JOAN VENNOCHI
The wrongful acts of a fewTHE SCANDAL out of Abu Ghraib prison embarrasses every American, whatever his or her political persuasion, but it does not dishonor every soldier fighting in our name.
Leaders of both parties, Republican and Democrat, should stand together and say that. Instead, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are, first, outraged over the administration's failure to tell them the details and scope of the misconduct. Next, everyone is calculating how best to capitalize on the political fallout. That is American politics, especially in this brutal presidential election cycle. There are hours of cable television news to fill offering endless opportunities for bipartisan huffing and puffing from Democratic Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. I do not want any Iraqi tortured, mistreated, or humiliated in my name or, more important, in the name of the boy down the street. He is a Marine in Fallujah. An American flag hangs from the porch in front of his house. He calls his family whenever he can to say he is as safe as a Marine can be in the middle of a war zone. When he was home for Thanksgiving, his early Christmas gifts included better war equipment than his country gave him. He left for Iraq believing in the mission. I do not believe in the mission; still, I do not want to be the one to strip this Marine or any other of their strongest weapon, the belief that America is doing the right thing for the right reason. When they return home, they will have years to reach their own conclusions. The military personnel responsible for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners did take the weapon of belief in America's righteousness away from their fellow soldiers. In some places people take credit for despicable deeds. Terrorists fly planes into buildings, blow up embassies, ships, nightclubs, and trains and brag about it. A week ago, a pregnant Israeli woman and her four young daughters were shot to death by Palestinians. The pictures of their shroud-wrapped bodies lined up for burial turn the stomach and stab the heart. Human beings actually took credit for those murders. They counted the deaths as notches on the belt of their cause. This country is held to a higher standard in everything, including war. The pictures out of Abu Ghraib are not notches on America's belt. Those who believe in the war and those who don't are equally disgusted. The outrageous photos of mistreated prisoners are not being hidden from view. It is impossible to escape them. They flood the airwaves and the front pages of newspapers; the country and the world are mesmerized by them. Disclosure, while embarrassing, does make America different, stronger, and better than other places. Saddam Hussein could torture Iraqis for years with nary a photograph making its way out of the country. After he was toppled, the mass graves were unearthed. That is a key difference between tyranny and democracy. Democracy cannot eliminate all ugliness and wrongdoing, but in a free society, ugliness and wrongdoing can be hidden only so long. The truth may trickle out slowly, but it does come out. In the meantime, naive as it sounds, the politicians should work to get at the truth for the right reasons: to identify the scope of the problem, fix it, and punish the wrongdoers. It is obviously in President Bush's interest for that to happen, but it is also in John Kerry's interest. The statements he made as a Vietnam veteran against the war about atrocities and war crimes are very much part of this presidential campaign compliments of his opponent. Using the story of Abu Ghraib for political advantage now is a mistake; it will only fuel his opponents' fire. Denounce the wrongdoers, call for the appropriate punishment and follow-up investigations, but do not drag American soldiers into the vortex of presidential politics. The boy down the street deserves better.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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