Tuesday, December 14, 2004

A cloud that won't go away

"I wouldn't join the International Criminal Court. It's a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors can pull our troops or diplomats up for trial.

"And I wouldn't join it. And I understand that in certain capitals around the world that that wasn't a popular move. But it's the right move not to join a foreign court that could -- where our people could be prosecuted." - George W. Bush 09/30/04

Anyone who thinks these practices aren't big-time, long-term trouble for the United States doesn't realize what's going on.  Or just doesn't care.

Documentos de la Marina de EEUU revelan nuevos casos de torturas y maltratos a prisioneros en Irak El Mundo (Spain) 15.12.2004

Varios documentos oficiales de la Marina de Estados Unidos revelaron nuevos casos de torturas y maltratos a prisioneros en Irak, incluida una parodia representada por varios militares que hicieron creer a cuatro menores iraquíes que les iban a ejecutar. Algunos de los implicados fueron castigados, mientras que otros casos fueron archivados.

Estos documentos se obtuvieron por decisión judicial después de que así lo solicitara la Organización de Defensa de las Libertades Individuales (ACLU, en sus siglas en inglés). Según la ACLU, la información muestra que las torturas y vejaciones eran habituales en el país árabe.

[Various official documents of the Navy of the United States reveal new cases of torture and maltreatment of prisoners in Iraq, including a parody representing various soldiers that are making four Iraqi minors believe that they are going to be execucted.  Some of those implicated were punished, while other cases were filed away.

[These documents were obtained through a judicial decision after they were requested by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  According to the ACLU, the information shows that torture and humiliation are habitual in the Arabic country [Iraq].]

It's important to note that these cases are not reservists or members of the Guard who might have come into the active service with inadequate training.  These are Marines.  And if this kind of conduct really is habitual, it represents a serious failure of discipline.  All the blowhard  white guys in the country can gush their approval of this conduct, but it's seriously bad news.  It's bad news for the war effort, for the standing of the US in the world andfor the American armed forces.  Anyone who thinks this is good or acceptable or admirable conduct is pretty much clueless.  At best.

En otro caso, cinco marines fueron acusados de haber sometido a un prisionero a descargas eléctricas en abril de 2004. Uno de esos militares fue condenado a un año de prisión, otro a ocho meses de detención, mientras que los tres restantes deben enfrentarse todavía a una corte marcial.

Los documentos también citan el caso de un prisionero al que le quemaron las manos en agosto de 2004. El marine implicado en esta tortura fue condenado a 90 días de arresto y fue degradado.

[In another case, five Marines were accused of subjecting a prisoners to electrice shocks in April of 2004.  One of these soldiers was sentenced to a year in prison, another to eight months detention, while while the other three are still facing court martial.

[The documents also cite a case of a prsioner who had his hands burned in August of 2004.  A Marine implicated in this torture was condemned to 90 days of arrest and was demoted.]

Rights Group Puts Rumsfeld on Spot Over Afghan Deaths Reuters 12/14/04

In an open letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Human Rights Watch revealed two new cases of deaths in custody and demanded an investigation into a third that took place three months ago. ...

The two new cases mentioned by the HRW in its letter to Rumsfeld involved the death of an Afghan army soldier mistakenly arrested with seven others in March last year, and the suspectedmurderof another detainee in 2002, HRW said.

The soldier, Jamal Naseer, died at the U.S. base at Gardez, southeast of Kabul in March, 2003. The army opened an investigation into the case in May, 2004, the rights group said.

Men detained with Naseer have said U.S. forces punched them, kicked them, hung them upside down, and hit them with sticks or cables. Some said they were soaked in cold water and forced to lie in snow, and given electric shocks to their toes, HRW said in its letter.

This is one of many reasons that mindless sentimentalizing of the "our brave soldiers in harm's way" has to stop.  Every American should respect and honor and take pride in our soldiers who do their duty.  Soldiers who snatch boys off the street and simulate executions for their own sick entertainment, or who hook up electric wires to prisoners and turn on the juice are not doing their duty.  They are not good soldiers, they are not good people.  Nor are any officers or civilian officers who sanction it.  Anyone who defends this kind of conduct is not Supporting The Troops or Honoring Our Soldiers or any such thing.  They are insulting every American soldier who does do their duty.  And the are peeing on the graves of every American soldier who died doing his duty.

Everyone is so obsessed with showing they they idealize the soldiers that I've seen virtually no comment on the disastrous effect things like this are having on recruitment.  Those who have been following this know that recruitment is already seriously down.  There's a "backdoor draft" already in place with the "stop loss" orders retaining troops in the service past their normal enlistment that Rummy sneeringly defended in his infamous appearance with the troops in Kuwait about to go fight Bush and Rummy's war of choice in Iraq.  Josh Marshall linked to a news item recently about a 70-year-old doctor, retired from the service and retired for private practice, who was recalled into active duty to be sent to Afghanistan.

The Freepers and the armchair warmongers think it's just fine for a Republican president to go to war and occupy and take over another country based on lies about "weapons of mass destruction."  But very few people who haven't spent their lives sitting by the pool at the country club are  quite so fascinated by the idea of dying themselves, or sending their sons or daughters or sisters or brothers or husbands or wives or neighbors or friends or coworkers to die in a war based on lies.  People who live in the real world can differentiate between the war and the warriors, and can genuinely appreciate the service of those who serve, without confusing that appreciation with endorsement of going to war based on lies.

But the war and the warriors aren't totally separate.  And if the torture practices that are coming out into the open are really becoming common, and if discipline is breaking downin a way that allows them to become common, people will start looking at military service in a different way.  No, I don't mean that the Freepers fantasy of war protesters spitting on veterans is going to start coming true.  Speaking of which, I'm not surprised that some of the rightwingers who claim to Support Our Troops were immediately ready to trash the soldier from Chattanooga who questioned Rummy about the armored vehicles last week.

But let's get real.  Who in their right mind wants to think of their son or daughter or spouse taking part in things like this?  I hate to resort to clichees like, "Would you want your son or daughter to marry...?"  But, really, people are already thinking about things like this.  I read a piece earlier this year about how members of the National Guard unit responsible for Guard duty at Abu Ghuraib were worrying about the publicity around the torture practiced by at least some of their fellow soldiers.

They have some reason to worry for their own reputations.  Their families, their friends, their coworkers, anyone they date or become close to, will probably always wonder a little bit, even despite themselves, if the person they know had some part in that disgusting conduct.  It's terribly unfair.  And terribly human.

There are numerous reasons to think the Iraq War in particular is damanging the Army and the Marines in ways that may not be easy to fix.  The torture issue is one of the biggest ones.  And, despite what the Oxycontin bobbleheads may pretend to believe, the problem is not that the "Liberal Press" is reporting it or that the ACLU is getting documents released or that decent soldiers who believe in doing their duty and obeying the law are reporting illegal conduct.  The problem is the conduct itself.  And repeating ten thousand times that The Terrorists behead people will not make the problem go away.

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