American Shame—Arab Hypocrisy 

By  Barbara J. Stock 
 

Is it possible for a handful of men and women to bring shame and disgrace to the greatest fighting force in the world? Is it possible for this small number to embarrass a country of over 280 million people? Yes, it is and they did.  

Disgust and anger are very strong emotions and most Americans are feeling both right now with a blanket of shame trying unsuccessfully to cover both.  

The pitiful plea of “we had no guidance” is falling on deaf ears. The fact they had failed to have the Geneva Convention manual read to them is a pretty sorry excuse. Embarrassed family members are claiming they are “scapegoats.” Military Intelligence men told them to do it. Every soldier is taught they are not obligated to carry out any order they know violates the laws of common decency. 

This behavior prompts one simple question: Did they know right from wrong? It’s not a difficult question. We are not asking these soldiers to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity. Put simply, it is this: Did they, at any time, wonder if humiliating helpless enemy prisoners and taking pictures for posterity of them with their grinning faces up front and center pointing at prisoners genitals just might be WRONG? Didn’t it occur to any of those charged that what they were doing would reflect on every soldier, marine, sailor, and American in the world? From the pictures, it appears they were having far too much fun to consider the consequences and repercussions of their actions. 

Personally, the anger I feel has many facets. I am angry at those who carried out these hideous acts--angry at those officers who didn’t pay attention--angry at any officer who knew and looked the other way--angry that those who did come forward were at first ignored, but God bless them, they persevered and finally got the word out to someone who did care.  

There is anger that these fools have given our enemy fodder to use against us for months, perhaps years to come. Those ignorant soldiers have put the good soldiers at higher risk as angry Iraqis seek revenge for what was done to their countrymen. In one fell swoop, they destroyed much of the good we have done in Iraq . The only way to possibly have some recovery from this disaster is to televise their court-martials and allow the Arab world to see how America deals with crimes such as these. We must prove to them that such animalistic behavior is not tolerated in our military or our society. No secrecy, no cover-ups, and no simple “reprimand” for the officers who lost control over the troops they commanded. No cloak of secrecy for military intelligence. 

As gloating Arab networks show these photos nearly around the clock there is no way to even calculate the damage that has been done. 

As with any story such as this, there is always shame on one side and anger on the other. But do the Arabs or even the Iraqis have a right to be quite as outraged as they profess to be from inside their huge house glass? I think not. 

Al Jazeera, the favored Arab television propaganda machine, showed dead American soldiers and smirking Iraqi captors standing over their bodies claiming they had executed them after capturing them. It was amusing then. It was acceptable to murder our POW’s and show their bodies over and over again. “The Geneva Convention,” it was claimed, “only covered POW’s that were alive.” Of course, Arab TV showed live prisoners as well. They showed our beaten and bloodied soldiers and thought it was wildly amusing at the time. 

Almost without exception, our female soldiers who were taken captive, have come forward and admitted they were raped repeatedly while in the hands of good, Muslim Iraqis.  

What the Arab world in general overlooked and ignored for years in Iraq makes the actions of a few foolish soldiers pale by comparison. Where was their outrage then? Where was the fury when Saddam slaughtered 100,000 Shiites in the South of Iraq? Where was the horror when he gassed 5000 Kurdish men, women and children? Where was the moral Arab Muslim indignation when Saddam’s sons were trolling in schools to find the prettiest young Iraqi girls to take and rape and then dump in a ditch when they were done with them? Did Arab television show those videos non-stop? The crimes aren’t limited to what was ignored in Iraq . 

Did the Arab world see nothing wrong with the execution of women as entertainment in a soccer field like the Roman’s of old…thumbs up from the Mullah and she lives--thumbs down and she dies?  

The self righteous, holier-than-thou Arab world that claims to live its faith to the letter treats its women like animals.  

Saudi Arabia , supposedly one of the “civilized” Arab countries, left school girls to die behind a locked gate the Islamic guards could have opened to save them. Unfortunately, in their haste to escape the fire, these children didn’t have scarves to cover their heads so they were left to burn to death as their screams for help fell on cruel and deaf ears. Better to die horribly then to have your head uncovered for a few minutes and tempt a weak Arab man. 

Arabs must be so unable to control their sexual tendencies that the very sight of a woman’s ankle or uncovered face tempts them beyond their ability to control themselves. Even the sight of a young girl’s uncovered head will apparently drive them wild.  

We Americans are ashamed of the behavior of these soldiers. They have no excuse. I don’t care if they received direct orders from a general, military intelligence, or the president himself, what they did was wrong. All those involved must be ferreted out and punished for their actions and the shame they have brought upon this country and our military.  

As to the “outraged” Arab world, it needs to do some internal reflection on what it seems be able to overlook when the crimes involve its own. When the Arab world actually starts following the Geneva Convention and stops cheering the executions of hostages and the bombing of school buses full of five year olds, then it will have a right to be outraged. Until then, it has no moral right to condemn the U.S. for the actions of few ignorant reservists.