The Iraqi Abuse Excuse
By Irwin N. Graulich (05/12/04)
Please do not apologize on behalf of America, President Bush. Are you kidding?
You mean car bombs that kill our soldiers are fair game. Suicide bombers who blow up our troops along with innocent Iraqi civilians are acceptable. Protesting and cursing your liberators is fine. Blaming the Jewish pigs and monkeys, and the Christian Crusader murderers for all your problems is ok. Yet there never was an Iraqi or Muslim apology, not even from one religious figure. What is going on here?
When 20 out of 130,000 American soldiers, 0.0001538% of the military force, steps out of line, the enemy plays "Gotcha!" Since America cannot be defeated militarily, intellectually or morally, the Iraqis have learned their new tactics from the Palestinians, who have managed to gain the upper hand from the overall superior Israelis. Use the public relations " bomb" with the help of the self-righteous liberal media who embrace the concept of moral equivalence to forward their own political agenda.
You take 130,000 young men and women away from their families and ship them to a foreign land where they are shot at and spat upon. After defeating the most evil of regimes that had tortured innocent Iraqi citizens and murdered upwards of 1 million people, the American soldiers are belittled at every opportunity, instead of being appreciated and thanked. And you want perfect behavior?
Visit any American college with a similar age group as in the military and you will see many more despicable antics in the dorms, fraternities and sororities. Just check out the MTV Spring Break shows. This age group has not been fully formed in its character and values. Five hundred push-ups a day and jogging through the woods at 5:00am is simply not enough to take away the mischievous, bad side of all young people. Knowing how to fly a stealth bomber does not necessarily mean you have great moral discipline or self-control. The Bible says, "Man's nature is evil from his youth."
Of course this is an excuse, and is the reason it occurred. Although we should never condone such behavior, we must recognize that these young men and women are actually heroes who misbehaved for an hour. In most cases, they did not physically harm anyone. But it is the humiliation of the Iraqis and entire Muslim world that is most problematic. For this perverse culture, the "embarrassment" is worse than death.
Our soldiers' behavior is inexcusable and must be punished. But please, let us not blow these incidents out of proportion. Of course the deaths that occurred should be investigated and the entire circumstances should be reviewed. From all initial information, the few deaths were precipitated by fights or escape attempts. No American soldier did a "Daniel Pearl" to any innocent (sic) Iraqi prisoner. Let us not forget that these are very bad people in prison. This is not a jail where individuals were held because they sold drugs on the street.
There is a valuable, applicable lesson to learn from the Academy Award winning documentary, "The Last Days." This film, produced by Steven Spielberg, follows the stories of 6 Holocaust survivors from Hungary who settled in America, each becoming quite successful, including Congressman Tom Lantos of California. Part of the movie included interviews with American soldiers who liberated the concentration camps.
One heroic soldier, who presently has the coveted title Dr. Paul Parks and is the former Secretary of Education for the State of Massachussetts, was a 21 year old back then, who was part of the Allied force that helped free the remaining survivors of Dachau. Dr. Parks, a black American hero tells the story of the horror he discovered and how he found several Nazis in hiding in one of the barracks. He grabbed the Nazi commandant and began escorting him to the interrogation headquarters.
The Nazi heard where he was being taken, looked Soldier Parks in the eyes and spit into his face. As Parks tells the story, "I took out my pistol and shot him between the eyes." Frankly, Parks should have been given the Congressional Medal of Honor. The media in 1945 did not jump on the bandwagon and create a big scandal.
When this film was released 6 years ago and Dr. Parks retold his story on the big screen, the Washington Post et al. did not even cover it, most likely because they did not want to be viewed as racist. Perhaps Ben Bradlee has lower expectations of minorities. Or is it the liberal media's hatred of the Bush administration that has caused such an uproar today?
The despicable Iraqi S & M photos have been taken out of context in a similar manner to the Rodney King video. Although King was simply called an "innocent black motorist," the fact remains that he had been running from the police, had almost killed several pedestrians and fought the police when cornered. Yet only 14 seconds of the tape was repeatedly shown.
The media tried to burn down Los Angeles by showing the racist LA police "beating the motorist with clubs and a stun gun." Now they are trying to burn down a Republican White House by showing an Iraqi on a leash with woman's underwear on his head.
There is nothing wrong with our military. Donald Rumsfeld is, in all likelihood, the best Secretary of Defense in history; and General Myers is outstanding. It is the media that is truly out of control. We always knew that al-Jazeera and their brother outlets throughout the Muslim world are made up of pure lies. However, now it is rampant in America, as well as the BBC, Le Monde and Die Welt.
Unless there is a pattern for these sins throughout the military, and unless higher ups actually knew about it, the only apologies necessary are from the few specific soldiers who carried out these acts. When President Bush was told by the Arab Press during his first interview question that there was no difference between George Bush and Saddam Hussein, he should have given that phony interviewer some Texas justice across the face and walked off.
You have the nerve to say that in the Oval Office to our President, when he probably saved all of the Middle East from disaster. Come to my office and say that to my face you diseased camel lover!
President Bush and America should be standing behind the 129,980 wonderful, decent, brave soldiers and stop wasting our time with the 20 or so bad apples. Americans are getting sick of it. And most of us know that we are being fed snake oil by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and the alphabet channels.
God Bless America!
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