It's an innocent question I asked my mother when I was a kid. I was watching some news on TV a little later than the watershed for kids my age and they started talking about this mysterious vee-dee. So I just asked. I might as well have been asking why the sky is blue. But I never got an answer, I don't think she wanted to get into the whole birds and bees conversation at that point. In fact I never had that conversation. And when #2 brother got married I heard that circuitously that #1 was asked to ask #2 if he knew everything he needed to know. That was about all we ever heard.
Anyway, this entry is not about venereal disease, its actually about perfectly innocent and straightforward questions people ask, but never get an answer for. The question I had in mind is "Isn't torturing prisoners a war crime?". I mean that's what I imagine people should be asking when they see the photos from Abu Ghraib. But for me its not an innocent question, its a loaded one. To me the answer is "But it is". But unfortunately America has been busy exempting itself and all its people from prosecution at the International Criminal Court specifically so it would never have to worry about being accused of war crimes.
Well of course that's because Americans would never commit such things right? Because Americans are the good and only evil people commit war crimes and any charges brought against an American are clearly trumped up charges designed to make America look bad. And yet there they are, photos and counts all the heinous deeds of torture you could want, bar actual killing of prisoners. However even as I write this I go looking for information and find yes, even that happened. Prisoners were actually killed in Abu Ghraib. That's not "died", that's "killed" or as Reuters puts it, "murdered".
You see its not America that is evil, any more than Iraq, Iran or North Korea are evil. Its just a few "bad eggs" who got some power to use and abuse in a way that they never should have. If America says "These images do not represent what America stands for nor do they represent the high standards that our military is committed to upholding," then why should anyone believe us? When we say "What occurred was wrong and it will not be tolerated." what action is there to support it? Some slapped wrists of enlisted servicemen and women. Is that it? People will try to spin-doctor that in any way they can, but when Saddam is torturing and executing prisoners, how is that really any different from Americans doing it? Its taken three months for the February report on Abu Ghraib to surface so someone was sitting on this timebomb to supress it.
So I'll make a suggestion. If America is serious about making amends it should start by apologizing, recognizing that all nations no matter who they are have some "rogue criminals" and recognize the International Criminal Court. Then it should indict the appropriate people for a war crimes investigation by the ICC. If the ICC is good enough for the rest of the world's war criminals it should be good enough for the USA.
Unfortunately for the Iraqi's there's a problem. As my friend The Tin Man points out, America believes hostilities are over and its not a war. Therefore its just a domestic issue for the Iraq government to prosecute if the see fit. But wait, America is still sovereign in Iraq since we took over and therefore, well, maybe we'll just let it slide this time and write it all off as a big mistake. Embarrassing, but a mistake. Trust us, it wont happen again...
So when your kid see hooded men with their testicles wired up and asks, "Mommy, isn't torturing prisoners a war crime?" just turn off the TV and tell them its way past their bed time. Trust me, it's really much easier that way.
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