[Vision2020] Shocked!
Pam Palmer
ppalmer@moscow.com
Wed, 12 May 2004 23:35:49 -0700
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Visionaries-
The following article is written by Mike Ferner, from Toledo, Ohio, who
recently returned from two months in Iraq. Mike served as a Navy Corpsman
during Viet Nam, is a member of Veterans for Peace
<www.veteransforpeace.org> and a former member of Toledo City Council.
Pam Palmer
Moscow
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Shocked! I=B9m simply shocked that abuse is going on here!
=A9 2004 by Mike Ferner
=20
George =B3that=B9s not the way Americans do things=B2 Bush is outraged.
General =B3those troops let us down=B2 Kimmit is outraged.
Senators and Congressmen are outraged.
Everyone is shocked, simply shocked to hear that abuse is going on at Abu
Ghraib prison!=20
Of course it=B9s an outrage that American soldiers and mercenaries are
torturing Iraqi prisoners. But ask anyone who has gone through military
basic training and they might well respond: =B3What did you THINK was going o=
n
in Iraq?=B2=20
What could be more naked abuse than cluster-bombing children and terrorizin=
g
whole cities? What could be more obscene than sending armless and legless
GIs home by the planeload? Our leaders are outraged at what is happening
inside Abu Ghraib? When they know full well that next door in Fallujah our
troops were killing so many people=8Bincluding women and children=8Bthat the
soccer stadium was turned into a cemetery? There have been pictures of all
this, too. Not on 19th Century Fox, or other corporate news outlets, but
there were pictures aplenty.
In 1984, Orwell described how Big Brother kept the citizens of Oceania in
line with a daily, televised =B3Two Minutes Hate=B2 directed at the nation=B9s
Public Enemy #1.=20
=B3He was the primal traitor=8Aall treacheries, acts of sabotage, heresies,
deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching=8A(he) seemed like some
sinister enchanter, capable by the mere power of his voice of wrecking the
structure of civilization.=B2
Once the good people of Oceania worked up a good hate, they were ready to
let Big Brother do whatever he wanted to =B3protect=B2 them from their supposed
enemies: bomb them, kill them young and old, put them in places like Abu
Ghraib.=20
We of course don=B9t do this personally. We prepare a vulnerable segment of
our own population to do it for us. It=B9s called basic training.
We take kids hoping for college or looking for direction, heads full of
myths about how Oceania always stands for freedom and democracy. We
systematically dehumanize them in basic training and teach them how to
dehumanize =B3others,=B2 =B3over there=B2 until those others become =B3the enemy.=B2
Surely whatever happens to the enemy is fair game. They are, after all, th=
e
enemy.=20
Consider this from Hal Muskat, who went through basic training at Ft. Dix,
NJ, describing a frightening scene during bayonet practice for 1,000 young
men:=20
=B3In between the call/response of, =8CWhat's the spirit of bayonet?=B9 =8CKill!
Kill! Kill!=B9 drill instructors (DIs) would pick up megaphones and scream,
=8CSee those C-130s landing? They are bringing in bodies of dead Americans
killed by gooks. The gooks murdered our soldiers! Do you want to be a body
on that plane? I can't hear you? What's the spirit of bayonet?=B9 Every onc=
e
in a while, a DI would pull several of us aside and give us lessons on the
proper use of bayonet in performing a =8Cfield abortion.=B9 Stick the bayonet
in the gook=B9s cunt and pull up towards her throat. A dead gook in the womb
saves Americans lives!=B9=B2
Or this, from Roger Domagalski, describing what he was told as a recruit an=
d
his duties after basic training: =B3From the first moment we arrived, we ofte=
n
heard the words, =8Cgirls, ladies, sissies, pussies, and worse=B9 when insultin=
g
us. Thus =8Cwomen=B9 as a whole became a derogatory concept; very sexist and
very dehumanizing=8AI had been dehumanized to such an extent that I completel=
y
lacked all empathy for these frightened, new trainees. Instead of treating
them decently, I mistreated them as I had been mistreated. Once you
dehumanize a person, you need to maintain control because such a person is
liable to do anything, from the relatively mild =8Chazing=B9 I engaged in, to
the Nazi-like terror tactics used by the guards against Iraqi prisoners.
