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May 08, 2004
Price of Action
John Weidner posts a reply to a comment I made. We seem to be on different pages regarding where responsibility lays in the Abu Ghraib situation...
His basic argument is that it was committed by individuals. He is ashamed of those individuals. I think it was caused by Americans, and am ashamed for my Country...
I suppose that if I believed that this was a series of isolated incidents, I might have some sympathy for Mr. Weidner's arguments. Instead, I reserve my sympathy somewhat for those who believe such a thing, and also for the men and women who were brutalized by agents of the United States...
These were not the acts of individuals letting their inner sadist slip the leash of civilization. These were the acts of individuals cooperating with US intelligence people to break the spirit of Iraqi nationals. This was being done to further US interests. The fact is that we weren't even (in many cases) terrorizing people who had anything useful to tell us:
As a witness in an ongoing investigation, Mr Nelson said he could not talk about the abuses of specific prisoners at Abu Ghraib, but he said the nature of the detention system makes the imprisonment and abuse of innocent people all but inevitable."A unit goes out on a raid and they have a target and the target is not available; they just grab anybody because that was their job," Mr Nelson said, referring to counter-insurgency operations in Iraq. "The troops are under a lot of stress and they don't know one guy from the next. They're not cultural experts. All they want is to count down the days and hopefully go home. They take it out on the nearest person they can't understand."
"I've read reports from capturing units where the capturing unit wrote, "the target was not at home. The neighbour came out to see what was going on and we grabbed him," he said.
So, here we have the torture of Innocents as part of (informal) US policy. And yet Mr. Weidner shrugs and says "these things happen", and he feels no shame...
Well, I'll tell you what. I feel pride when We do something good. Bosnia gives me a warm, happy glow when I think about it. The fact that Saddam is behind bars makes me grin just to think about it. Hell! I'll even take credit for the Liberation of Cuba back in 1898 (before my grandparents got here, I might add!), or the 13th amendment for that matter. But it is precisely because I feel pride at America's good actions that I must feel shame at America's evil ones. To not look at the nation I love and her as she is-- where she is flawed and where she is fair-- is not real love. Nor is it real patriotism...
Because I love my country, sir, I cannot look away when A Trail of Tears or a Abu Ghraib is committed. After all, they were both done for me...
Posted by Andrew at May 8, 2004 02:17 PM
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