Prisoner Abuse at the Hands of American Soldiers
Since the beginning of the “War On Terrorism” our troops have been taking Iraqi prisoners of war and shipping them to the now famous Abu Graib prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They learned their interrogation techniques from somewhere. Now in the military as in ANY profession, there is the CORRECT and BY THE BOOK way to do things and then there is the WAY THAT THINGS ARE DONE. It’s always been that way. A Nurse Assistant is trained to never place their hands below their waist after washing them or to never drop dirty linen on the floor but in the actual field, they are commonly done.
Many will say that as bad as the abuse at Abu Graib is, at least we’re not brutally cutting off their heads. Perhaps not, but that has gone on in the field in the past. What happens is that these soldiers both past and present look at these prisoners harshly. Many of these prisoners if they had a weapon would take the soldier’s life without hesitation if they could. The soldiers know that as well. In the field a unit may capture a man who just killed two of their fellow soldiers right in a gun battle. Would you treat a man kindly and with respect that just shot and killed the guy right next to you?
Many of the soldiers at Abu Graib prison look at the detainees as people who would or have been caught trying to kill American soldiers
The commanders who are very high up and in communication with the President of the United States follow the “rules of war” as laid down by the United Nations but many of the US Sergeants and other soldiers do NOT when they’re out in the field or among others who don’t. Technically, if an enemy soldier waves the white flag or drops his weapon and puts up his hands, he is supposed to be taken prisoner and be given quarter but that guy was just shooting at you 2 minutes ago. It’s not uncommon at ALL for that man to be shot.
I’m not approving of the abuse. I’m just saying that it’s not that uncommon. These days, the United States is so made up of so many cultures and many of them are of a different religion. Back in the 1940s for example, there were plenty of immigrants in the states from Europe but they were all Christian and Catholic. There wasn’t a large Muslim community here back then at all. But these days, there is and many of them take the abuse at Abu Graib very personally.
Why all the sudden all the publicity if this has been going on so long? I’ll tell you why. Technology has gone in leaps and bounds in the last 20 years. Even in the last 10 years. Most people have a computer now and or a digital camera. Digital cameras in cell phones, digital cameras that are small enough to be a 1.5″ x 2″ key chain are all over the place. They’re easy to carry around and inexpensive. It used to be that you had to spend a fair amount of money for a good digital camera but not anymore. The cheap and inexpensive ones don’t take grainy and blurred pictures like they used to. Most of them take clear and sharp pictures. The abuse photos you’ve seen weren’t taken with sophisticated and expensive photo equipment. Many were taken with phones.
Another reason you see so much of it is the large presence of media in war zones. It used to be that just a select few were out there in the middle of it. Many of them were military and or trained by the military.
The bottom line is that prisoner abuse in the military has been going on in every war that this country has been in. It’s only today that it has gotten the publicity that the brutality deserves.
