic infrastructure problems that have been there for generations. "The most powerful weapon of all" is the example we try to set in doing the right thing. Trying to pretend that we are perfect is not what we're good at. |
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(2.5.04 03:10) Didn't you hear? They weren't aware of the Geneva Conventions so they didn't know that sexual abuse, taunting, electrocution and the like were illegal! |
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(2.5.04 17:00) Just wait until this case goes to trial, it it does. You'll hear defense attorneys claim this wasn't torture at all, but rather consensal group sex. And if the prosecution calls the alleged victims to testify that it wasn't consensual, the defense can point to the victims' own support for terror and torture. Is it any wonder the administration doesn't want the Gitmo detainess to have their own lawyers? |
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(4.5.04 21:47) It's the fact that some of those suspended (ie the ones not in the pictures) are now saying they were acting on orders from above, as "this way you could break them [the captives] within an hour". Which is possibly most disturbing. My main worry now is that a repeat of My Lai is now only just around the corner (although many would argue it's already happening). |
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(8.5.04 19:34) what happened was tragic. but there is another tragedy here - why is the most powerful state in the world sending barely trained, barely literate men and women to man such sensitive positions. Isn't anyone in power concerned about the lives and sanity of their own personnel. |
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(9.5.04 23:55) Wny indeed? I think arrogance has a great deal to do with America's current situation, or more precisely, the arrogance of the President and those closest to him. The disdain for international law, as malleable as that concept is, shown by this adminstration has trickled down to the officer corps, and from there to the ranks. I still think that the vast majority of US soldiers are professional enough to follow long established guildelines for how to wage war, but there are those, especially in the reserves, who are most susceptible to suggestion than others. |
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