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29 de Marzo, 2007
The Clotty Red Stopper
Categorized under Derechos Humanos , Guerra | Tags: derechos de mujeres, Support the Truth
IS VIOLENCE LIKE A GENIE in a bottle, once summoned answerable only to its own propagation? And specifically, why is it so important for you and me to know the truth about the atrocities that troops commit while embarked upon their glorious missions of Liberty and Justice®? Because these atrocities; these crimes against the bodies and spirits of innocent humans; atrocities like torture and rape and murder—are not the anomoly of a few apples souring, but instead are horrors endemic to and inherent in the very environment of war.
After much failure, American sociologist Bob Lilly found a publisher for his book Taken by Force, a book that tells a truth nobody wanted to hear, and a book that collected many angry reviews and personal attacks. What is the truth nobody wanted to hear? That between 1942 and 1945, American soldiers in England, France, and Germany were estimated to have raped women or young girls 14,000 times.
We note with interest that the article in which I read this does not put the word "women" in there. And it does not put the words "young girls" in there. And it arranges the sentence to keep the word "rapes" in a very passive form. The article tells us that "An estimated 14,000 rapes were committed." It's a sentence so dry you can lay it on your cream cheese, down it with coffee and a bagel and never once feel the truth you're being given. So you see, even those who want to tell the truth about those telling the truth sometimes shy away from it. But it is important we do not shy away from this truth. Not if we want to improve as a species.
Is this about hating young men and women who trust their lying recruiters and end up strapped to a huge war machine that would scoop out their guts and minds and hearts like bad roe? No. This is about recognizing the evils that lay in wait when you uncork the bottle with the clotty red stopper. This is about the demons of violence that will not be controlled by uptight publishers who censor truth or greedy soul-dead politicians who know it but don't care. This is about the human heart and how we ought to take better care of it. This is about adding another toll to the ticket of War, one we would do well to consider before sending troops into a land based on the vendettas of a small, lying man—or for any reason.
...[Y]oung men - soldiers - who are given power over others, and have a structure surrounding them that closes ranks at the first sign of criticism, a structure which is, in turn, enclosed within a popular and political culture where members of the public want to invest in their father's or their brother's or their husband's decision to become a soldier and go to war with nobility and sacrifice are, in fact, the preconditions for abuse, torture and totalitarianism.—The Secret War, David Wilson
The article also comments on a controversial film that Channel 4 is scheduled to broadcast called Mark of Cain, about British soldiers torturing and degrading Iraqi prisoners in Basra in 2003.
The commenters on the article mostly rage at the author for slandering THA TROOPZ® and bothering his mind over a paltry fourteen thousand instances of rape. I mean...they were only women and girls. We're spreading some Freedom over here. So shut up. And stick that yellow ribbon in the air.
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Comentarios (8)
Ill Do Chay dijo:
There's an acceptance as normal for horrific things in war. The soldiers are trained to kill, and off they go. Killing, maiming, etc., become accepted as normal activities. Talk about your skewed values. So additional violence* is not so "out there" to this violent culture. It's no wonder that so many come home crazy, and you could probably make a case that the "well adjusted" returnees are MORE crazy than the ones who act crazy. How can anyone reconcile war and war crimes with the tranquil life that awaits at home. Now go out and shop some more.
*because as we all know, rape is an act of violence. In fact, numerous American women soldiers in Iraq have been raped by their fellow soldiers.
Palabras por Ill Do Chay spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 09:03 AM
herm dijo:
disturbing. and yet, not surprising.
Palabras por herm spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 09:39 AM
Kai dijo:
Very interesting find, Nezua. I've had a long interest in gaining a clearer understanding of WWII because we are fed such a deep steady stream of national-identity-forming lies about it, from what it was about to which parties were victorious. This adds yet another dimension to the picture.
I doubt there has been a modern war (i.e. in the age of patriarchal capitalist imperialism) in which systematic rape was not an institutional feature. As far as I can tell, war culture is rape culture. The rockets' red glare.
Palabras por Kai spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 10:31 AM
RickB dijo:
Soldiers being raped by fellow soldiers-
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/03/07/women_in_military/print.html
I simply consider the military as a death cult.
Glad to see Bokonism alive and well too, KV Roolz!
{-pedantic typo nerd says-
"human heart and how we out to take better care of it."
should that be 'ought'.
(you can edit out this bit of the comment if you fix it, then I don't look anal and you retain your cool)}
Palabras por RickB spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 10:39 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
RickB, I refuse to collude in your devious ruse to make me appear cool. But I will thank you for the eye. :)
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 11:35 AM
Sylvia dijo:
They like it in mob movies...*shrug*
Palabras por Sylvia spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 12:42 PM
RickB dijo:
Aha! You fell for my even more cunning ploy, by not editing my comment you demonstrate your integrity and are thus cooler than ever! I win! Muahhaahhhaaahhhhaaahahahaha!
(it's been a long day)
Palabras por RickB spat forth on el 29 de Marzo, 2007 at 12:42 PM
NYCO dijo:
American soldiers were raping women in the Revolutionary war... just ask the Iroquois what happened during the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, ordered by our hero, Gen. George Washington.
Palabras por NYCO spat forth on el 1 de Abril, 2007 at 07:34 AM