Editorial
This is my editorial to try to become the Editorial collumnist for the Northeastern News... NEED TO KNOW WHAT YA'LL THINK... thanx
Nuremberg, Take 2
For anyone who thought this war was a good idea, I hope you’re seeing the prisoner abuse scandal in your morning paper and having your breakfast rise in your stomach. We’re living in a country that claims to take the high moral ground to “liberate” a country and then we unshackle the Iraqi people by torturing them. Is there any wonder why the Arab world hate Americans?
Unfortunately if you listen to our government, we’re not actually torturing anyone! According to Rumsfeld when he addressed reporters at the Pentagon: “What has been charged so far is abuse, which is different from torture. Just a minute, I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore, I'm not going to address the 'torture' word." The dictionary defines torture as “Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.” So, Rummy, what’s been going on isn’t torture?
Well, here’s an incomplete list of what’s going on in these prisons, you explain it to me:
- Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture
- Male MPs raping a female detainees
- Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees
- Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair
- Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and broom sticks
- Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees
- Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing
I never realized that sodomizing a man “suspected of terrorism” with a chemical light isn’t torture. Or better yet, rape isn’t torture. You commit rape in this country, you can go to jail for life as a sexual predator. Prisoners are not supposed to be treated like that in this country, so why the hell does anyone get the idea that this treatment is ok. So in short, Rummy, you’re coving your ass and are a really bad liar.
Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits, is one of the soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company who is facing a court-martial in Baghdad on May 19th. Sivits, charged with conspiracy to maltreat subordinates and detainees, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of detainees, reportedly said to his family that he was “just following orders.” Strangely enough, during the infamous Nazi trials at Nuremberg, many of the Nazis were reported to claim that blame was not with them; they were “just following orders.”
Then there’s Brigadier General Janice Karpinski. When the Abu Ghraib prison made its debut as an “American institution,” Brigadier General Janice Karpinski came right out and said: "Living conditions [for the prisoners] now are better in prison than at home. At one point we were concerned that they wouldn't want to leave.” Wow, I never realized that Iraqis loved being tortured. Then, as the torture pictures started to become public, she said she had no clue what was going on. So the leadership says the soldiers acted on their own and soldiers say they were just following orders. Welcome to Nuremburg, no one is responsible.
We are going to see the same excuses of torture happening all over again. Ladies and Gentlemen this isn’t Dachau or Auschwitz and these are not the Nazis. These are Americans. Yes, I said it, Americans tortured Iraqis, took photos, and smiled for the cameras while raping detainees. As every day, new news of the prisoner abuse scandal continues to embarrass Americans across the world, no one is going to take the blame, and everyone is either going to say they were following orders or they had no clue what was happening.
At this point, like many Americans, I just want to hear someone say, “I’m to blame,” and take the punishment that they fully deserve for the torture they dealt upon Iraqis. In the end any soldier or officer who claims they were just “following orders” or “didn’t know” that torture was going on in Abu Ghraib prison is still guilty of the most horrendous crimes against humanity.
Looking at the picture of torture, I’m really not sure which is worse, women screaming while being raped or soldiers smiling and laughing during torture. It makes me sick and should make you sick as well.
Nuremberg, Take 2
For anyone who thought this war was a good idea, I hope you’re seeing the prisoner abuse scandal in your morning paper and having your breakfast rise in your stomach. We’re living in a country that claims to take the high moral ground to “liberate” a country and then we unshackle the Iraqi people by torturing them. Is there any wonder why the Arab world hate Americans?
Unfortunately if you listen to our government, we’re not actually torturing anyone! According to Rumsfeld when he addressed reporters at the Pentagon: “What has been charged so far is abuse, which is different from torture. Just a minute, I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore, I'm not going to address the 'torture' word." The dictionary defines torture as “Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.” So, Rummy, what’s been going on isn’t torture?
Well, here’s an incomplete list of what’s going on in these prisons, you explain it to me:
- Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee's neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture
- Male MPs raping a female detainees
- Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees
- Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair
- Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and broom sticks
- Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees
- Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing
I never realized that sodomizing a man “suspected of terrorism” with a chemical light isn’t torture. Or better yet, rape isn’t torture. You commit rape in this country, you can go to jail for life as a sexual predator. Prisoners are not supposed to be treated like that in this country, so why the hell does anyone get the idea that this treatment is ok. So in short, Rummy, you’re coving your ass and are a really bad liar.
Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits, is one of the soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company who is facing a court-martial in Baghdad on May 19th. Sivits, charged with conspiracy to maltreat subordinates and detainees, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of detainees, reportedly said to his family that he was “just following orders.” Strangely enough, during the infamous Nazi trials at Nuremberg, many of the Nazis were reported to claim that blame was not with them; they were “just following orders.”
Then there’s Brigadier General Janice Karpinski. When the Abu Ghraib prison made its debut as an “American institution,” Brigadier General Janice Karpinski came right out and said: "Living conditions [for the prisoners] now are better in prison than at home. At one point we were concerned that they wouldn't want to leave.” Wow, I never realized that Iraqis loved being tortured. Then, as the torture pictures started to become public, she said she had no clue what was going on. So the leadership says the soldiers acted on their own and soldiers say they were just following orders. Welcome to Nuremburg, no one is responsible.
We are going to see the same excuses of torture happening all over again. Ladies and Gentlemen this isn’t Dachau or Auschwitz and these are not the Nazis. These are Americans. Yes, I said it, Americans tortured Iraqis, took photos, and smiled for the cameras while raping detainees. As every day, new news of the prisoner abuse scandal continues to embarrass Americans across the world, no one is going to take the blame, and everyone is either going to say they were following orders or they had no clue what was happening.
At this point, like many Americans, I just want to hear someone say, “I’m to blame,” and take the punishment that they fully deserve for the torture they dealt upon Iraqis. In the end any soldier or officer who claims they were just “following orders” or “didn’t know” that torture was going on in Abu Ghraib prison is still guilty of the most horrendous crimes against humanity.
Looking at the picture of torture, I’m really not sure which is worse, women screaming while being raped or soldiers smiling and laughing during torture. It makes me sick and should make you sick as well.