A little more news from Iraq...

[mrph]

US troops face court martial for abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/27/60II/main614063.shtml

Pretty grim reading. Although the really scary bit is the guy who claims that he didn't know he was doing anything wrong because he hadn't seen the Geneva Convention rules until he was charged.

He needed the Geneva Convention to tell him that these things were wrong? Things like attaching wires to prisoners and threatening them with electrocution...? Yeah, right.

Comments

[miss-blu.livejournal.com]

Is that the same guy whose fulltime job at home in the US is a prison guard? Guess that means he has no idea on humane treatment of prisoners, eh...

[mrph.livejournal.com]

That's the one, yep.

[smogo.livejournal.com]

Did you see this story?

[avariel-wings.livejournal.com]

Shame they don't mention the boy's name. It'd be interesting to see how long it takes before he's got a hefty prison term for marijuana possession or something equally petty.

Can't get him for drawings, but they'll be watching him.

[the_axel]

American prisons are way more brutal than British or Canadian prisons to begin with.

On top of that US Army training is geared to break down soldiers ability to empathize with the enemy 'cos it makes them better at fighting wars to a much greater extent than British or Canadian Army training.

Add those two together and I'm not at all surprised about this.

Remember the US soldiers who stood by, watched and apparently sanctioned a massacre of prisoners of war in Afghanistan by their alloes?
Same thing.

[x-mass.livejournal.com]

probably assumed war was like what he had seen at teh movies back home. If arnold can do it why cant I?

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

Its pretty terrifying, but at least they are facing court martial for it. Under Saddam...etc. etc.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

True. But that's a bit like the Met saying "sure, we have police corruption... but we do put them on trial when we notice it...". It's still not reassuring, because it's an institution where it shouldn't be happening at all.

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you must remember that there is always going to be something suspect about the motivation of people who join a military organisation.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Some of them, sure. But some are there because they actually think it'll give them a chance to do some good.

[deeply-spurious.livejournal.com]

But who is facing court martial for Camp Delta? (which although *slightly* less visually crude, is certainly within the same area of activity (i.e. torture) and every bit as unlawful and repugnant - but on an infinitely larger scale)

[deeply-spurious.livejournal.com]

When the present of a country describes significant sections of the population of the world as 'evil doers' and specifically sanctions the use of what can only be described as torture in Camp Delta, its not entirely surprising that members of his army find it hard to understand the objections to what they did.