May 19, 2004
But not as bad as it sounds
Some perspective is always a good thing, especially in the face of any media blitz. Take, for example, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse. The media is spinning this as a war atrocity of the highest sort. But let's think about this for a minute. Were any Iraqi prisoners killed? No. Did any Iraqi prisoners need medical attention? I don't think so, but anyone who can prove me wrong is welcome to try. Were any Iraqi prisoners subjected to anything more extreme than the frat boy hazing that occurs every day on college campuses the world over? Not as far as I can tell. And anyone who thinks that rape doesn't happen at frat parties is welcome to call back once they've checked back into reality.
So as far as I can tell, what we've got here is a case of pretty intense hazing where there really shouldn't have been any. Is it bad? Yes. Should it cause some major reevaluation of military discipline? Probably. But nobody is dead, nobody has been wounded, and nobody would have been permenantly affected by any of this, were it not for the massive media coverage. Wearing women's panties on one's head is humiliating, but eventually you do get to take them off and go home. So before anyone goes and says that this is a war crime, think about it for a minute.
You should read the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of P.O.W.s, specifically article 3, subsection 1, part C. It is here that "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment" are specifically prohibited. This sort of activity IS consistent with the definition of a war crime. Just because frat boys do similar things doesn't mean that it's ok.
Also, in Part II, article 13, it states "prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity."
Hey, I don't make the rules. A crime is a crime is a crime. I do understand your frustration with the overblown media coverage, though.
Posted by: ron at May 19, 2004 12:01 PMOkay, sue me. I'm not trying to say that what happened isn't criminal. But it isn't significant on the scale at which it is being portrayed. Yes, it's bad. But no one died.
A problem with the whole Islamic world is that they're so caught up in their own self-importance and dignity that it's a wonder they can ever take a dump.
Posted by: ryan at May 19, 2004 04:01 PM"I'm not trying to say that what happened isn't criminal," you wrote.
Sure you were. I quote: "So before anyone goes and says that this is a war crime, think about it for a minute."
I did think about it. And I checked it out. Yep, it's a war crime.
"Yes, it's bad. But no one died," you wrote.
Actually, some of the most recently released photos from the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal show U.S. troops giving the "thumbs up" and smiling while leaning over the body of an Iraqi who died in U.S. custody in the prison.
Did he die in custody because of the abuses? I have no idea.
Take a look back at the My Lai massacre of 1968... If U.S. Army helicopter pilot Hugh C. Thompson Jr. hadn't happened across the scene, the world may have never known of this atrocity.
U.S. soldiers were forcing innocent Vietnamese villagers into a ditch and killing them. Thompson intervened and stopped the slaughter. The Vietnamese government estimated that more than 500 were killed.
Let's assume that everything that happened at Abu Ghraib is not entirely documented in photos (likely). Who's to say what else happened there in an enviroment so obviously devoid of institutional values? Sure, maybe it didn't have a body count like My Lai, but are these vile actions any less out of sync with what is to be expected of our military? No...
So, maybe the Iraqi guy did die as a result of the negligence or abuse of his U.S. caretakers.
Who's to say just how crappy it got? Maybe the Hugh C. Thompson Jr. of our generation never showed up. Maybe our goverment is so concerned with damage control that much has been swept under the rug. We may never know the breadth of what happened there.
Recently, a friend recounted a discussion he'd had with his father-in-law, A WWII veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"He's trapped in the war — it's all he ever talks about," my pal said.
"So I asked him," he continued, "'What horrifies you the most about WWII?'"
After a long pause the man looked at my friend and replied with a great heaviness, "The whole fucking thing."
That really resonates with me. We can have all of the differences in opinion that we want about the severity or newsworthiness of the matter. On some level, I feel that we may agree.
Basically, it's "the whole fucking thing" that's really bothersome.
Not the details.
Posted by: ron at May 20, 2004 12:35 PM