*Ø* Blogmanac | England waives the rules
The press (unanimously, it seems) reports that Private Lynndie England of the 372nd Military Police Company is shown in this picture "pointing" at the genitals of Hayder Sabbar Abd – the poor guy who wasn't even a combatant and after being terrorised was released without charge by the sadistic American prison system in occupied Iraq.
Pointing? Looks more like pointing a gun, does it not? There are obviously elements of sexism in this case that one can only hope the media will take up as much as it is (at long last) covering the torture and abuse of power. Certainly if the genders were reversed there would be plenty said about institutional sexism in the US military, as well it should. Sexism and racism are strong components in this sordid saga.
On another tack, today's paper runs a large photo of Private England in a less familiar pose, that is, when she's not humiliating innocent blokes. This photo, which unfortunately I can't find online yet, is just a normal happy-snap of a young woman, in Army uniform, sort of smiling at the camera. Emblazoned across her right breast is the name, "ENGLAND". I've been considering how unfortunate her surname is for the Coalition of the Killing.
Let's put the boot on the other foot: Imagine if photos emerged of an Iaqi soldier persecuting an American GI. And if that soldier's name was Saddam Palestine, or Abdul Afghanistan. Wouldn't that confirm in the minds of less evolved Westerners how all these evil Ay-rabs are all cut from the same wicked cloth? Let's face it, a remarkable number of Westerners, aided by Bush's culture of xenophobia, seem to have almost no knowledge of what the "Muslim world" is about. I wonder how many are aware of the Crusades, when Europe invaded the Middle East time and again, and ravaged the lives of those who lived there, plundering their resources and imposing cruel governments. It's pretty obvious that our education systems are letting us down badly.
As an example of some people's apparent lack of awareness of important matters, for some years I shared a house – several houses, successively, in fact – with Afghans. One day, when I phoned one of my friends at work, his boss answered the phone and called out to the staff, "Anyone know where the Arab is?" It was amusing yet appalling to think that quite likely this employer did not know that calling an Afghan an Arab is similar to calling a Jew a Palestinian, an American a Russian, or an Australian a Japanese.
Probably even worse, when America invaded Afghanistan, a former friend of mine, an American, wholeheartedly supported that dreadful folly, and stated that "we should poison their waterholes", referring to the citizens of Afghanistan as "dot-heads", by which he presumably meant Hindus. Not only did this pathetic person blame the victims for the dictatorship that ruled them, he had no idea of who they were, confusing them with Indians much as one might confuse a Buddhist Malaysian with a Christian New Zealander. Yet he was happy to see murdered millions of people about which he knew, it seems, absolutely nothing, on the preposterous premise, shored up by the regime in his own land, that Afghanistan had invaded his country. At the time, I strongly suspected that my erstwhile friend could not have located Afghanistan on a world map. I sincerely doubt whether George W Bush could do that either, even today.
Iraq prisoner abuses 'widespread'
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
Morning musings
This is what three cups of coffee did to me this morning:
What's the difference between the Marquis de Sade and an American soldier?
The Marquis de Sade was noble, treated badly by the prison system, and could write.
What's the difference between Great Britain and Lynndie England?
Britannia might rule the waves, but England waives the rules.
What's the difference between a Christian and a prisoner of the US Army?
One has a soul full of hope, and the other has a hole full of soap.
George W Bush: Dammit, Rumsfeld, you didn't tell me what our soldiers were doing in I-raq!
Rumsfeld: Sorry, Mr President. We'll scapegoat Private England.
Bush: Well, I don't know about goats, or scraping no Brits, just you make sure someone takes the blame.
Got any more jokes? Share 'em!
The press (unanimously, it seems) reports that Private Lynndie England of the 372nd Military Police Company is shown in this picture "pointing" at the genitals of Hayder Sabbar Abd – the poor guy who wasn't even a combatant and after being terrorised was released without charge by the sadistic American prison system in occupied Iraq.
Pointing? Looks more like pointing a gun, does it not? There are obviously elements of sexism in this case that one can only hope the media will take up as much as it is (at long last) covering the torture and abuse of power. Certainly if the genders were reversed there would be plenty said about institutional sexism in the US military, as well it should. Sexism and racism are strong components in this sordid saga.
On another tack, today's paper runs a large photo of Private England in a less familiar pose, that is, when she's not humiliating innocent blokes. This photo, which unfortunately I can't find online yet, is just a normal happy-snap of a young woman, in Army uniform, sort of smiling at the camera. Emblazoned across her right breast is the name, "ENGLAND". I've been considering how unfortunate her surname is for the Coalition of the Killing.
Let's put the boot on the other foot: Imagine if photos emerged of an Iaqi soldier persecuting an American GI. And if that soldier's name was Saddam Palestine, or Abdul Afghanistan. Wouldn't that confirm in the minds of less evolved Westerners how all these evil Ay-rabs are all cut from the same wicked cloth? Let's face it, a remarkable number of Westerners, aided by Bush's culture of xenophobia, seem to have almost no knowledge of what the "Muslim world" is about. I wonder how many are aware of the Crusades, when Europe invaded the Middle East time and again, and ravaged the lives of those who lived there, plundering their resources and imposing cruel governments. It's pretty obvious that our education systems are letting us down badly.
As an example of some people's apparent lack of awareness of important matters, for some years I shared a house – several houses, successively, in fact – with Afghans. One day, when I phoned one of my friends at work, his boss answered the phone and called out to the staff, "Anyone know where the Arab is?" It was amusing yet appalling to think that quite likely this employer did not know that calling an Afghan an Arab is similar to calling a Jew a Palestinian, an American a Russian, or an Australian a Japanese.
Probably even worse, when America invaded Afghanistan, a former friend of mine, an American, wholeheartedly supported that dreadful folly, and stated that "we should poison their waterholes", referring to the citizens of Afghanistan as "dot-heads", by which he presumably meant Hindus. Not only did this pathetic person blame the victims for the dictatorship that ruled them, he had no idea of who they were, confusing them with Indians much as one might confuse a Buddhist Malaysian with a Christian New Zealander. Yet he was happy to see murdered millions of people about which he knew, it seems, absolutely nothing, on the preposterous premise, shored up by the regime in his own land, that Afghanistan had invaded his country. At the time, I strongly suspected that my erstwhile friend could not have located Afghanistan on a world map. I sincerely doubt whether George W Bush could do that either, even today.
Iraq prisoner abuses 'widespread'
Morning musings
This is what three cups of coffee did to me this morning:
What's the difference between the Marquis de Sade and an American soldier?
The Marquis de Sade was noble, treated badly by the prison system, and could write.
What's the difference between Great Britain and Lynndie England?
Britannia might rule the waves, but England waives the rules.
What's the difference between a Christian and a prisoner of the US Army?
One has a soul full of hope, and the other has a hole full of soap.
George W Bush: Dammit, Rumsfeld, you didn't tell me what our soldiers were doing in I-raq!
Rumsfeld: Sorry, Mr President. We'll scapegoat Private England.
Bush: Well, I don't know about goats, or scraping no Brits, just you make sure someone takes the blame.
Got any more jokes? Share 'em!
Pip Wilson posted item above at 11:22 AM | Permalink
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