Tom Clancy on Abu Ghraib
Humiliating helpless people is not the least bit admirable, and those guilty of this violation will be dealt with, probably with a degree of harshness for embarrassing their country.
But the hysteria in the news media is a little disproportionate. The Arab culture places a higher value on body-modesty than, say, “Hustler” magazine, but what it comes down to is that some Arab prisoners were embarrassed, and gratuitously so. To do that is contemptible, but it is not a major felony under American criminal- or even common-law.
This humiliation falls short, however, of being murdered, as several American civilian contractors were recently (remember?) then to have their bodies abused in ways that can only be called barbaric.
The selectivity of outrage over this tawdry incident shows a “blame America first” mind-set that is not morally defensible. I personally have little love for the SecDef, but demanding his resignation for the action of some reserve enlisted personnel is, to put it mildly, absurd, and clearly motivated more by political motives than by any objections based on common morality, which is not to be found in abundance in the United States Congress in any case. The same people who are calling for Rumsfeld’s head said that Clinton ought not to be impeached over a trivial sexual impropriety.
Politics pollutes everything it touches.
The soldiers who misbehaved will be court-martialed, and probably dishonorably discharged, with loss of rank and priviliges. Maybe even some brig time. That sort of slap on the wrist leaves broken bones, which is more than what those Iraqis suffered.
Everyone take a deep breath and think things through, okay?
He has some points -- the congresscritters calling for Rumsfeld's head are just political opprotunists, and some of the things done by the prison guards aren't torture. But some of it is.
Here's the Taguba report on what went on in Abu Ghraib.
6. (S) I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:
a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;
This is clearly torture, no matter how you look at it.
b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;
This might not quite be Torquemada, but it's absolutely unacceptable -- this isn't an Arab thing; it'd be outrageous if this happened in an American prison.
c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;
And this is even worse.
d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;
I can see certain circumstances where this would be permissible, provided the prisonders weren't forced to do this in public or put on display by the MPs.
e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;
This also I consider permissible, with the same provisos as above.
f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;
Absolutely inexcusable. This is sexual abuse no matter what culture you belong to.
g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;
Torture and sexual abuse.
h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;
As there's no suggestion that electricity was actually applied, I think this is allowable -- psyching prisoners out with the threat of torture is quite different from torture. These prisoners aren't protected by the Constitution, they don't have Fifth or Sixth Amendment protections, so coercing them into talking is okay in my book.
i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;
The photography crosses the line, but I find the first part acceptable.
j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;
This is completely wrong and the bitch and whoever took the pictures should be shot. Live on Al-Jazeera.
k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
Even if the women consented, fraternizing with prisoners like that is unacceptable. If the women didn't consent ... shoot the fucker. This isn't the Fifth Century, and we aren't the Huns. Rape should not be tolerated on any level.
l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;
As with h. above, the intimidation is okay, but the biting, if it wasn't an accident, is wrong.
m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.
This is probably a violation of military regs, but I don't know that it's actually wrong -- though it does raise the question of how these prisoners died.
No, the hyperbole involved here is minimal -- this was torture, and heads need to roll.
