Prometheus 6

U.S. Town Sees GIs as Real Victims in Iraq Abuse
Sat May 8, 2004 07:33 AM ET
By Cyrille Cartier

CUMBERLAND, Md. (Reuters) - For many in the sleepy town of Cumberland, home of the military company at the heart of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, the U.S. soldiers are the real victims and the Iraqis had it coming.

In bars, shops and throughout the town of 21,000 people, residents gathered on Friday to watch Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testify to Congress about the abuses that involved soldiers from their local 372nd Military Policy company.

For some, shock mingled with embarrassment over their hometown's sudden and unwelcome notoriety. For many others, sympathy for the soldiers far outweighed their concerns.

"Excuse me, if I see somebody dragging my people through the streets and hung up on a bridge -- I mean, the bible even says an eye for an eye," said retired Vietnam War veteran Robert Zalewski, 56, drinking a beer at Pete's Parkview Tavern and Grill.

"People are trying to kill you. You got to protect yourself," he said, adding the abuse by the soldiers was "half what they (Iraqis) have done to us."

Jamey Hill, a local postal worker, said the photos of naked prisoners in sexual positions, in a pile or on a leash, were nothing compared to the images of murdered Americans dangling from a bridge in the town of Falluja in March.

"I'm not happy about it (the prison abuse). I'm not very happy about having the pictures of us on the bridge either," Hill said.

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"Pictures of us on the bridge."
"Half what they have done to us."

How long will these folks hate Iraqis because of this one lynching? Feel their pain.

Then multiply it by the number of Black lynchings that took place. Start to understand why Black people are still angry, still damaged.

Back to foreign wars.

What have Iraqis done to us? Remember, we invaded and occupied them. We dominate their lives.

What have they done to us? Those contractors weren't "us."

And now. Thousands more pictures.

U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters yesterday that "the American people need to understand that we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience." He did not elaborate.

That's a Republican talking, so don't give me any of that "too liberal" bullshit.

That's "half of what they've done to us," is it? That's what people are defending reflexively because they identify with the perpetrators.

How do you claim this shit is atypical of Americans in the face of such a volume of evidence? Especially if you look at how the citizens at home are reacting.