I saw this article today on Huffington Post , and the wind was taken out of me. I know that abuse, torture, etc is wrong, and that my level of anger that these things were--and continue to be--done by representatives of our country should have remained consistently high through all of the reports that have come out over the years. Yet, like many Americans I would assume, I just got tired of being so angry at the Bush administration that now that it is gone, until today I didn't even have the energy to want them held responsible for the laundry lists of wrongs they committed.
So here I am, looking for some positive reinforcement from my daily left-wing bubble of media (Talking Points Memo, Feministing, Huffington Post et al), when I saw that article. It made me furious. It made me sad. It made me start thinking about when the Abu Ghraib scandal first hit, and how the only people prosecuted were those with very little power in the military. The fact that the Bush administration--and now the Obama administration--can turn such a blind eye to rape, sexual assault, pedophilia--and whoever knows what else--is shocking to me. The intersections of class, race, and international soveriegnty that are at play here have finally made me understand that I cannot let my anger subside. I have resisted in my mind those who have called for a truth commission. I now know that we must, as a country, demand accountability.
I guess what makes me the saddest is that I'm really not all that shocked. Rape and sexual assault have long been the armes de predilection of the US military forces, especially against non-caucasian groups. From the reports that have surfaced, sexual violence was a systematic tool used by United States military forces in prisons throughout the world. Men, women, and children have been assaulted by our military, and there are photos that purportedly document it.
What has really gotten to me is how the Obama administration is handling these photos. He has said in interviews that "One of the biggest mistakes that is made in Washington is this notion you have to dumb down things for the public." But when it comes to not releasing the photos for fear of international retribution? We're not dumb, Mr. President. We understand that the real issue these photos will create is whether or not Americans can be tried for war crimes. We understand that what is at stake is not a loss of security, but a potential loss of sovereignty under your watch.
For my money, there is more at stake than war crimes. My love of country has been more challenged in the past hours than ever before. If we are to be a beacon on the hill, is there not a need to light the path that got us here, no matter how dark? Is there not a need to turn that light inward? How can we expect countries to be better than us?
As feminists, our struggle is necessarily bound to those who still suffer in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and any number of other detention sites. I end with an open question: what do we need to do? What can we start here?
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hmm I could say a lot of things but I think this sums it all up
:|
This saddens me so much.
Rape has always been a weapon of war; read any medival manuscript or the bible for that matter and you can see how rape was used against innocents. It is sad and horrible but I have no idea how to stop rape from happening during war. No war is a soluation, but we don't seem to be in a place where that is possible right now.
Joan
"Its always been that way" isn't a defence.
The Obama Administration needs to step up and say "this is a fucking war crime and we're not brushing it under the rug." American soldiers are getting a free pass to do whatever the hell they want to.
the way to stop having rape used as a weapon of war is to have your soldiers actually believe in what they are fighting for, and what they are fighting for in turn must include equality of women. unfortunately, the military, like most workplaces in our neo-liberal societies, are pretty much a hub of apathy, or worse. most soldiers in the US (& UK) military dont give a fuck about who or what they are meant to be fighting for, apart from maybe a slight nationalist idea of patriotism, and maybe a neo-liberal notion of 'liberty', neither of which are a great basis. the cuban revolutionaries were an example of a force who knew what they were fighting for, and fought in the right way.