Frathouse Fun at Abu Ghraib Prison
By Rachel
Marsden | Bio
I
hate to say it, but the video showing the beheading of an American civilian in
Iraq came right in the nick of time--just when a bunch of lefties in the US and
around the world were starting to get all squishy over photos showing Iraqi
prisoners being ‘abused’. Forget about the fact that there was no context to
these photographs. Who exactly are these poor ‘victims’? Either they have
information that could help thwart further violence in Iraq against civilians
and coalition troops, or they’re insurgents who would love nothing more than
to have US soldiers sent home body bags.
But
none of this stops the media from painting US troops, and their Commander In
Chief George W. Bush, as the villains. The mainstream media is, quite obviously,
looking for any flimsy, pathetic excuse to do so.
For
example, a French cable TV network used images to depict a story of US troops in
an Apache helicopter shooting and killing three “innocent” Iraqis on the
ground. It was as though the poor guys were having a marshmallow roast, when the
big, bad Americans showed up and unleashed a hailstorm of bullets on them. What
was missing from the story was context:
The
soldiers in the Apache saw the men unloading from a truck what looked like a
rocket-propelled grenade launcher or a surface-to-air missile.
Show me someone who wouldn’t have done the same thing in those
circumstances, after being given permission to engage by their operational
commander, and
I’ll
show you an idiot (likely a dead one). It’s a little detail that the
vehemently anti-war and anti-American French, whose government benefited greatly
from their oil-for-food deal with Saddam prior to the war, conveniently chose to
leave out of their story.
Some
of the prisoners are also believed to possess information related to the
location of weapons of mass destruction. Now before someone out there fires off
an email to me with the typical “there are no weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq” line, let me point out that the artillery projectile containing deadly
Sarin nerve gas that exploded in the faces of US troops just a few days ago was
one of those things that Saddam Hussein claimed to have destroyed before the
1991 Gulf War. Couple that with the fact that US soldiers are uncovering, on a
regular basis, large caches of weapons in the possession of people suspected of
planning and carrying out attacks against coalition forces, and it makes it
difficult –- and even irresponsible -- to give these guys the benefit of the
doubt.
It’s
unclear whether the photos taken at Abu Ghraib prison depicting such things as
female soldiers pointing to the genitals of Iraqi prisoners were for real, or if
they were setups used in psyops to obtain information about future attacks on
coalition forces. Either way, if pointing out a few wee-wees saves the lives of
US soldiers, I’d say it’s a pretty damn good trade off.
Let's
compare "abuse" tactics, shall we? So far, we have Iraqi prisoners
being photographed making naked human pyramids and lying on the floor with
leashes around their necks. One prisoner complained about having to “wear rose
coloured panties with flowers on them.” I’ve seen of all the photos, and
they look more like what passes for a good night at any college frat house in
North America than actual “abuse”. Perhaps they should just break out the
naked "Twister" or naked "Slip n’ Slide" at Abu Ghraib and
change the prison’s name to “Abu Kappa Gamma”. Heck, the authorities in
Vancouver, Canada perform full strip and cavity searches on folks admitted to
the local jail on minor, non-drug related misdemeanor offenses. It’s a
well-known fact, and no one even blinks.
By
contrast, let's see what the Iraqis have been up to with their own torture
tactics, which have been largely ignored and overshadowed by the media’s
attempt to stick it to President Bush in an election year:
26-year
old Nick Berg was a small-business owner who went to Iraq independent of any
organization to help rebuild communication antennas. He was there of his own
volition to help the Iraqi people rebuild their country and their
infrastructure. He wasn't a soldier or there to cause trouble. He was nothing
more than a good-hearted civilian who happened to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time. He was captured by thugs linked to Osama bin Laden associate Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, and later beheaded by al-Zarqawi himself live on video. Now
for all of you out there who have had some difficulty up to this point
connecting the dots between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, does this make it clear
enough for you? I would venture to guess that it doesn't. In fact, I received a
nasty email from some flake last week who felt the need to remind me that there
is indeed no connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. And this was
only a couple of days after the release of this gory video showing bin Laden's
henchmen killing an innocent American civilian in Iraq, in the name of Iraqi
prisoners.
In
the al-Qaeda snuff video, five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks stand
over Berg while he reads a statement. They then splay him out on the floor, his
hands bound behind his back, and al-Zarqawi saws Berg’s head off with a knife
as he screams in agony. The animals performing this act then hold Berg’s head
out in front of the camera before tossing it onto his decapitated body.
True,
the USA should hold itself to a moral standard and code of conduct that’s well
above that of the Arab world. After all, coalition authorities went into Iraq
for very moral reasons—one of which was to stop the very real torture and
murder of prisoners under Saddam Hussein’s regime. However, people need to get
real about what actually constitutes abuse—and use their own brains to
differentiate it from what’s being used by Bush Administration detractors as
political fodder during an election year. Just because the media tells you that
something is “abusive” doesn’t mean that it really is. Use your own brain
to make a determination.
When
their guys don’t think twice about lopping off the head of innocent civilians
on our side, and dragging the bodies of dead soldiers through the streets in a
morbid sort of parade, I’d say these people have little license to whine and
complain. What’s next? When Saddam Hussein is tried, convicted and hung in
Fallujah, will the soldier who places the noose around his neck be court
marshaled for making the noose too tight? Let’s
get real.
Rachel Marsden is a political strategist, columnist, radio talk show host and commentator who works in the US and her native Canada. Her website can be found at www.rachelmarsden.com