Friday, May 07, 2004
Not Even Close, No Cigar...
Rumsfeld is toast. Given his performance before the House and Senate today, there are only two conclusions. Either, 1) He has no idea what the hell the people under him are doing, and is therefore unfit for his job or 2) He knew all about it and tried to cover it up and is therefore unfit for his job.
And these frat-boy antics at Abu Ghraib have done something worse -- emasculated the Iraqi people in the eyes of the world, at the hands of the Americans (and, possibly the British). Sure, these antics would be fun at a fraternity hazing. But... these are prisoners of war. And not even enemy combatants. Theoretically, these prisoners are the people we were supposed to have liberated. Yep, this sure looks like liberty to me. Remember, these "pledgemasters" are heavily armed, and there's no guarantee that non-compliance won't lead to a bullet in the head or worse, like being beaten half to death and then dumped in the desert. I've read stories of a twelve year-old girl being raped; of a fifteen year-old boy being stripped and humiliated in front of his own father.
I know Muslims in other parts of the world, and they are a very shy and modest people. In fact, their attitude toward nudity makes puritanical Americans look like German nudists on holiday in Tenerife. And somehow, those idiots in charge at Abu Ghraib managed to come up with exactly the wrong thing.
It would be like forcing an Orthodox Rabbi to eat ham from a pig that was beaten to death in front of him. Like forcing a Roman Catholic to take a dump on a crucifix. Like making an Atheist declare, "Jesus is Lord." In other words, not just torture. But torture of the most culturally insensitive kind.
And with every new picture that is revealed, every new outrage that is uncovered, every time we see that gloating, thumbs up bitch (who ought to rot in prison for a good twenty years) standing over a pile of naked Iraqis, that's one more recruitment poster for a terrorist, one more person who'll become angry enough to strap on a bomb, one more enrollee in flight school.
And all of this on Rumsfeld's watch -- and by extension, W's. Used to be, America acted differently. If you were our prisoner of war, you were treated well. We were better than the enemy.
But no more. That seems to have gone out the window.
If the administration is truly as upset by this as they say they are, then Rumsfeld's head should be the first to roll. If W doesn't fire him, then, once again, we know that all the lip-service to shock and all the empty apologies are just a load of bullshit.
"I am shocked! Shocked that there is torture here."
"Your electrodes and Iraqi, sir..."
Also makes you wonder -- what have the indefinite detainees at Gitmo been going through for the last two and a half years?
And these frat-boy antics at Abu Ghraib have done something worse -- emasculated the Iraqi people in the eyes of the world, at the hands of the Americans (and, possibly the British). Sure, these antics would be fun at a fraternity hazing. But... these are prisoners of war. And not even enemy combatants. Theoretically, these prisoners are the people we were supposed to have liberated. Yep, this sure looks like liberty to me. Remember, these "pledgemasters" are heavily armed, and there's no guarantee that non-compliance won't lead to a bullet in the head or worse, like being beaten half to death and then dumped in the desert. I've read stories of a twelve year-old girl being raped; of a fifteen year-old boy being stripped and humiliated in front of his own father.
I know Muslims in other parts of the world, and they are a very shy and modest people. In fact, their attitude toward nudity makes puritanical Americans look like German nudists on holiday in Tenerife. And somehow, those idiots in charge at Abu Ghraib managed to come up with exactly the wrong thing.
It would be like forcing an Orthodox Rabbi to eat ham from a pig that was beaten to death in front of him. Like forcing a Roman Catholic to take a dump on a crucifix. Like making an Atheist declare, "Jesus is Lord." In other words, not just torture. But torture of the most culturally insensitive kind.
And with every new picture that is revealed, every new outrage that is uncovered, every time we see that gloating, thumbs up bitch (who ought to rot in prison for a good twenty years) standing over a pile of naked Iraqis, that's one more recruitment poster for a terrorist, one more person who'll become angry enough to strap on a bomb, one more enrollee in flight school.
And all of this on Rumsfeld's watch -- and by extension, W's. Used to be, America acted differently. If you were our prisoner of war, you were treated well. We were better than the enemy.
But no more. That seems to have gone out the window.
If the administration is truly as upset by this as they say they are, then Rumsfeld's head should be the first to roll. If W doesn't fire him, then, once again, we know that all the lip-service to shock and all the empty apologies are just a load of bullshit.
"I am shocked! Shocked that there is torture here."
"Your electrodes and Iraqi, sir..."
Also makes you wonder -- what have the indefinite detainees at Gitmo been going through for the last two and a half years?
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