Andrew Sullivan quotes from the Abu Ghraib charge sheet at sickening length; including:
i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;
...
k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
...
Here’s a lesson in how corrupt power works: the prisoner alleged to have raped another prisoner is punished and humiliated; but the guard is free to have sex with the prisoners at his whim. (The charge sheet does not say that the male guard “raped” the female detainee; but the act was certainly rape in every meaningful sense, simply by virtue of the fact that he held all the power and she held none.)
None of the guards had themselves photographed with misspelled confessions written on their bodies. Their guns and uniforms stated clearly enough who they were: they were the ones holding power. And how did they use that power? We’re just beginning to find out.
Think what this means. These degenerates have written their own meaning into the uniform that thousands of honorable men and women wear proudly every day. They have re-defined the American military uniform to mean, “I am a rapist”.
No American veteran can forgive this. The United States must practice “leadership by example” and make an example of these vermin. And we must extirpate the cancer of power abuse, not only in the military but in society at large.
We can do it. We must do it.
