When I read Joe Bageant's wonderful book "Deer Hunting With Jesus," I found myself with a great deal of sympathy for Lynndie England, the face to many Americans of what happened at Abu Ghraib.
She was the one smiling and holding the leash, the one who became infamous overnight for a policy she had nothing to do with creating. She was sentenced to 36 months in prison, and it wasn't until this year that people really started wondering how all this happened.
My guess is you've never heard of Alyssa Peterson, who paid a much higher price for torture than England, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney or George W. Bush. After seeing some "enhanced interrogation techniques" shortly after arriving in Iraq, Specialist Peterson killed herself in September 2003.
She refused to participate in torture. A few days later she killed herself.
To be fair, no one is exactly certain what she saw -- or what else was going on in her life. The Army isn't talking about it.
For all our talk about "supporting the troops," we don't do anywhere near enough to help these young people cope with things far beyond their previous life experiences. Imagine growing up in a small town or rural area in America, where pretty much everyone knows everyone else, and then being dropped into a war zone where everyone hates you just because you're an American.
Lynndie England didn't have a damn thing to do with why she was sent to Iraq, and neither did Alyssa Peterson. They may have seen the Army as a way to a better future, or surprise of surprises, they might just have been patriots.
Now one is dead and the other is pretty much a national joke.
So say what you want about why we went to war in Iraq. I think the reasons have been pretty much discredited, but even if you don't agree, you ought to be pretty angry with policies that ruin the lives of so many young Americans.
I know I am.
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6 comments:
You arrogant bastard.
How's that for an opening.
You know NOTHING about what you're writing.
NOTHING.
As much as you belittle and bemsirch Sean hannity, here's the hyperlink to a clip on his show where Mike Huckabee discusses the critical damage Barack Obama's administration is doing to our ability to protect American citizens from attack.
I wonder if you or any of your leftist friends has the guts to face the facts.
Jerzy
http://krla870.townhall.com/video/FoxNews/2176_090424-222129_042409_hannity_huckabee_B1200
Interesting.
I just saw the Sean Hannity clip in which Mike Huckabee lucidly discusses how Obama has compromised the CIA's ability to gather intelligence.
Interesting.
In all the hysterical furor about our "torture techniques", the one thing that is fascinating is that leading Democrats in Congress, such as Pelosi, actually knew all along what was happening and thought the CIA wasn't going far enough.
I voted for Obama last November and now I am sorry I did.
He did campaign to move on and instead he is camping out.
Too bad.
And Mike, it seems that you are "camping out" on the torture issue when you are smart enough to know it's a nasty world. And while the lesser of two evils is still evil, it is lesser.
So, go on and be angry.
that's what you liberals seem to do best. get angry, pout, call names, and basically focus on the lint in your navels.
Gee, I'm not Republican, but I guess I can't be a Democrat, either, because I can't stand your constant whining.
The gal named Sharee who posted on your last blog is right: it's time for you to grow up.
Samuel B.
I wonder how many other blogs allow people to attack them so viciously and leave the posts up.
I also wonder how someone can post something as arrogant as the first poster her and then call me arrogant.
Oh well.
And sorry, but if you think failing to torture makes us less safe, I can't agree.
The question might not be how we're protecting ourselves, but what it is we're protecting.
I don't care who tortures; we shouldn't.
So I'm arrogant for calling you on your unsubstantiated "theories."
Oh, you can believe whatever you like (it appears that it's usually some emotional jumble of superstitions, liberal nonsense, and out-and-out deceptions), but you couldn't be more wrong.
And yet you have the gall (or is it Gaul) to present your ideas and arguments as reasonable.
Well, I would hope that ALL so-called moderate websites and their hosts would post and keep posted criticisms to demonstrate their even-handedness.
But you take the sanctimonious cake.
You spew venom virtually every blog and then take offense when someone gives back the same poison to you.
Well, Georgey-Porgey, I guess you can give it out, but you can't take it.
Glass Jaw Mike.
Well, you won't miss me and I definitely won't miss your unmitigated arrogance.
I will, though, find out which professor got my stupid nephew to start reading your blog -- and I'll punch that SOB in the nose if I ever meet him.
You obviously are so biased that even if you did view the video of Mike Huckabee, you couldn't admit how wrong you are.
Just so you know, every former CIA director -- including Clinton's and Obama's present one -- condemn the unspeakable behavior of Pelosi and her President.
And your latest paean to that actress who defied convention -- well, your colors are showing, pal, and they ain't red, white, and blue.
They're more "pink", if you follow.
That's a better color for Glass Jaw Mike anyway.
So long, pal, see you in the funny papers. I just hope you don't choke on your liberal bile.
How your other reader could ever mistake you for shill for the right wing is beyond me.
I can read you like a book -- one written by Karl Marx with excerpts printed in Pravda.
ATTENTION OTHER READERS: there are far more reasonable, fact-based blogs to read. You don't need to stay here. Try the DRUDGE REPORT for starters, but there are plenty of less biased and more principled outlets for opinions.
(Oh, and I won't let the door hit me on the way out.)
P.S. The last reader here remember to turn out the lights. Mike's too busy cursing the darkness rather than lighting a candle.
Jerzy
Drudge is moderate?
Adios, Jerzy.
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