Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Abu Ghraib, the awful truth.
There are more and more details coming to light of the terrible acts performed by young Americans. We have all seen the pictures and heard about some of the despicable acts done to terrorist prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Congressional hearings have been held and the media has held a non-stop, 30-day session of American self-loathing. It is clear that, in the history of man, no one anywhere has done anything as terrible as the acts performed on the terrorists being held in Abu Ghraib prison.
Here are the acts most have already heard about:
One man was forced to stand on a box with a bag over his head and wires attached to him. At no time was a current actually passed through these wires, but that’s not the point.
Shocking!
Other men were forced to stand naked in front of female guards.
Unspeakable!
Other men were forced to wear women’s underwear, sometimes on their heads.
Despicable!
Arab men, used to Arab modesty, were forced to strip naked and form human pyramids.
Even the Nazis at their worst would not have done this.
Some male and female twenty something-year-old soldiers had sex with each other, forcing the prisoners to listen.
No wonder there were congressional hearings!
And some cruel, unfeeling right-wing talk show hosts have had the audacity to claim this is nothing more than “fraternity hazing.” Unthinkable!
But this is only the beginning. Here are some acts performed by our brave American young men that you have not yet been reported.
Five men were forced to dig 6-foot “graves” and lay down in them. At this point handfuls of sand were thrown top of them. One of the graves collapsed causing the man in it to inhale sand and die of asphyxiation.
Numerous men were repeatedly shocked with an electrical device. Actually shocked, not just threatened.
Eleven men were required to eat quarter-pound slabs of raw liver. The liver was thick cut and soaked in oil. One of the men, after three tries was unable to follow orders. On the fourth try, he was finally able to get the liver down, at least down as far as his throat. Unfortunately, the liver lodged in his throat. All efforts to dislodge it proved unsuccessful. It killed him.
Two men were taken to a dungeon and locked in a closet for nearly two full days. During this time, they were fed only salty foods and given no water. They were, however, given empty cups to be used to catch their own urine.
Why in the world, after nearly a month of non-stop front page reporting on the abuse at Abu Ghraib have you not heard about these, much more serious forms of “torture?” Could it be out of respect for the constitutional rights of the accused – you know – innocent before proven guilty and all of that? Could it be that I have secret, highly placed inside sources at the Defense Department or, even worse, Haliburton?
No. You have not read about these much worse abuses because every one of them was, in fact, a college fraternity hazing ritual.
Five men were forced to dig “graves” at Monmouth College in New Jersey in 1990. By the way, a grand jury ruled the death as accidental, no charges were brought.
The electrical shocking took place At Stetson University in Florida. Those responsible were expelled from the Fraternity. (Note they were not even expelled from school, just the Frat).
The raw liver incident took place at the Kappa Sigma house at USC
The two-days in the dungeon took place at Ohio State.
Look it up, it’s all out there, documented on the internet for anyone willing to spend 15 minutes using Google.
Oops. I guess the right-wing talk show guys were wrong after all. The infamous abuses at AG prison were not just fraternity hazing; they were much, much milder. No self-respecting fraternity would even think of a hazing as silly has having men put women’s underwear on their heads. Come on people, let’s get serious here, that’s not hazing; it’s a bad joke in an old college movie staring Tim Matheson or Matthew Broderick.
I, for one, and sick and tired of all the self flagellation going on about some relatively minor abuse that a few over terrorists received at the hands of a handful of overzealous young people. Was it right, probably not, but not for the reasons most people seem to believe. I don’t care a fig about violating the Arab modesty of a bunch of men who would cut my throat or bomb my children if they had a chance. Sorry if I’m insensitive. It was a bad idea because these kind of tactics generally don’t generate reliable intelligence and because by taking those pictures, they gave the enemy’s propaganda machine (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, the New York Times…) ammunition to use against American interests. That was what was wrong.
For all of the ink and air time that has been spent crying crocodile tears over what our soldiers did to terrorist prisoners, you would think that someone in the partisan, left-wing press (see above) would have taken 15 minutes to read about what our brightest young people, at our best colleges, are doing to each other. It’s a lot worse than what they are asking the Secretary of Defense to resign over. Heck, there was worse abuse going on in the White House through most of the 1990’s.
