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Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 01:39:36 PM EST
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Digby on the rape of the Iraqi girl by soldiers in Iraq:

Now I know that rape has often been a common feature of war. But this isn't really a war in the classical sense. It's a hybrid war/occupation/police action/whatever and it seems to me that there is something quite sick about all the psychosexual aspects of it generally. From Gitmo to Abu Ghraib to this horrible rape and killing, it seems to me that there is a very strong desire on the part of Americans to sexualize and feminize the enemy. Maybe it's always been this way. I'm no expert. I can't help but remember Rush Limbaugh's reaction to the Abu Ghraib scandal; he was so excited that "the babes" were meting out the torture and he clearly thinks forced sexual humiliation as all in good fun. There is just something very odd about all this. I wonder if someone is studying it.

While only one soldier as of now is charged with the rape, as I wrote yesterday, according to the affidavit for the arrest warrant, two soldiers raped her and four went to the house, knowing what was intended. Why havent' SO12, SO13 and KP1 been charged?

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    • Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War | 28 comments (28 topical)
    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#1)
    by Johnny on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 01:47:31 PM EST
    Rape is an excellent tool used to dehumanize and demoralize the enemy. In addition, most male muslims would rather die than be treated as they have been - that is what makes the crap that went on in Abu Ghraib so atrocious. As the smoke clears, stories like this will be commonplace, as they always are after any war of occupation and suppression.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 01:58:48 PM EST
    Where would this fit into our superior culture? Song about killing Iraqis to be taped. Hadji is, I believe, a derogatory term used by US troops.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 02:23:40 PM EST
    I believe the others area still in the military, while the one being charged is no longer under their jurisdiction. The others will be cout-martialed. Not sure about the timing or how that will work out, but the military still controls them, unlike the guy charged, who had already been discharged for other reasons (not sure if it was honorable or dishonorable).

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#4)
    by Slado on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 02:31:50 PM EST
    Has this story replaced Abu Ghrahib and Haditha as the latest story that the left will focus on? Can we wait this time for all the facts to come out before assuming our soldiers are in the wrong and this policy goes all the way to the top and the propoganda coming out of Iraq and from our own media is true? I could have sworn this was a legal defense site. Usually the criminal defendent is given the benifit of the doubt on this site but apparently that rule doesn't apply to US Soldiers risking their lives in an "unjust" war.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#5)
    by soccerdad on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 02:40:15 PM EST
    Shorter Comrade Slado - its bad for Bush dont talk about it. Like any case there is no reason not to talk and discuss and as more facts become available the discussion will change appropiately.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 03:35:55 PM EST
    et al - From the post:
    Why havent' SO12, SO13 and KP1 been charged?
    Because the ininvestigation indicates they haven't done anything? The investigation is obviously on going. Speculation is just that.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 04:05:39 PM EST
    sluggo, it happened in march and was covered up until recently. Just like haditha, abu ghraib, gitmo, etc. I understand that you don't think torture, murder and rape are important, but don't blame the left for helping shine a light on these atrocities, blame the people who committed them. BTW, when was the last time you saw a story about Haditha? You remember, bush promised full disclosure But now, as of July 6th:
    A higher-level investigation of the incident, conducted by Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell of the U.S. Army, has been completed, though the final report has not yet been publicly released.
    AbjectFunk says:
    the others will be cout-martialed.
    Really? What makes you think that? See above.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#8)
    by Repack Rider on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 05:23:22 PM EST
    PBRMan:
    Always nice to read the commentary of those watchdogs who want to make sure that our own guys aren't misbehaving, and if they are, by God the world needs to know about it right away.
    No other policy makes sense. It's not like the Iraqis don't know, and it is certainly something those citizens who supported the invasion should know about the consequences of their actions.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#9)
    by John Mann on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 05:29:02 PM EST
    Here is a link to the lyrics of the Hadji Girl song. Probably just a frat boy stunt.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#10)
    by soccerdad on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 05:32:51 PM EST
    The old "just a few bad apples" meme gets old after awhile. Exactly how many atrocities does it take to get past the few bad apples? In truth I feel the field commanders are to blame for the attitudes that they promote and the blame continues up the chain of command. These kinds of atrocities are a part of war of this kind. They happened in the west against the Indians, they happened in the Philippines, Viet Nam, now Iraq, etc. We paid proxies to do it in SA, etv. Its a part of warfare and its promoted and sustained by American exceptionalism. Gotta kill the savages, the gooks, the towel heads, the....

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#11)
    by Slado on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 06:31:29 PM EST
    All the usual suspects that are willing to judge the US military on a few bad apples aren't willing to enforce our boarders. Funny. How many illegal immigrants commit rape, murder, molestation etc... inside this country that they have illegaly invaded? Shouldn't we send all the immigrants back because the result of thier immigration is a rise in murder, molestation and rape on honest law abiding US citizens? I say end the occupation of San Diego, Los Angeles and El Paso now. Send all the illegal immigrants home!!!!

