Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing - War Crimes
By Stryker on Iraq: The Ugly
I have no idea where to start about the degradation and abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Every single angle of this story is disgusting and infuriating, but let me start with Staff Sergeant Chip Frederick. He's charged with "maltreatment for allegedly participating in and setting up a photo, and for posing in a photograph by sitting on top of a detainee. He is charged with an indecent act for observing one scene. He is also charged with assault for allegedly striking detainees - and ordering detainees to strike each other."
What's his defense for failing not only as an NCO, but as a human being? "'We had no support, no training whatsoever. And I kept asking my chain of command for certain things...like rules and regulations, says Frederick. 'And it just wasn't happening.'"
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The first rule of a coward, when caught, is to play
stupid. The second is to blame someone else. I don't know
about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't need a superior to
tell me that attaching wires to someone's genitals or
beating the living shit out of them is unacceptable. What
are you, a fucking idiot? This guy's supposed to be a
correctional officer at a Virginia prison, but apparently
when it comes to performing his job outside the confines
of the Commonwealth, he turns into Sergeant Stupid. "Duh,
What do I do? What do I do? Wow, that translator's raping
a prisoner and that soldier over there's taking pictures.
I don't know what to do! Help, help, I need an officer!"
He says that he and the others received no formal Geneva Convention training, which would've instructed them that stacking a bunch of naked men in a pyramid and posing for a trophy picture are inappropriate. I mean, until I was trained in LOAC, I thought I could just walk around shooting people at random if the whim caught me. Without that invaluable training, I'd have no idea that there indeed exist basic standards of human decency. Who knew?
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But hey, at least Frederick takes pride in his work. He says, "'Military intelligence has encouraged and told us 'Great job.'
'They usually don't allow others to watch them interrogate. But since they like the way I run the prison, they have made an exception.'
'We help getting them to talk with the way we handle them. ... We've had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break. They usually end up breaking within hours.'"
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Well good for you, you craven piece of elephant shit. You've got yourself an excellent bullet point for your next eval. You, and those whom you were charged with supervising- wait, did anyone ever tell you that maintaning discipline and standards of conduct is your main charge as an NCO? Did this piece of training slip through the cracks as well? You know, I wear the same uniform. I'm an NCO as well. Not only have you disgraced yourself, your unit, your country and humanity, your actions have disgraced me and everyone else who wears that uniform. Your stupidity, ignorance, and cruelty have stained all of us, because of that uniform we all wear. It's the binding tie that connects not only all of us serving today, but everyone who has ever served and those who will serve in the future. That uniform is stained with the noble blood of those who've fallen in battle for their country, but you have smeared that uniform -my uniform!- with the excrement of malevolent barbarism.
You have failed in every possible way a soldier can fail. You failed, as an NCO, to maintain basic standards of military order and discipline. You failed, as a soldier, to maintain the highest standards of conduct required of you by the United States Government. You failed, as a human being, to afford even the slightest bit of dignity and respect to those placed under your care. And what do you have to say in your defense? You only offer excuses that blame everyone else but yourself. You, and those with whom you shared your depravity, are a disgrace and a shame. May the military justice system have more mercy on you than you could muster for your own prisoners.
I have to stop here, because I'm too enraged to continue. Maybe next time, I'll try to understand just why the entire chain-of-command failed to discharge every major responsibility required of it. |
