On the below note, I read an article comparing Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England. The England girl case disturbs me. The fact that she was there in photos looking coldly or with ridicule at the Iraqi prisoners, actively participating in their abuse is one big issue, but the fact that her family are vehenemently defending her saying she was in “the wrong place at the wrong time”, and that she was such a ‘good girl’ is ridiculous! They believe she couldn’t possibly be guilty of such cruelty, and little hometown stories are flying around about the girl who wouldn’t even shoot an animal. This is called propaganda in most countries. Fact is that what is happening is atrocious, and _ANY_ story trying to talk down and defend any ones actions could easily be seen to be condoning the behaviour. We are openly publishing in our magazines pictures of this nature and not even giving the prisoners the decency of somehow blurring their faces.
Imagine for a second, knowing a gang of people raped, then beat and set dogs onto your sibling, your mother, your lover. Imagine seeing photos of that, plastered all over any newspaper, foreign or otehrwise. How willing would you be to listen to how all those people were actually quite nice, and simply in “the wrong place at the wrong time”.
The chilling thing that came out of that story was the quote from her defense. “‘We are not there for a tea party. We are there because they blew up 5,000 of our people.’ Did she believe Iraq was involved in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001? ‘They were definitely involved … Maybe she took it to extremes.'”
WTF!? What are they being told over there? What are our own troops being told over there? If the American soldiers truly believe they are there on a revenge mission, how much compassion are they going to have. Especially for people who they for the most part have a language barrier with. Why is America being allowed to deal with _ANY_ prisoners given they occupied the country by force and showed signs of having an Iraq/Sept 11 link before. I saw an interview with a bunch of soldiers when they first went over and the same thing came through, “we’re gonna get those bastards for what they did 9/11”. It startled and concerned me at the time, it terrifies me now. The UN should be stepping in at the very least to ensure dealing with prisoners is done humanely and without hate. It is akin to Ariel Sharon letting the Lebanese Christian Militants among the Palestinian Muslim refugees in the early 80’s. We saw slaughter there, and Sharon was held at least indirectly responsible for his actions. I believe Bush should wear this, given the proof of his desire to take Iraq since way before September 11 and many other clues.