Carpe Datum

Yes, it's disgusting that it happened at all, but at least it's being discussed and owned up to and beginning to be taken care of in a somewhat timely fashion. It's not over yet, either, and I think it's a bit too much to condemn the entire military and federal government for the perpetration of these crimes. Soldiers come in all stripes, and the bad ones can fool you up to the moment they do something horrific.

Also, you say things about "non-governmental" forces, but in the link you offer I see nothing about mercenaries or non-gov forces in this case. Every reference is about American or British soldiers - not even "coalition forces." Did I miss something?

To say that these isolated incidents now put the entire coalition on par with Saddam's regime is over the top. Overwhelmingly, the military is not condoning, nor encouraging, this kind of behavior. And having never been part of any military body, I cannot begin to imagine the kind of pressures endured that might make a few really bad apples lose the ability to exercise self control. (I'm not excusing them, mind you.) Therefore, the fact that these kinds of incidents are rare says a lot for the strength of character of MOST who are serving in this conflict.

Whether or not Bush's words ring hollow in the Arab world is really not relevant. Bush did not order the rape of Iraqi prisoners, and we can't fix the Arab mindset in this regard thanks to bizarrely duplicitous news outlets like Al Jazeera. Many Arabs undoubtedly now think we are as bad as Saddam - or, at least the ones who get quoted by Al Jazeera and a myriad western news outlets think that. Nothing like hunting down that one super-reactionary quote to make opinions look 10 times worse than they really are.

So, I guess I'm a bit fed up with the whole "Arabs will hate us even more" routine. They already do, and many times it's totally skewed and out of whack with reality. That's not our fault. You harp on the American media all the time (and rightly so) for not being objective and accurate. Well, the Arab world has the ultimate in ulra-extremist news in the form of Al Jazeera and other outlets. Any chance you're going to mention "moron-Arabs" who just take what they hear from their media as gospel truth and never question its veracity?

Just taking you to task a bit, Ob. Usually I don't feel you've gone too far, but this time it was a bit much for me.

Oops, left out a link. The stuff about non-governmental forces outside of any formal jurisdiction was reported by the British paper, "The Guardian", and here is the link. Stories today in the paper indicate the interrogations are run under the purview of military intelligence, and it appears abuses are, sadly, systematic. We don't really know how high it goes up the chain of command, and we likely never will. This isn't exactly an administration that is keen on taking responsibility for mistakes.

We'll see the whole story come to light soon enough, and trust me, Perkusi, I hope your view of it is more correct than what I'm reading. You won't see it on the front pages, though. Papers are burying it and not giving it the significance it deserves. It is on the front pages in every Arab country. Like it or not, *that* makes it newsworthy over here.

As for the Arab media and Al Jazeera: If you look at the history of the mass media in the Arab world, you will see that their version of the media is about where we were 100 years ago or more when it was virtually all propaganda and yellow journalism. However, they are evolving. Al Jazeera has been a rather revolutionary step in the Arab world toward a more modern, objective media, but they have a long way to go. At least they are moving in the right direction, and that's tough to do in a region lacking basic constitutional rights like we enjoy.

In our country on the other hand, the evolution of the media is going in the wrong direction. Fox News is all pro-Bush war propaganda, all the time. They have a "message of the day" memo that they're supposed to follow and infuse all their newscasts with conservative bullshit. Then you have the idiots who trashed Al Gore and are doing the same now to Kerry. Then you have the incredibly harmful reporting of people like Judith Miller, repeating fallacies about Iraq straight from the lips of Ahmed Chalabi and drumming up support for a war that should never have happened.

And so this leads me to two reactions: First of all, I live in this country, and it is the media in this country that I want to change first. Such changes have a greater potential to influence the rest of the world in a positive way, especially if we can get back to the point someday where other countries look on us as a role model, a "city on a hill". We have a free society based on an incredible tradition that involved sacrifice and bravery on the part of so many Americans, and to watch outfits like Fox News trash that for 1984-style broadcasts makes me sick.

Second, yes, it is a shame that the Arab world is so consumed by irrational hatred and anti-US propaganda. That's why the only way we can succeed with anything over there is by getting a lot of other countries of significance involved, so that our actions carry the weight of credibility. Yes, they hate us, and that's partly their problem and partly ours.

Unfortunately, Bush isn't doing anything to fix it. He's making it worse, and the consequences of his actions were pretty easy to forsee all along. Retreating into the mindset of "screw them, they all hate us anyway and there's nothing we can do about it" isn't going to solve anything. Real leaders would find a solution that will work over the long haul. I don't know if Kerry could do it, but I'm *DAMN* sure Bush can't.

Here's another reference on the prison abuse story, a summary of the Army's own investigation into the matter from The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh:

As the international furor grew, senior military officers, and President Bush, insisted that the actions of a few did not reflect the conduct of the military as a whole. Taguba’s report, however, amounts to an unsparing study of collective wrongdoing and the failure of Army leadership at the highest levels. The picture he draws of Abu Ghraib is one in which Army regulations and the Geneva conventions were routinely violated, and in which much of the day-to-day management of the prisoners was abdicated to Army military-intelligence units and civilian contract employees. Interrogating prisoners and getting intelligence, including by intimidation and torture, was the priority.

I'm afraid this is just going to look worse as more details come out. Isolated instances? I wish.

Hopefully it's been pretty clear I'm right with you about the shortcomings of our own government, media, and the population that doesn't question either one. And obviously I don't want military intel or soldiers getting off the hook for any violation of Geneva Convention statutes. I'm also right with you about Bush having his head up his ass about how do proceed and I'm also praying Kerry will get the chance to get us out of this mess.

But it's not about saying "screw them, they hate us anyway." It's about understanding that, despite our total disagreement with the way it's being done, the current admin feels it has to hunker down and do what it thinks is right. It's not exactly an easy job, and I don't envy the current admin one bit as it tries to muddle its way through the mess that was already in place in the Middle East long before we got involved.

All we can do is pray that November will bring us a new administration to try to muddle through the mess in a more thoughful and internationally acceptable way.

I don't trust these guys to do what they think is right. I trust them to do what they think will get themselves re-elected. The current administration quite simply lacks any coherent principles. For every one you might name, there is a clear and relevant counterexample.

But Kerry is apparently a flip-flopper. Yeah, right.

Sadly, I think Bush's camp truly believes that doing what is "right" (in their mind) is exactly what will get them re-elected. They just have to time how they do it. THAT is the problem.

Yesterday on CNN the morning talking head "news" reporter Soledad Whats-her-name said "remember that there's no proof of those charges yet" in response to an email-and-discuss segment. I wonder if she'll be a bit embarrased about saying that, considering that ABC news last night led with the story and gave more details about the civilian intel contractors involved.

Nah. Probably not. American attention span... short.