Abuse
posted in General |ABUSE
The prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is a royal mess. Most Americans have a hard time believing that our troops committed such acts, but they did. Such barbarous conduct is normally attributed to “others”, not our guys. And it couldn't have come at a worse time. The reputations of the Army and our country have been indelibly stained. Military and political leaders — right up to the President — have denounced the conduct in unmistabable terms. But for the media people, that isn't enough.
In reading accounts of the Iraqi prisoner abuse or hearing and seeing the TV coverage, you'd think that prisoner abuse had been discovered (or uncovered) for the first time ever in military history, and, of course, the perpetrator is the Great Satan – America. Maybe a little bit of reflection is in order. Attilla wasn't too gentle in treating Roman prisoners, and Hilter elevated the disposition of prisoners and detainees to unimaginable new lows. The Japanese “abused” American prisoners by the Bataan Death March, and I'd guess that the US Military were none too kind to the imprisoned Indians during the Indian wars in the latter half of the 19th century. Add to this the blood stained track record of Joe Stalin. History is a continuum of conflicts in which winners had slaves and losers were slaves. Does that qualify as “abuse”, and how does Abu Ghraib compare?
My beef is with the media people who will not let the prisoner issue die or subside – much less putting it in perspective. They are bound and determined to keep ”abuse” on the front page while the throat cutting and beheading of Journalist Danny Pearl and Nick Berg are allowed to fade off into the distance as unfortunate isolated events attributed to a handful of raghead fanatics. Not surprising. We should bear in mind that repeated studies show that 85% of writers and TV people are liberal Democrats. Naturally, they will say that their “professionalsm” assures their reporting impartiality and that they are not influenced by partisan politics. If you buy that, I have a big bridge I'll sell you cheap.
The majority of the media people plus the Hollywood left are determined to bring down George Bush, and they categorically reject the notion that blowing more air in the “abuse” balloon plays into the hands of the Muslim terrorists. But it does. And of course, their efforts are supported by the usual group of Congressional blowhards in Washington who see their own re-election as paramount. They just don't seem to care that they are placing our own troops in more and more danger as the prisoner abuse story drags on day after day.
The war in Iraq is a big gamble to head off global terrorism and reduce the chances of more “9-11s”. No guarantee here, but sitting back fat dumb and happy awaiting the next attack is not very re-assuring. It is important to this country that we prevail in Iraq, and a united approach is needed. Prisoner abuse is unspeakably bad, but we shouldn't take our eye off the ball. We have a war to win. A hostile media motivated by partisan politics does not provide solid support for 135,000 soldiers risking their lives every day.
The photos of Danny Pearl and Nick Berg should be on the front page — not Abu Ghraib.