Sometimes, it all comes together. Today, we got a nice fee award, a check in the mail, approval of a settlement, a hearing date we've been waiting for, and, to top it all off, the Lakers won again.
Sometimes, it all comes apart. Some poor American civilian is all over middle eastern TV and the internet, getting his head cut off by a bunch of religious freaks who never suffered any wrong at his hands. A bunch of hooded, masked and bound-headed cowards.
One of the cowards read a statement urging Muslims to seek revenge for the pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison. Then, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu akbar!" — "God is great!" They then held the head up to the camera.
The Muslim extremist nuts are all over this. For weeks, they have been saying "We bring the good news to Muslims of the world that the expected "Winds of Black Death" strike against America is now in its final stage...90 percent and God willing near."
I'm proverbially sorry, but if your god favors catching innocent civilians and slicing off their heads as revenge for offensive, but non-lethal conduct of the enemy's soldiers, your god is wicked. If you think your god wants you to kill innocent people to glorify him, your god either (i) does not actually exist; (ii) has serious problems communicating with you; or (iii) is completely fucked in the head. Whichever way, you and your faithful masses don't belong here with the rest of us. Why don't you just slit your own wrists and join your god tonight?
The murderers of Nick Berg claim that their act was a response to the Abu Ghraib situation. Of course, the truth is that they hated Americans -- all Americans -- with all their might, well before the naked prisoner games were disclosed. Now, they hate Americans -- all Americans -- with all their might just like they did before. Still, it can be said that Lynndie England and the other smiling soldiers who didn't get training on how not to abuse, torture and humiliate prisoners, now have real blood on their hands.
On the other hand, I've also noticed this story shifting a few people's views to the right when it comes to the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners. "Let them suffer," say some. "Let them all suffer." It's a good thing these folks are not Jedi, or they would be headed into the desert like Anakin Skywalker to slaughter a bunch of sand people. Or maybe it's not a good thing. I don't know.
The one powerful Jedi in our government, Senator Palpatine/Lieberman (the comparison is stolen from Doug Wiken) seemed to feel this way even before Berg's murder came to light. At last week's hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Palpatine/Lieberman had this to say:
"Mr. Secretary, the behavior by Americans at the prison in Iraq is, as we all acknowledge, immoral, intolerable and un-American. It deserves the apology that you have given today and that have been given by others in high positions in our government and our military. ... I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq working to liberate Iraq and protect our security have never apologized. ... And those who murdered and burned and humiliated four Americans in Fallujah a while ago never received an apology from anybody."
It's true. The problem with that statement, however, is that the guys we were letting our soldiers abuse are not the same guys who flew the airplanes, cut off heads, or dragged bodies through Fallujah. Some coalition military intelligence officials estimate that 70 to 90 percent of prisoners detained in Iraq since the war began last year "had been arrested by mistake," according to a confidential Red Cross report given to the Bush administration earlier this year. The guilty parties condemned by Palpatine/Lieberman, on the other hand, either got away or died. And they are not going to apologize.
The war on terror reminds me a bit of the first really big concert I attended. On June 18th, 1988, I went to The Concert For The Masses at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, headlined by Depeche Mode.
Between acts, someone in a corner section became enraged, for some unknown reason, at a person seated below. He retaliated by chucking food at the offending party. He missed. Or, should I say, he struck the wrong person. The struck person, feeling wronged, turned and retaliated by tossing a beverage toward the source of the original throw. The original target might also have thrown something. They, of course, missed. Or, should I say, they hit the wrong people. The settling of scores began to spread.
Within about 30 seconds, a food fight engulfed the entire section of seats, from the top row to the field. It then spread outward, like fans doing the wave, until people were throwing all of their unessential possessions all over the stadium. Nachos with cheese, cardboard trays, full beers and sodas, hot dogs, balled-up bags, sunglasses, trash, even full gallons of bottled water were flying about like mosquitoes.
Finally, the MC stepped onto the stage and told everyone that Depeche Mode was not going to come out until the food fight stopped. The threat was taken seriously, and, slowly, the storm of food and beverage projectiles calmed.
The Middle East, sadly, has no eagerly anticipated act that someone can threaten to withhold if everyone doesn't just stop.
They already hated us. They needed no reason or excuse to continue the reign of terror.
There is a lot about how this young man came to be in their custody that we don't know. We don't know who was behind those masks. Just as Iraqi's should not judge all of us based on what a few have done, we cannot let ourselves judge all Muslims based on this horrific action.
My problem is that while I expected this kind of thing from the 'other side' I was not prepared for what I saw of the ongoings in Abu Ghraib. I know, I should have been. War is a nasty business. People die, people are abused, people are tortured. It happens. I was naive to think that Americans would not use the same tactics that have been used upon them. I should have not been so shocked. Saddened, but not shocked. No more than you should be shocked by what happened to this one young American. After all we know what people are capable of. Or at least we do now.
Posted by: wanda | May 13, 2004 at 01:29
Thanks for this post. I've permalinked it from my site.
Posted by: Retro Girl | May 12, 2004 at 07:00