Winning those hearts and minds - Abu Ghraib

This is a snippet from a news report about Abu Ghraib:

Bush blamed a “few people” for the abuses and defended the conduct of U.S. occupation forces…

A friend’s comment on this portion of the news story:

That’s bullsh!t and Bush knows it. These abusers are a product of the system. The system trains soldiers to do violence while at the same time demeaning the enemy to make him easier to kill. What the hell do we expect? That U.S. soldiers would treat Iraqis with dignity and respect? What Bush finds appalling isn’t that this is happening, but that it got out and the public now knows about it.

My thoughts about how it may have happened:

I really don’t think it has anything to do with military combat training, or military dehumanizing tactics (I don’t think they use those as much anymore since most of the combat is done at a distance with “smart bombs” and stuff).

I have a friend who was sent to Afghanistan. He wanted to do his part to “pay them all back”. He felt that everyone in the Middle East had their own part in the terrorist attacks (he told me that himself).

Between living in Oklahoma, working as a cop, and being in the guard for ten years he’s been so thoroughly brain-washed by the “greatest President ever” that in his first email to me from Afghanistan he said something like, “You wouldn’t believe how these heathens live.” They weren’t even human to him. I don’t think this was the military’s doing…just the environment(s) he had been in. I didn’t bother answering that email. After being there for a while and actually interacting with these “heathens” I think he’s looking at it a bit differently.

I hate to say this about a friend, but he’s never been the brightest bulb (did I ever mention that on one of the many occasions that he was drunk, he thought it would be a good idea to parasail behind a car going down the Alaskan Highway?…he hit a tree…right in the crotch). In school he repeated the third grade, and the tenth, and then dropped out after that. He actually had to study before passing his GED, and he only joined the guard because his ASVAB wasn’t high enough for regular Army…unfortunately I’m not joking! (In his defense I must say he does very well when he’s interested in the subject, like flying.)

Having been in the military I can safely tell you he is a prime example of the majority of the enlisted…especially those that reenlist. Given the type of people I really don’t think it would take much on an instigator to convince a group to join in on humiliating the “heathens”. It probably started small and just kept escalating. BTW most cops are ex-military…*warning slight sarcasm approaching* really it’s America’s finest protecting us in all directions.

If you ever want to get paid to take a three to five-year course in sociology and human sexuality join the military…I didn’t say it paid much.