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 06:58:43 PM EST
    it seems to me that there is a very strong desire on the part of Americans to sexualize and feminize the enemy. Maybe it's always been this way. What we are winessing in Iraq is human behavior in a failed state during an occupation following an illegal, aggressive war. Bush's illegal, aggressive war and failed state. This is what happens when one country enters another without just cause: nothing but rape, pillage and torture. It is, nevertheless, clear who is responsible: Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush. War criminals, all.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#13)
    by soccerdad on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 07:02:08 PM EST
    Another racist, illogical tirade from Slado.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#14)
    by Edger on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 07:09:25 PM EST
    Has this story replaced Abu Ghrahib and Haditha as the latest story that the left will focus on? Don't talk about it. I can't hear this. This is bad news. I could have sworn this was a legal defense site. Noooo. Don't talk about it. Quick, switch to a different subject. Always nice to read the commentary of those watchdogs who want to make sure that our own guys aren't misbehaving, and if they are, by God the world needs to know about it right away. This is horrible. Quick, switch to another different subject. Avoid discussing this. Bad, bad, bad. the Saddamites who ran the rape rooms were never punished at all. Here we go - something that should grab them. Different bad news. Great hijack possibilities here. Hammer on this. Take their minds off the topic. Grasp. Find straws. Anything. All the usual suspects that are willing to judge the US military on a few bad apples aren't willing to enforce our boarders. Omigod. It's not working. They're not buying. Sh*t. Now what? More straws. We're getting killed in here. Get me more straws in here. Hijackers. I need hijackers over here. Whatever they say, I don't want to know that her name is Abeer and she was only 15 years old and we raped her and shot her and killed her and crushed her head and set her on fire. Help... we got a serious PR problem here. Then we did the rest of her family.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#15)
    by jondee on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 07:25:20 PM EST
    Interesting that the O'Moron clones think Shrub and the neocons = "America", but the ones who commit rape, torture, and murder dont; they're just bad apples who absolutely nothing to do with this administration.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#16)
    by Edger on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 07:29:17 PM EST
    "I don't think all this dirt will fit back into the hole. We'd better dig another one."

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:21:00 PM EST
    I would bet money that the Saddam's "rape rooms" was propaganda to help get people to support the invasion. Remember Chalibi, Curveball, and the likes were not honest because they wanted us to invade for their own personal benefit. The Iraqis pulling the plug on incubators turned out to be a lie during the first Gulf War.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#18)
    by Edger on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 08:35:20 PM EST
    Debbie - I would bet money that you would win that bet. These a-holes would have said anything to beat the drums of fear loudly enough to give them political cover and support for their pre planned attack. They still try...

