U.S. Army Sullied - 2

Last time I expressed my disappointment that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners had been reported by a civilian, and not by a soldier. This may not be the case. According to the UK Daily Mail (via Drudge), General Kimmitt said that a soldier reported the case in January, complete with the photos.

That's encouraging. To my knowledge so far, the detainees were humiliated and bullied but not permanently injured. Of course that's like telling a rape victim "at least you weren't killed". It's true enough, but the danger is that one might underestimate the impact of the crime when comparing it to an even greater crime.

You hear a great deal how Middle Eastern people live in a shame culture, where honor and prestige are everything. When I lived in Indonesia, my mom warned me to never pat anyone on the head, that this would be a grave insult. I'm confident being forced to parade around naked save a bag over your head would qualify as a grave insult.

Last column I piled on with my outrage, but have to confess that most of it was intellectual. While I certainly hope I would be able to restrain myself from acting like that, and would have the courage of conviction to put an end to it, my real anger isn't sympathy for the victims but that the moral authority of the American military and America has been compromised. I can say my lack of sympathy for the prisoners was coupled with the fact that I thought they were insurgents, who would have no compunction to torture our fighting men. However, this appears to be committed against regular Iraqi Army prisoners. Either way, almost no punishment heaped upon the U.S. troops would be too much.

A little perspective, however. The prisoners' treatment has been likened to that under Hussein, but this is idiotic hyperbole. None of these 20 prisoners were killed, and other than one getting attacked by a dog, apparently uninjured. One particularly shocking image is of a prisoner forced to stand on a box, and is lead to believe that if he steps down the wires attached to his hands will kill him. This is awful, and should be punished, but not torture in the forced-to-drink-gasoline-and-shot-with-a-tracer-bullet sense.

Furthermore, at least six enlisted Military Police and seven officers in the MP brigade's chain of command face either courts martial or administrative discipline. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski has been relieved of duty. They all could do time in Leavenworth. I'd like to see the records of the discipline meted out to Saddam Hussein's torturers for throwing prisoners into a wood chipper, or the fatwa issued by Al Sadr condemning the murder of his militia's captives.

In a large military, you will always have some sort of failure. What a handful of troops do is not a measure of our military or our nation. Our measure is demonstrated in our resolve, our restraint, and when we err, our response. We'll do well.

Tim McNabb