Try to wrap your brain around this one: according to a discussion I heard on the radio, the torture, abuse, and killing of hundreds of Iraqi civilians, most of whom were mistakenly arrested by the U.S., should now be dismissed because of the brutal killing of one American done in revenge for the aforementioned abuse, which shows that all those mistakenly arrested Iraqis have peers who are terrible people.
Again: if your people do something terrible to other people, and then some of the other people take revenge on your people for that terrible thing, that makes THEM bad.
But YOU are not bad for starting the cycle of violence by doing something terrible to them.
This was delivered by a man on the radio in all seriousness, couched in fancier words.
I feel a headache coming on...
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Last item for this entry: "80% in Iraq Distrust Occupation Authority: Results of Poll, Taken Before Prison Scandal Came to Light, Worry U.S. Officials, from today's Washington Post. The long list of negative opinions of the US aren't surprising. The Pentagon's complete denial of reality is, however. See their fairyland quotes late in the article.
Winning hearts and minds by torturing innocent civilians
This from the Red Cross report which has caused such a media frenzy: 70 to 90 percent of persons arrested in Iraq were arrested BY MISTAKE. ("Red Cross report describes systematic U.S. abuse in Iraq," 05/10/04, AP/sfgate.com).
Think about that. Much of last year, the Red Cross was trying to call attention to abuses at prisons the US set up for its detainees, and 70 to 90 percent of those people should never have been detained.
There's more:
*
Lynndie England, the female soldier grinning in some of the photographs of humiliated Iraqi prisoners which are at the center of international outcry, has stated in interviews that she was 'just following orders.' (BBC, 05/12/04). Perhaps this is why she is smiling so widely in the photographs? She claims that a superior officer may have encouraged the humiliations as part of a psyops operation. The fact that these and other photos were circulating widely among US soldiers for entertainment doesn't entirely support this theory, however.
While 'just following orders' has never excused war crime behavior for nationals of other countries, at least one of my colleagues believes this particular soldier, on the basis that she 'doesn't seem very bright.' (My colleague further notes that 19 year olds don't know anything, which is directly related to why so many of them wind up in the militaries of all nations... Which doesn't make the situation better, certainly.)
Her family has helped catapult Ms. England into the spotlight, by granting interviews in which they insist that England does represent the values of 'the American soldier,' (video) (BBC, 05/12/04), contrary to President Bush's assertions to the contrary. They also appear to think that 'anything' they daughter was told to do to make the captives cooperate is acceptable.
Read the previous item about how most of the people in captivity should not have been arrested again, please.
*
A short news item promoted by CBS news suggests that the evil depicted in the photographs (such as Ms. England's) is not the soldiers' fault at all, but merely the natural psychological result of being in 'an evil situation.' To support this theory, they rely upon the Stanford Prison Experiment (prisonexp.org). However, they appear to oversimplify the experiment.
The experiment's great website provides much more information about this 1971 project and its disturbing results. A small group of volunteers were paid a nominal sum to be screened for 'normalcy' and then randomly assigned the role of a prisoner or prison guard in a prison simulation in a Stanford basement. The two week study had to be cancelled after the 6th day, when several of the guards had become dangerously sadistic and the prisoners were showing signs of deteriorating mental health.
While CBS may conclude that 'everyone' turns evil in an 'evil environment,' the study actually demonstrated that the guards fell into one of three distinct behaviors, and only SOME of them became sadistic when given limitless power over others. That is an important point. Not all of the US military police in Iraq are abusing prisoners, so far as we can tell at the moment. So suggesting that the environment would turn 'everyone' evil doesn't really explain why all the other guards weren't doing the same thing.
If CBS concludes that the US prisons in Iraq are inherently 'evil,' that should also be examined: if war crimes are the natural result of detention centers, detention centers must not be created. If the abuse occurs because it is policy, that policy should end. If it is a failure of leadership, those leaders must be replaced. And if it is a policy of racism and oppression based on the occupation of a foreign nation with different customs and beliefs, the occupation MUST end.
*
P.S. I see that Slate now has an item called The Stanford Prison Experiment doesn't explain Abu Ghraib, by William Saletan (slate.msn.com, 05/12/04), which raises additional points negating the comparison.
*
The Executive summary of Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba (msnbc.msn.com) came out on May 4, 2004, but no one has mentioned that female Iraqi detainees were raped in the mass media summaries of the scandal.
It is surely being mentioned overseas.