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#19)
    by joejoejoe on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 09:45:13 PM EST
    Read the affidavit. The evidence in the arrest warrant comes from photographic evidence in part but mostly from first-hand sworn statements from the participants in the rape and murders, the soldiers themselves. I don't know if it's conscience or self-preservation but 3 of the 5 people involved admit to the same set of facts. It's not a stretch to question why people who admit to conspiracy to rape aren't charged. One soldier (SOI3) admits in a sworn statement he threw the young woman to the ground before Green and KP1 raped and burned her. That's not speculation, it's his sworn statement. I can see SOI1 getting some reduction (possibly dishonorable discharge) if he was the first to speak (he was not present and was only at the checkpoint) but SOI2, SOI3, Green, and KP1 are all involved in rape, murder, and a cover-up - per the testimony of SOI1, SOI2, SOI3. That's all in the arrest warrant.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#20)
    by Aaron on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 01:43:58 AM EST
    Sorry guys but the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein were very real, and the many of those atrocities, like the murder of thousands of Kurds, occurred while the United States supported his regime. People like Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney didn't want to hear about those things back in the 80s, they were ostensibly deaf to the cries of the Iraqi people. Much as they are today. Little has changed for them. Concerning this issue I'd just like be a make the argument in support of our soldiers and Marines. While nothing excuses rape and murder, it's important to keep the context of those rapes and murders in mind. It's obviously no picnic over there for our troops, at least when they're off base. It's a combat situation, and in combat situations you can die at any moment. And once you've seen a few of your friends blown apart while they're standing next to you or shot in the head while you're eating lunch, it will impact you no matter how strong you are, there's no escaping it. This compounded by the fact that on a daily basis you're seeing the bodies of perhaps hundreds of Iraqis strewn about after a bomb blast, or laying by the side of the road shrunken and deformed like a dead dog. A person who's been dead for a day laying in the sun hardly looks like they ever could have been alive at all. Once you see enough of this kind of carnage you begin to start having thoughts that you would not normally have. Thoughts that wouldn't make any sense under most circumstances, confusing thoughts that I can't adequately articulate. You may begin to wonder if you're any different than those bodies lying by the side of the road. You may wonder if all those things you've been brought up to believe are really true. You may begin to lose your humanity and start to devalue life, all life even your own. You may say to yourself, what does it matter what I do, when I'll probably be dead tomorrow. Of course this is a test of character, a test most of us will never have to face. Some falter under these pressures, but they can hardly be faulted for their weakness, because it's a weakness that we all share to some degree. It just takes the right circumstance to expose it. In a protracted conflict like this it's inevitable that many American soldiers will begin to look on Iraqis as something less, less than the people that they knew back home, less than their buddies, less than themselves. Once you stop seeing a person and start seeing a thing it's easy to do just about anything to them. History is replete with examples of this. Make no mistake that the people coming back from Iraq will be changed by their experiences, and most of them will not be changed for the better. War does not bring out the best in people, regardless of what you've seen in the movies. And this kind of sh-t is only going to get worse the longer this travesty goes on. Unfortunately we're not in a position to pullout without throwing Iraq into complete chaos. Pretty soon talkleft will be able to devote an entire blog just to the atrocities committed by Americans in the Middle East. Such is the price you pay for playing the war game.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#21)
    by soccerdad on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 03:40:14 AM EST
    of course being in a war zone makes matters worse but doesn't explain everything
    Study by Ministry of Justice of south Korea shows that among the 39,452 cases (45,183 US soldiers involved) of crimes committed by US soldiers from 1967 to 1987, south Korea was able to exercise its jurisdiction only in 234 cases, punishing only 351 US soldiers. Among them, 84 US soldiers were convicted of rape and 89 US soldiers were convicted of murder and robbery. Taking into account the fact that rape cases were more common before 1967, and that many rape cases were intentionally hidden and forgotten, the actual number of rape cases committed by US soldiers will be much higher than what official figures suggest.
    snip
    Countless cases of rape were committed by US soldiers, including a woman gang raped by 4 soldiers' in March 1946, a 14-year-old schoolgirl raped in 1956, a daughter and a mother both raped in 1967, a woman raped by 8 soldiers in the mountains in 1971, a month pregnant teacher raped in 1986 by 5 soldiers in the middle of Team Spirit military exercise, a handicapped schoolgirl sexually harassed in 1996, and a 6-year-old girl sexually harassed in May 1997.
    link

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#22)
    by soccerdad on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 07:48:19 AM EST
    Well this isn't going to help
    A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines. "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."
    LINK

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#23)
    by Edger on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 09:14:48 AM EST
    "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad,"
    Oh jeeze, great... Every day in every way, etc, etc, etc. Brown anybody is nothing to these people, not to mention brown 15 year old girls...

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 09:19:45 AM EST
    A child was raped. I know HannityInsanity Fan club will want to say "lets wait till all the facts come out". How about this for a fact; Several US Marines RAPED A CHILD. They then Smashed her head in with a stone and attemted to light her on fire. Should we give child rapists the benifit of the doubt? Would you if it was your child? I don't think O'Rielly would agree. Where is Jessica's law on this one?

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#25)
    by Dadler on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 09:37:15 AM EST
    Aaron, Nice post. The "few bad apples" responses to these crimes and others is just part of the denial. That our leaders seem to have NO idea what war actually does to people, well, what can you say? They really don't seem to have a clue. You just shake your head and think "Who voted for these sh*tbags?"

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#26)
    by soccerdad on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 10:09:10 AM EST
    They really don't seem to have a clue
    Its worse, they really don't care. Life is cheap.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#27)
    by Edger on Sat Jul 08, 2006 at 07:22:51 AM EST
    This engagement in Iraq will not be over when bugles, politicians, and pundits say that it is over. There will be "blowback" for years and years ahead. There will be because if your or my sister was raped and shot in the head, along with a five year old child and parents, we would probably behave exactly the same way. ... It's a good lesson to think if your family members had been raped and shot like this. Or your close friends. Think of the rage. What gets instilled in a community when something like this happens -- what seeds that sit and slowly grow until they have a chance to blossom into some form of violent revenge?
    --Steven Green & His Contribution to America's Image, TWN Bush invaded a country that was no threat to America, and turned it in to one that probably is.

    Re: Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War (none / 0) (#28)
    by kdog on Sat Jul 08, 2006 at 09:47:16 AM EST
    I too would like to defend our soldiers. What do you expect when you ship 19, 20, 21 year olds into "atrocity central"? The inevitable atrocities of war are one of the reasons you only go to war as a last resort. If I saw my buddies being blown to bits I'd probably turn into an animal too. Our leaders are focused on the checks being cut to their buddies out of the treasury...that's about as far as their attention span goes.

    Sexual Humiliation and the Iraq War | 28 comments (28 topical)