Atrocities at Abu Ghraib

Let me for the record add my voice to those who condemn the mistreatment of prisoners at the hands of coalition troops in Iraq. The matter should be investigated and the guilty punished harshly - turning big rocks into small rocks for the rest of their lives at Leavenworth sounds like a good idea.

I looked at the pictures and am disgusted by what I see. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, which characterizes the cold-blooded murder of a Jewish "settler" and her four daughters as a mere "attack," nevertheless views this abuse as "atrocities" that "terrorize" the prisoners.

With the exception of the use of wires, I think the more precise term is humiliation - these men are forced to appear naked with hoods over their heads, simulate oral sex, and pile naked on top of each other.

Amnesty International is saying "we told you so," and both Muslim and Arab organizations are getting in line to call the coalition on the hypocricy of their policies. There is a rush to judge everything British and American based on these incidents.

Nobody is going to defend the military personnel who did this, and we can be sure that both US and UK authorities are going to make an example of trying them. And they are right to do so.

There are those who argue that these things always happen in wars. That's true, but hardly a defense. And there will be those who point out that as bad as this was, it was still mild compared to the stuff that happens daily in those countries that are complaining the loudest. It's also clear that these incidents haven't been investigated, so we don't know if there are any extenuating or aggravating circumstances.

But until we get all the facts, we're falling over each other to distance ourselves from this, and we're doing so because maintaining the moral high ground is of critical importance. I would imagine that practially all servicemen and -women are at least as disgusted and ashamed by this as anyone; but that some of them wonder why the condemnation of this is so loud when the criticism of Saddam's regime was so soft.

A hypocrite is someone who believes that different standards apply to him than to others, all else being equal. Someone who espouses some values but fails to live up to it is not a hypocrite but flawed. This incident does not make hypocrites out of the US government. But it does make hypocrites out of those who condemn one side more enthusiastically than they condemn the other.

Comments

[Ike]

IMHO, this development is and order of magnitude worse for the US than not finding WMDs. The embarrassment, the hypocrisy. The loss of moral ground and the proof that barbarian behavior has nothing to do with how primitive and backward a society is and all to do with the human condition.

"Advanced" societies have historically shown some of the most cruel and inhuman conduct (England, Germany). Although I don't share the view, I can understand how radicals can spin this in the media like they've done. It is a very thin line and the US has a very thick paintbrush.

I agree with you that the reporting is uneven and the cries for condemnation are based on biased viewpoints. But they always are and always in favor of the underdog. That is precisely why this is so bad.

They should have known. They should be severely punished and it should be widely publicized. The US will certainly be punished for this mess, no matter how may apologies and excuses they come up with. You can’t put the worms back in the can.

[Leif Knutsen]

Well, it's an argument you can't win, similar in principle to the argument about Clinton's "fooling around" with Monica Lewinsky. Nobody's going to defend torture, or adultery, and you get accused of doing just that if you try to put things in perspective.

I don't think the US ever said its forces were infallible, just that they are well-trained both in the craft and law of war. Training, to state the obvious, increases the probability of doing the right things and doing things right, but it doesn't guarantee it.

[Renee]

So basically these prisoners were humiliated. And that's it. Nobody was hurt, nobody was tortured, heck, you can't even identify exactly who is in the pictures ..... and the world cries out in rightful indignation.

Meanwhile, a Palestinina armed with a machine gun executes a 2 year old little girl at close range. Arafat calls this "freedom fighter" a hero. And you could hear a pin drop ....