Read the findings of fact, section 6, which details the abuses, including:
*
"New abuse photos are 'even worse'" ( BBC 05/12/04) reveals that the Pentagon has photographs depicting more despicable acts by US soldiers than have yet been released. Senators who have viewed them claim they are many times worse than those previously released. (See also Lawmakers Are Stunned By New Images of Abuse, by Charles Babington (washingtonpost.com, 05/13/04 (tomorrow's paper), in which U.S. lawmakers observe that there are more U.S. troop boots in the photographs than there are persons who have been accused of wrongdoing, and more people must have been involved in these acts).
*
The beheading of Nicholas Berg has been condemned by Bush as showing the true nature of the resistance to US forces, though the photographs of US forces tormenting Iraqi captives are NOT representative of their nature.
Oh, I see.
*
U.S. media are not broadcasting video of the beheading of Nicholas Berg. (BBC 05/12/04) It has been available in Arab media, where the images of the US tormenting hundreds of captives is still reverberating, and condemnation for the beheading is mixed with a lack of surprise, considering how much evil has recently been visited upon the people of Iraq in recent times. (same)
Since the Arab world gets completely different & much more graphic coverage of events there than we do, it isn't entirely surprising that the soft-news western expectation that the Arabs equate one beheading with the humiliation of hundreds and deaths of thousands aren't quite being met. It just may not be possible for such an equation to be made. At least, not by anyone who believes that all lives are of equal value, regardless of nationality.
This from the Red Cross report which has caused such a media frenzy: 70 to 90 percent of persons arrested in Iraq were arrested BY MISTAKE. ("Red Cross report describes systematic U.S. abuse in Iraq," 05/10/04, AP/sfgate.com).
Think about that. Much of last year, the Red Cross was trying to call attention to abuses at prisons the US set up for its detainees, and 70 to 90 percent of those people should never have been detained.
There's more:
The agency said arrests allegedly tended to follow a pattern.This is another article best read in its entirety, so go.
"Arresting authorities entered houses usually after dark, breaking down doors, waking up residents roughly, yelling orders, forcing family members into one room under military guard while searching the rest of the house and further breaking doors, cabinets and other property," the report said.
"Sometimes they arrested all adult males present in a house, including elderly, handicapped or sick people," it said. "Treatment often included pushing people around, insulting, taking aim with rifles, punching and kicking and striking with rifles."
It said some coalition military intelligence officers estimated "between 70 percent and 90 percent of the persons deprived of their liberty in Iraq had been arrested by mistake....
*
Lynndie England, the female soldier grinning in some of the photographs of humiliated Iraqi prisoners which are at the center of international outcry, has stated in interviews that she was 'just following orders.' (BBC, 05/12/04). Perhaps this is why she is smiling so widely in the photographs? She claims that a superior officer may have encouraged the humiliations as part of a psyops operation. The fact that these and other photos were circulating widely among US soldiers for entertainment doesn't entirely support this theory, however.
While 'just following orders' has never excused war crime behavior for nationals of other countries, at least one of my colleagues believes this particular soldier, on the basis that she 'doesn't seem very bright.' (My colleague further notes that 19 year olds don't know anything, which is directly related to why so many of them wind up in the militaries of all nations... Which doesn't make the situation better, certainly.)
Her family has helped catapult Ms. England into the spotlight, by granting interviews in which they insist that England does represent the values of 'the American soldier,' (video) (BBC, 05/12/04), contrary to President Bush's assertions to the contrary. They also appear to think that 'anything' they daughter was told to do to make the captives cooperate is acceptable.
Read the previous item about how most of the people in captivity should not have been arrested again, please.
*
A short news item promoted by CBS news suggests that the evil depicted in the photographs (such as Ms. England's) is not the soldiers' fault at all, but merely the natural psychological result of being in 'an evil situation.' To support this theory, they rely upon the Stanford Prison Experiment (prisonexp.org). However, they appear to oversimplify the experiment.
The experiment's great website provides much more information about this 1971 project and its disturbing results. A small group of volunteers were paid a nominal sum to be screened for 'normalcy' and then randomly assigned the role of a prisoner or prison guard in a prison simulation in a Stanford basement. The two week study had to be cancelled after the 6th day, when several of the guards had become dangerously sadistic and the prisoners were showing signs of deteriorating mental health.
While CBS may conclude that 'everyone' turns evil in an 'evil environment,' the study actually demonstrated that the guards fell into one of three distinct behaviors, and only SOME of them became sadistic when given limitless power over others. That is an important point. Not all of the US military police in Iraq are abusing prisoners, so far as we can tell at the moment. So suggesting that the environment would turn 'everyone' evil doesn't really explain why all the other guards weren't doing the same thing.
