1) These are isolated events, perpetrated by a handful of GIs. It's not like the problems are systemic.
2) The GIs who committed these acts were not trained in the Geneva Convention.
3) Hey, these are Iraqi criminals in prison, here - not innocent civilians!
Unfortunately, not a single rationale for allowing this kind of abuse to go on works if you consider yourself a reasonable person interested in providing the same rights to everyone around the worl that every American citizen has. Here's why:
1) These are isolated events, perpetrated by a handful of GIs. It's not like the problems are systemic.
Sorry, but this is not the case. The GIs who have committed these attrocities were given orders by superiors to commit these acts. Do you really think some hick farm girl from middle America would think, on her own, that piling up a bunch of naked Iraqis would be a fun thing to do? Remember, if there were orders, that means that there are other higher-ups that are just as responsible for these horrible acts. Don't blame just the GI following orders. They are essentially living in a world where they HAVE to feel superior to the locals (aka that they are helping these poor people out) in order to stay sane. If they can't, then they will instantly begin questioning everything.
2) The GIs who committed these acts were not trained in the Geneva Convention.
Why do someone need to be trained that handcuffing a man to a bed and putting women's panties on his head is not right? Why do rules of common decency and compassion need to be taught? This speaks to my above point on how this culture they live in inspires and even breeds this kind of violence against the people they are trying to help. In short, it should be expected. They show up trying to help, only to discover a people who don't seem entirely grateful. So, a few are grabbed and beaten around as a sort of sub-conscious revenge.
3) Hey, these are Iraqi criminals in prison, here - not innocent civilians!
Heh... as Jon Stewart would say: Funny story, here... It turns out that coalition intelligence officers have estimated that 70-90% of those Iraqis detained were arrested by mistake.
I thought America was supposed to be bringing freedom to Iraq. Instead, the USMil has tried to take away their weapons, their free press, their right to due process and in many cases, their dignity and even their lives. One woman in Baghad seemed to encapsulate everything that needs to be said:
...don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice... Chaos? Civil war? Bloodshed? We’ll take our chances- just take your Puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go.There's at least one person who feels that the US has completed it's mission and should now leave. Something tells me she's not alone.
People are comparing the Iraquagmire to Vietnam. Harcore Lefties and Neo-Cons deny this saying that it's no where near as bad as Vietnam.
Do we really want to wait that long?
Or do we want to learn from history and stop this mess from getting any worse?
Read an AP article at My Way News that covers the release of a Red Cross report that details much of the human rights mess that's going on right now in Iraq.
From the AP and My Way News:
Red Cross Report Describes Abuse in Iraq
May 10, 1:02 PM (ET)
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
GENEVA (AP) - A Red Cross report disclosed Monday said coalition intelligence officers estimated that 70-90 percent of Iraqi detainees were arrested by mistake and said Red Cross observers witnessed U.S. officers mistreating Abu Ghraib prisoners by keeping them naked in total darkness in empty cells.
The report by the International Committee of the Red Cross supports its allegations that abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers was broad and "not individual acts" - contrary to President Bush's contention that the mistreatment "was the wrongdoing of a few."
The report said "high-value detainees" were singled out for special mistreatment. The report did not specify them, but The Associated Press has learned they included some of the 55 top officials in Saddam Hussein's regime who were named in a deck of cards given to troops.
"Since June 2003, over 100 'high-value detainees' have been held for nearly 23 hours a day in strict solitary confinement in small concrete cells devoid of daylight," the report said.
"ICRC delegates directly witnessed and documented a variety of methods used to secure the cooperation of the persons deprived of their liberty with their interrogators," according to the confidential report.
The delegates saw in October how detainees at Abu Ghraib were kept "completely naked in totally empty concrete cells and in total darkness," the report said.
"Upon witnessing such cases, the ICRC interrupted its visits and requested an explanation from the authorities," the report said. "The military intelligence officer in charge of the interrogation explained that this practice was 'part of the process.'"
This apparently meant that detainees were progressively given clothing, bedding, lighting and other items in exchange for cooperation, it said.
It said it found evidence supporting prisoners' allegations of other forms of abuse during arrest, initial detention and interrogation.
Among the evidence were burns, bruises and other injuries consistent with the abuse that prisoners alleged, it said.
The 24-page document, confirmed by the ICRC as authentic after it was published Monday by the Wall Street Journal, said the abuses were primarily during the interrogation stage by military intelligence.
Once the detainees were moved to regular prison facilities, the abuses typically stopped, it said.
The report cites abuses - some "tantamount to torture" - including brutality, hooding, humiliation and threats of "imminent execution."
"These methods of physical and psychological coercion were used by the military intelligence in a systematic way to gain confessions and extract information and other forms of cooperation from person who had been arrested in connection with suspected security offenses or deemed to have an 'intelligence value.'"
The agency said arrests allegedly tended to follow a pattern.
"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. They also attributed the brutality of some arrests to the lack of proper supervision of battle group units."
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations, said Friday the report had been given to U.S. officials in February, but it only summarized what the agency had been telling U.S. officials in detail between March and November 2003 "either in direct face-to-face conversations or in written interventions."
Kraehenbuehl said the abuse of prisoners represented more than isolated acts, and that the problems were not limited to Abu Ghraib.
"We were dealing here with a broad pattern, not individual acts. There was a pattern and a system," he said, declining to give further details.
The report described how male prisoners were forced to parade around in women's underwear.
It said that information obtained "suggested the use of ill-treatment against persons deprived of their liberty went beyond exceptional cases and might be considered a practice tolerated by" coalition forces.
Kraehenbuehl said the ICRC regretted the publication and said it would have preferred sticking to its policy of confidential discussions with coalition authorities because the United States had been making progress toward meeting its demands.
ICRC chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari declined to discuss the full report.Copyright 2004 Associated Press
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