good-lace's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sad days for America This morning I read an extensive report about the abuse that occurred in Iraq. I cried, then I pounded my fist on the desk. How dare they represent America in this fashion? I was reading the various reports in our smoking room at work. As I was ranting and raving, Ty came in. He's a Vietnam Veteran. I immediately jumped on him, "tell me what you think about this?" I swear, he literally hung his head and said "I'm so fucking ashamed, it's killing me." This is a man who was an M.P. (Military Police) for 25 years, and did 3 tours of duty in Vietnam. He said he never saw any shit like this. He did say he heard that the South Vietnamese Army regulars would down right torture prisoners, but not on his watch, and that he didn't know any M.P. that would allow that crap. He said "I'm an American, and Americans don't do that." Now his heart is tortured by the fact this "his" M.P.'s have sunk to this level. He believes, and I totally agree, that an enlisted person would never assume that they had the right to, or MUST, treat prisoners of war like that. You can bet the farm that those orders came from Washington, D.C. I think the people photographed should do jail time and lose their careers, but it will be a total travesty of justice if these soldiers are made the pawns for following orders without putting everyone's ass on the block. The guys that Sam works with have been laughing about the abuse. They say things like "at least we're not as bad as Saddam." What the fuck? Is that the best we can do - compare ourselves to Saddam? It makes me ill. Since when does raping a 15 yr. old boy; putting light bulbs up people's asses; female soldiers grabbing penises; making prisoners masterbate in a group; the list goes on and on and on - since when does this constitute "better" treatment? What, in God's name, have we come to? 10:14 p.m. - 2004-05-21 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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