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Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse Dropped

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 12:37:03 PM EST
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Sabrina Harman is one of the remaining Abu Ghraib guards facing criminal charges over the abuse. The court has dropped the most severe charge against her, that of watching indecent acts. Her remaining charges involve:

She is accused of conspiring with other guards to abuse a group of detainees in early November 2003. Specific incidents of alleged abuse by Harman include writing "rapeist" on the leg of one detainee and forcing another to stand on a box with wires in his hands and telling him he would be electrocuted if he fell off.

She is also accused of taking photographs of a group of naked detainees who had been ordered to masturbate.

Who could forget this picture?

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    • Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse Dropped | 16 comments (16 topical)
    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#1)
    by theologicus on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 01:07:51 PM EST
    Who could forget this picture? It is so unnerving. The cheerleader and the dead man. The cheerleader of death by torture. Almost the only thing I can think of commensurable to what is depicted is the final chapter of Geroge Steiner's Errata.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 01:16:46 PM EST
    I would have preferred to forget that picture.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 02:13:11 PM EST
    Put this together with General Mattis' statement that it is fun to shoot some people and you have an idea how we look to the rest of the world. Depraved - : marked by corruption or evil; especially : PERVERTED - from Merriam-Webster

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#4)
    by john horse on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 03:16:14 PM EST
    So much of our images of Iraq are controlled by either the Bush administration and/or by the military. Since we are supposedly in Iraq to help the Iraqi people, our military tries to project an image of being sensitive to Iraqi and Islamic customs. For example, during the destruction of Fallujah, there was a photo showing boots outside a mosque. The caption read that as a sign of respect to Islam, our marines took off their boots before entering mosques. This of course contrasted with the unfiltered image of the marine shooting the wounded POW in cold blood inside the mosque (by the way, he forgot to take off his boots before he entered). CBS has a video with General Mattis during an Iraqi operation talking about how they were trained to be sensitive to Iraqi customs. This was the image. The script. Soldiers are not allowed to publically deviate from the script, whether they be racists or against this war. Whatever else the photos of Abu Ghraib show, they show the real feelings and attitudes of some Americans toward Iraqis. I say "some" Americans because I still believe that many, if not most, Americans really want to help the Iraqis. Unfortunately, when a soldier expresses this or expresses his support for the war, we can never be sure whether that is his true feelings or if he is reading from the script.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#5)
    by cp on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 05:58:11 PM EST
    what i found most disturbing was a comment by one of her defense attorneys, to the effect that, somehow, she was blameless, because all of these acts were solely the result of a breakdown in command. you can tell from that picture how utterly pained and confused the young lady looks, as though she is being forced into that position, against her will. the pictures that i have seen all have one characteristic in common, these people look like they're having a party at a frat house or something. the only thing missing is the traditional fraternity paddles. whether or not there was a command breakdown, these people knew what they were doing was wrong, period. if they didn't, that's almost worse. what does that say about the culture they were raised in?

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 03:02:36 AM EST
    Even the Nazis didn't take pictures of themselves at Auschwitz, because they felt some shame. Hope she dies young.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 09:06:51 AM EST
    John Horse - I am surprised at you. Typically you are more accurate. There is no way you can connect the Marines taking off boots entering mosques under peaceful conditions, and not doing so during combat. JH, that is nonsense. You also fail to point out that the terrorists had been booby trapping their wounded and dead, and that the Marine in question had been wounded the day before in just such a situation. You might also note that this happened in Falluah, a city in whcih we waited months before cleaning out the terrorists, and even then only did so after telling them to just turn in their weapons and there would be no killing.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#8)
    by Adept Havelock on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 10:05:14 AM EST
    I'm not sure which is more tragic. The cheerleaders for torture and death over there, or the cheerleaders that support them back here. One enables the other, I suppose.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 12:28:47 PM EST
    "You might also note that this happened in Falluah, a city in whcih we waited months before cleaning out the terrorists..." Too bad we had to level the city in order to clean it out.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 03:21:55 PM EST
    Dearest No Name - Yes, it is, but I suspect a little sarcasm on your part. Tell me this. Would you have taken control using small arms fire, only? If so, I hope you would make sure you were in one of the fire teams.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#11)
    by john horse on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 05:24:33 PM EST
    David Hackworth has a good column about how the higher-ups who are complicit in the disregard for the Geneva Conventions, including General Sanchez and those in the Bush administration, are so far successfully "ducking any responsibility." As Hackworth notes: "Let’s face it – the reservists now on trial didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “Hey, let’s mail-order some dog leashes and play some photo-op games with these ragheads keeping us away from home.” I know U.S. soldiers, and my call is that an officer or officers – going all the way back to the Pentagon – told them how to break their prisoners down and to go and do it. So, in my book they’re taking the rap for the brass as well as themselves, and that’s not how it should be in our America." I'm with Hackworth, "lets fry the big fish" too.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 06:12:00 PM EST
    This guy has a pretty girl leaning over him and smiling. He never had it so good. At least that is what I heard around here somewhere.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 06, 2005 at 07:38:58 PM EST
    CA - No, it was terrible. She had her face uncovered.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#14)
    by john horse on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 05:41:58 AM EST
    Jim, You missed my point, which is that so much of what we see in Iraq is what our government wants us to see, so you never know what you're seeing is real or something manufactured. That is why I think these photos and the video of that Marine shooting the wounded POW are important, because they are real. The question to me is whether they are representative. By the way, regarding that Marine, are you seriously suggesting that he was justified in shooting an unarmed wounded POW? You should read the Village Voice article about the practice of dead-checking.

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 06:30:19 AM EST
    I find it possible that in addition to great acts of courage and humanitarianism in the WOT, criminal acts are occuring as well. Individuals who rush to defend negligent acts by soldiers as a means to show solidarity with the troops or patriotism exhibit, instead, a badly flawed sense of justice and a dangerous nationalism. Yes, soldiers are constructing sewers and putting running water in schools. There is reason to feel pride in their accomplishments. But it is probable that the depths of the despicable acts are yet to be discovered. What has occurred is not minor or isolated. If there is culpability at higher levels than reservists (one would assume), then we all have a responsibility to see that justice occurs. Why can it not be equally true that the U.S. Military has done great things in Iraq as well as criminal things? Why are some afraid to discern between the two opposites?

    Re: Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse D (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 07, 2005 at 10:29:40 AM EST
    John Horse.... much of what we see in Iraq is what our government wants us to see, ..... Hummm... here I thought it was the left wing media? If it was indeed the 'government' John, don't you think we would have seen much more film of Iraqi's thanking and praising us??? By the way, regarding that Marine, are you seriously suggesting that he was justified in shooting an unarmed wounded POW? YES!!!! Apparently you paid no attention to the fact that several Marines were killed previous to this by those 'so called' unarmed prisoners blowing themselves up when Marines got close to them. Get a clue will ya?

    Sabrina Harman: One Charge of Prisoner Abuse Dropped | 16 comments (16 topical)