Graner, etc.
First of all, I have to start off this post by saying that these thoughts are mine and mine alone - and have no bearing on my husband or his position in the Army.
I know how my husband feels about the situation, and he knows how I feel, but this morning on my way to work, I had a very interesting thought. The court cases against Graner, and the others involved in Abu Ghraib, remind me a lot of the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.
I am a practicing Catholic. I am also from Kentucky, where every one of our dioceses was rocked by accusations. I remember how it felt when I heard the name of a priest that I knew - that a friend of mine's youngest son was named after - that was named in one of the cases. I wonder if that same gut-wrenching feeling also affected (and affects) members of our military when the topic of the prison scandal is brought up.
Did Graner & company truly feel that what they were doing was saving the lives of Americans? If, indeed, they were acting on direct orders, did they lack the intestinal fortitude to say something to the effect of, "With all due respect to your rank and position, Sir, I respectfully will not obey that order" - and then carry out proper Military procedure of refusing orders?
It still upsets me, all these months later... and I just needed to have my say.
From csmonitor.com today.
posted by The Girl @ 8:34 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
You know, my friend Jen pointed out something about the accused (and some now convicted) men and women involved, with the Buck stopping mostly with these reservists. She said something like, these people are from Uniontown (this would be like saying, these people are from LaRue county--normal and rural, not at all worldly), and are we to beleive a hodge podge group of normal people from Uniontown would be able to devise systematic torture that is very culturally directed on top of being sadistic.
We'll never know the whole story.
It's an odd sendation, seeing and feeling both sides - from the Catholic perspective of that scandal, as well as a lot of the Army perspective of Abu Ghraib. That is what I was trying to get at with this post. The media is so quick to criticize the military as a whole - just as it was so quick to criticize priests as a whole, with the sex abuse scandal within the church.
I understand what your friend Jen was saying, but if somebody (even somebody in a position of authority) told you to do something that you KNEW was wrong - you have the right to question that. Even the Army gives you the right to question that. There is a procedure to do so. The Boy and I have talked about this, and though it's not as simple as saying "I'm not going to do what you say," you have the responsibility to question a direct order that you feel doesn't comply with Army Values.
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