If CBS concludes that the US prisons in Iraq are inherently 'evil,' that should also be examined: if war crimes are the natural result of detention centers, detention centers must not be created. If the abuse occurs because it is policy, that policy should end. If it is a failure of leadership, those leaders must be replaced. And if it is a policy of racism and oppression based on the occupation of a foreign nation with different customs and beliefs, the occupation MUST end.
*
P.S. I see that Slate now has an item called The Stanford Prison Experiment doesn't explain Abu Ghraib, by William Saletan (slate.msn.com, 05/12/04), which raises additional points negating the comparison.
*
The Executive summary of Article 15-6 investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba (msnbc.msn.com) came out on May 4, 2004, but no one has mentioned that female Iraqi detainees were raped in the mass media summaries of the scandal.
It is surely being mentioned overseas.
Read the findings of fact, section 6, which details the abuses, including:
b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees...See also Annexes 25 & 26, which detail chemical attacks, sodomy, and other abuses.
k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;...
*
"New abuse photos are 'even worse'" ( BBC 05/12/04) reveals that the Pentagon has photographs depicting more despicable acts by US soldiers than have yet been released. Senators who have viewed them claim they are many times worse than those previously released. (See also Lawmakers Are Stunned By New Images of Abuse, by Charles Babington (washingtonpost.com, 05/13/04 (tomorrow's paper), in which U.S. lawmakers observe that there are more U.S. troop boots in the photographs than there are persons who have been accused of wrongdoing, and more people must have been involved in these acts).
*
The beheading of Nicholas Berg has been condemned by Bush as showing the true nature of the resistance to US forces, though the photographs of US forces tormenting Iraqi captives are NOT representative of their nature.
Oh, I see.
*
U.S. media are not broadcasting video of the beheading of Nicholas Berg. (BBC 05/12/04) It has been available in Arab media, where the images of the US tormenting hundreds of captives is still reverberating, and condemnation for the beheading is mixed with a lack of surprise, considering how much evil has recently been visited upon the people of Iraq in recent times. (same)
Since the Arab world gets completely different & much more graphic coverage of events there than we do, it isn't entirely surprising that the soft-news western expectation that the Arabs equate one beheading with the humiliation of hundreds and deaths of thousands aren't quite being met. It just may not be possible for such an equation to be made. At least, not by anyone who believes that all lives are of equal value, regardless of nationality.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
System Failure
In the past few days I've been in conversation with several people about the abuses of prisoners and civilians in Iraq, the prison system in the U.S., the universally unfair application of the death penalty, and police violence in SF neighborhoods.
The previously posted link to the Washington Post about how we abstract the world to reaffirm our own goodness made me realize that the same glossy shine is put on unfair systems here at home by our fellow citizens. As my partner observed, the acquittal of the officers in the Rodney King beating had to be more about what people wanted to believe about our legal system than about the abundant evidence provided.
I can't figure out how to make people see that these problems are structural, however. Especially with fear mongers manipulating the media.
*
On May 7th, the Washington Post reported that "the International Red Cross said Friday it had warned U.S. officials of abuse of prisoners in Iraq more than a year ago" (washingtonpost.com). A report by the ICRC has been leaked to the press, describing the humiliation of naked prisoners in US custody, and worse:
Of course, in this election year, there are a few people who believe that the inconvenient truth that our soldiers are violating the Geneva Conventions is just a strange attempt to discredit an already discredited war!! Kurtz's 05/07/04 Media Notes column describes this, along with summaries of the outrage about how damaging these actions - not merely the release of them - are to the United State's credibility. (washingtonpost.com) Kurtz' quotes American news sources pointing out that celebrating the closure of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers isn't very compelling in the light of what the US is now using those same chambers for. (Read this one through and see the commentary on Rush Limbaugh's distressing justification for all of these acts - that the soldiers were just having FUN!?!? As if promoting the idea that torture is recreation is going to persuade the world that the US is righteous! Yipes!)
