According to the Pentagon at least thirty investigations regarding the torturing of Iraqi prisoners at El Sunda-Rai prison are underway. The official response from the White House, the Pentagon, and the Republican party is that the offenses were committed by a few bad apples from New York and West Virginia. Senator Byrd of West Virgina has already complained about Late Night anal jokes that bring Deliverance to the shores of the Tigris. Both New York and Washington states have complained about the "bad apple" analogy, citing sales figures that show fewer people are eating apples from their states. Delaware's Senator Biden suggested that the heavy protein diet served the military might be making members more aggressive and prone to unmilitary action. Others have suggested that, unlike other war zones where sex was always camped close to the front lines, such is not the case in Iraq. Accordingly, soldiers have to compensate.
That is the view of Psychologist Rector Sleigh (pronounced slay) who is Professor of Psychology at Hobbs Ferry University in Macon, Georgia. Sleigh readily admits there has been murder and brutality in the prison. He adds, "However, the majority of the abuse cases are not abuse in the classical sense. Certainly this is not the abuse normally found in a theater of war where rape, murder, and mutilation were the norm. Here we have something different. The infamous photo of the naked Iraqi soldiers piled high has inflamed passions around the world, especially the Islamic world. This is understandable as the naked body is not exhibited in public. But if you look closely at this pile of anatomy, it reminds one of a Rennaissance painting because it has focus, balance, and modalities of meaning. We are not witnessing a carnal lump of flesh. We see men who have been entwined in a delicate, artistic way. The bodies are placed according to coloration of skin, dark to light, suggesting the range of human existence. You'll notice that the various arms and legs look like they form a kind of imperfect questionmark, as if the participants are asking questions too."
"I think too much has been made of the dark side of these images. I see an attempt--however crude--to make art inside a dark prison within a dark hole of war. I don't know if there is a medal for artistic creation under fire. If so, they should receive it. I think the reason the Bush Administration is so upset--other than a billion Muslims are inflamed--is that the administration is comfortable neither with art, sex, or its body. The initial outrage is a projection of its own sexual inadequacies. That America, the world's leading consumer of pornography, is offended by these images is a joke and a fitting coda to an absurd war."
"If the soliders don't have a future in the military, the university will be glad to receive them."
Posted by Chuck at May 5, 2004 04:47 PM | TrackBack