I don’t get it.
There are more and more details coming to light of the terrible acts performed by young Americans. We have all seen the pictures and heard about some of the despicable acts done to terrorist prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Congressional hearings have been held and the media has held a non-stop, 30-day session of American self-loathing. It is clear that, in the history of man, no one anywhere has done anything as terrible as the acts performed on the terrorists being held in Abu Ghraib prison.
Here are the acts most have already heard about:
One man was forced to stand on a box with a bag over his head and wires attached to him. At no time was a current actually passed through these wires, but that’s not the point.
Shocking!
Other men were forced to stand naked in front of female guards.
Unspeakable!
Other men were forced to wear women’s underwear, sometimes on their heads.
Despicable!
Arab men, used to Arab modesty, were forced to strip naked and form human pyramids.
Even the Nazis at their worst would not have done this.
Some male and female twenty something-year-old soldiers had sex with each other, forcing the prisoners to listen.
No wonder there were congressional hearings!
And some cruel, unfeeling right-wing talk show hosts have had the audacity to claim this is nothing more than “fraternity hazing.” Unthinkable!
But this is only the beginning. Here are some acts performed by our brave American young men that you have not yet been reported.
Five men were forced to dig 6-foot “graves” and lay down in them. At this point handfuls of sand were thrown top of them. One of the graves collapsed causing the man in it to inhale sand and die of asphyxiation.
Numerous men were repeatedly shocked with an electrical device. Actually shocked, not just threatened.
Eleven men were required to eat quarter-pound slabs of raw liver. The liver was thick cut and soaked in oil. One of the men, after three tries was unable to follow orders. On the fourth try, he was finally able to get the liver down, at least down as far as his throat. Unfortunately, the liver lodged in his throat. All efforts to dislodge it proved unsuccessful. It killed him.
Two men were taken to a dungeon and locked in a closet for nearly two full days. During this time, they were fed only salty foods and given no water. They were, however, given empty cups to be used to catch their own urine.
Why in the world, after nearly a month of non-stop front page reporting on the abuse at Abu Ghraib have you not heard about these, much more serious forms of “torture?” Could it be out of respect for the constitutional rights of the accused – you know – innocent before proven guilty and all of that? Could it be that I have secret, highly placed inside sources at the Defense Department or, even worse, Haliburton?
No. You have not read about these much worse abuses because every one of them was, in fact, a college fraternity hazing ritual.
Five men were forced to dig “graves” at Monmouth College in New Jersey in 1990. By the way, a grand jury ruled the death as accidental, no charges were brought.
The electrical shocking took place At Stetson University in Florida. Those responsible were expelled from the Fraternity. (Note they were not even expelled from school, just the Frat).
The raw liver incident took place at the Kappa Sigma house at USC
The two-days in the dungeon took place at Ohio State.
Look it up, it’s all out there, documented on the internet for anyone willing to spend 15 minutes using Google.
Oops. I guess the right-wing talk show guys were wrong after all. The infamous abuses at AG prison were not just fraternity hazing; they were much, much milder. No self-respecting fraternity would even think of a hazing as silly has having men put women’s underwear on their heads. Come on people, let’s get serious here, that’s not hazing; it’s a bad joke in an old college movie staring Tim Matheson or Matthew Broderick.
I, for one, and sick and tired of all the self flagellation going on about some relatively minor abuse that a few over terrorists received at the hands of a handful of overzealous young people. Was it right, probably not, but not for the reasons most people seem to believe. I don’t care a fig about violating the Arab modesty of a bunch of men who would cut my throat or bomb my children if they had a chance. Sorry if I’m insensitive. It was a bad idea because these kind of tactics generally don’t generate reliable intelligence and because by taking those pictures, they gave the enemy’s propaganda machine (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, the New York Times…) ammunition to use against American interests. That was what was wrong.
For all of the ink and air time that has been spent crying crocodile tears over what our soldiers did to terrorist prisoners, you would think that someone in the partisan, left-wing press (see above) would have taken 15 minutes to read about what our brightest young people, at our best colleges, are doing to each other. It’s a lot worse than what they are asking the Secretary of Defense to resign over. Heck, there was worse abuse going on in the White House through most of the 1990’s.
I don’t get it.