While families of some of the soldiers photographed humiliating prisoners devise strange excuses for their actions (washingtonpost.com 05/05/04), and the maximum sentence for the first soldier to be tried for these crimes has been capped at one year (washingtonpost.com 05/10/04), no substantive changes appear on the horizon. A few soldiers in the photos are being charged, (including Lynndie England (bbc.com), whose family insists her evil peers forced her to pose and smile so widely in many of the infamous images), but no one seems alarmed that CDs filled with images depicting these abuses were circulating widely among soldiers for entertainment. The fundamental aspects of the current bad situation aren't up for revision any time soon. The fact that young people are in a mentally unhealthy situation and are engaging in appalling crimes against human beings as a result is not being examined. There is a complete denial that occupying a foreign country using brute force provides a framework that is prone to abuse.
"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts. There was a pattern and a system," said the ICRC's operations director Pierre Kraehenbuehl. (bbc.com 05/08/04) There, someone said it: there is a system in place that leads to this. Limitless power over defenseless foreign captives in the hands of young soldiers trained to shoot first and ask questions later. An administration that creates law-free enclaves in which its personnel can act with impunity. Simplistic world views in which people are either good, or 'evil doers' who deserve no recognition under the law -- unless they are American. The knowledge that anything the US can do by force goes, and there's nothing the rest of the world can do to stop it.
There is the problem. Not a few bad apples, but a system that is fundamentally rotten.
In the past few days I've been in conversation with several people about the abuses of prisoners and civilians in Iraq, the prison system in the U.S., the universally unfair application of the death penalty, and police violence in SF neighborhoods.
The previously posted link to the Washington Post about how we abstract the world to reaffirm our own goodness made me realize that the same glossy shine is put on unfair systems here at home by our fellow citizens. As my partner observed, the acquittal of the officers in the Rodney King beating had to be more about what people wanted to believe about our legal system than about the abundant evidence provided.
I can't figure out how to make people see that these problems are structural, however. Especially with fear mongers manipulating the media.
*
On May 7th, the Washington Post reported that "the International Red Cross said Friday it had warned U.S. officials of abuse of prisoners in Iraq more than a year ago" (washingtonpost.com). A report by the ICRC has been leaked to the press, describing the humiliation of naked prisoners in US custody, and worse:
The newspaper said that the 24-page report described prisoners kept naked in total darkness in empty cells at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and male prisoners forced to parade around in women's underwear. Coalition forces also fired on unarmed prisoners from watchtowers, killing some of them.The abuses were reported in several locations, not just the prison being referenced in most U.S. media. Amnesty International had also warned repeatedly of the abuses by US soldiers. (05/08/04, washingtonpost.com).
In another incident, nine men were arrested in Basra and beaten severely, leading to one death, it added.
Of course, in this election year, there are a few people who believe that the inconvenient truth that our soldiers are violating the Geneva Conventions is just a strange attempt to discredit an already discredited war!! Kurtz's 05/07/04 Media Notes column describes this, along with summaries of the outrage about how damaging these actions - not merely the release of them - are to the United State's credibility. (washingtonpost.com) Kurtz' quotes American news sources pointing out that celebrating the closure of Saddam Hussein's torture chambers isn't very compelling in the light of what the US is now using those same chambers for. (Read this one through and see the commentary on Rush Limbaugh's distressing justification for all of these acts - that the soldiers were just having FUN!?!? As if promoting the idea that torture is recreation is going to persuade the world that the US is righteous! Yipes!)
While families of some of the soldiers photographed humiliating prisoners devise strange excuses for their actions (washingtonpost.com 05/05/04), and the maximum sentence for the first soldier to be tried for these crimes has been capped at one year (washingtonpost.com 05/10/04), no substantive changes appear on the horizon. A few soldiers in the photos are being charged, (including Lynndie England (bbc.com), whose family insists her evil peers forced her to pose and smile so widely in many of the infamous images), but no one seems alarmed that CDs filled with images depicting these abuses were circulating widely among soldiers for entertainment. The fundamental aspects of the current bad situation aren't up for revision any time soon. The fact that young people are in a mentally unhealthy situation and are engaging in appalling crimes against human beings as a result is not being examined. There is a complete denial that occupying a foreign country using brute force provides a framework that is prone to abuse.
"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts. There was a pattern and a system," said the ICRC's operations director Pierre Kraehenbuehl. (bbc.com 05/08/04) There, someone said it: there is a system in place that leads to this. Limitless power over defenseless foreign captives in the hands of young soldiers trained to shoot first and ask questions later. An administration that creates law-free enclaves in which its personnel can act with impunity. Simplistic world views in which people are either good, or 'evil doers' who deserve no recognition under the law -- unless they are American. The knowledge that anything the US can do by force goes, and there's nothing the rest of the world can do to stop it.
There is the problem. Not a few bad apples, but a system that is fundamentally rotten.