Saint Sybil
Dear St. Sybil,
I am heartsick and ashamed at our actions in Iraq. I didn’t think we had cause to go to war there, but since we did, it never occurred to me that we would not behave in an exemplary manner in our occupation. Ha!
Oklahoma’s Senator James Inhofe, rapidly making a national name for himself as the stupidest member of the Senate, has said that he is more outraged by the public outrage than by the actions at Abu Ghraib (and other) prisons.. Well, I am outraged by his kind of attitude.
Two things that concern me a lot about our reactions to these glimpses of horror: First, I keep hearing the photos of American soldiers abusing prisoners described as “S&M photos” — well excuse me, Sybil, I saw plenty of Sadism, but just where does anyone see any evidence of the “M” — masochism? I didn’t see any sign of enjoyment on the part of the victims.
Secondly, I hear one commentator after another talk about our soldiers “having sex with the Iraqi women prisoners, and it was not consensual”. Sybil! Why can’t any of them come out and call it what it is: rape. Rape and sadistic abuse as American policy. Unless we call it by its correct name we won’t be able to come to terms with it, to adequately apologize and compensate for it, properly punish it, and put in safeguards to be sure it doesn?t happen again.
Sorrowfully, Vera D. Jectid
Dear Vera,
I know how you feel - I will see your Heartsick and Ashamed and raise you an Aghast and Appalled. Also Confused as to why they keep calling those pictures “S&M” — that is too bizarre. Perhaps they are trying to “sexify” them, to minimize it by turning it into sex games, boys (and girls) will be boys; while really the pictures show total power-over sadistic cruelty.
Of course, rape is a war crime. There may be a hope that “having sex but not consensually” might not be recognized as a war crime, who knows. It’s clear to you and me that it is rape, and to everyone else, I think.
I am most amazed by the defense being put forth by the lawyers and families and, we presume, the perpetrators themselves: they were just following orders. Didn’t these people go to school? Didn’t their school teach history? Did they not read about the Holocaust? Does the military not devote even ten minutes to instructions on how to respond to illegal orders? How can they bear to resort to crying “I was only following orders” and thus align themselves with guards from Belsen Belsen and Dachau?
And yet, of course, they were just following orders, and as one of them implored in his court martial, “This is not me!” And it wasn’t him. At least, it was not the most of him. It was maybe the 1% of him, the 1% that is within all of us, which is capable of terrible deeds. Prison guards and soldiers are most susceptible; they are absolutely subordinate and subjugated to massively powerful people — wardens, generals, “contractors”; and yet themselves have unbridled power over others, “lower” than themselves.. This is a recipe for brutality and war crimes, every time.
And oh! The women involved, at every level! Am I the only one who read the name “Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski” and thought “Oh God, let Janis be a Slav name, let it be a He”? This more than breaks our hearts, it sears our souls. But what did we think, really? That deep down, women were better than men? That it was all hormonal? Drat that testosterone, it’s responsible for all the woes of the world? Or did we think it was the conditioning, if we would just allow little boys to be gentle and cry, they would be as kind and sweet as women? Well, we have certainly had to disabuse ourselves of that notion. It’s a good thing to let little boys cry and all, but it is not a panacea. We need to search for the root cause of this tragedy, and unlike the drunk who lost his keys in the shadows but is looking under the street lamp because the light is better, we need to search in the deep shadows where lie the rationalization of war itself, greed, ambition, arrogance, revenge, self-righteousness and the hubris stemming from an obscene notion of superiority and Empire.
Sharing your sorrow,
Sybil
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