Yes, basic training works...all too well sometimes.=B2
Should we be shocked that good American kids are filling Fallujah=B9s soccer
field with corpses, torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib, raping their own
female comrades?=20
While in Baghdad recently, more than one Iraqi asked me this tough question=
:
=B3How can your soldiers do these things for America? Don=B9t you live in a
democracy?=B2=20
Perhaps some day we will live in a democracy and will no longer train
soldiers to do these things in our name. But until then, we continue to
live much closer to the condition Eugene Debs described in the closing
months of World War One=B9s butchery, in his famous Canton, Ohio speech:
=B3=8Awhen the feudal lords concluded to enlarge their domains=8Athey declared wa=
r
upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any more than the
modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war=8AThe serfs had been
taught to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another it
was their patriotic duty to cut one another=B9s throats=8AThe working class who
fight the battles and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in
either declaring war or making peace.=B2
George Bush can be outraged at the news from Abu Ghraib, but he is the one
who unleashed the dogs of war at the behest of our modern feudal lords. Th=
e
result is never pretty. Are we shocked?
########
Ferner visited Iraq for two months earlier this year. He served as a Navy
Corpsman during Viet Nam, is a member of Veterans for Peace
<www.veteransforpeace.org> and a former member of Toledo City Council.
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<TITLE>Shocked!</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">Visionaries-<BR>
<BR>
<I>The following article is written by Mike Ferner, from Toledo, Ohio, who =
recently returned from two months in Iraq. Mike served as a Navy Corpsman du=
ring Viet Nam, is a member of Veterans for Peace <www.veteransforpeace.or=
g> and a former member of Toledo City Council. <BR>
</I><BR>
Pam Palmer<BR>
Moscow<BR>
<BR>
<B><U><BR>
</U></B>Wednesday, May 12, 2004<BR>
<B><U><BR>
Shocked! I’m simply shocked that abuse is going on here!</U></B=
> <BR>
© 2004 by Mike Ferner <BR>
<BR>
<BR>
George “that’s not the way Americans do things” Bush is o=
utraged. <BR>
<BR>
General “those troops let us down” Kimmit is outraged. <BR>
<BR>
Senators and Congressmen are outraged. <BR>
<BR>
Everyone is shocked, simply shocked to hear that abuse is going on at Abu G=
hraib prison! <BR>
<BR>
Of course it’s an outrage that American soldiers and mercenaries are =
torturing Iraqi prisoners. But ask anyone who has gone through militar=
y basic training and they might well respond: “What did you THINK was =
going on in Iraq?” <BR>
<BR>
What could be more naked abuse than cluster-bombing children and terrorizin=
g whole cities? What could be more obscene than sending armless and le=
gless GIs home by the planeload? Our leaders are outraged at what is h=
appening inside Abu Ghraib? When they know full well that next door in=
Fallujah our troops were killing so many people—including women and c=
hildren—that the soccer stadium was turned into a cemetery? Ther=
e have been pictures of all this, too. Not on 19th Century Fox, or oth=
er corporate news outlets, but there were pictures aplenty. <BR>
<BR>
In <U>1984</U>, Orwell described how Big Brother kept the citizens of Ocean=
ia in line with a daily, televised “Two Minutes Hate” directed a=
t the nation’s Public Enemy #1. <BR>
<BR>
“He was the primal traitor…all treacheries, acts of sabotage, h=
eresies, deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching…(he) seemed l=
ike some sinister enchanter, capable by the mere power of his voice of wreck=
ing the structure of civilization.” <BR>
<BR>
Once the good people of Oceania worked up a good hate, they were ready to l=
et Big Brother do whatever he wanted to “protect” them from thei=
r supposed enemies: bomb them, kill them young and old, put them in places l=
ike Abu Ghraib. <BR>
<BR>
We of course don’t do this personally. We prepare a vulnerable =
segment of our own population to do it for us. It’s called basic=
training. <BR>
<BR>
We take kids hoping for college or looking for direction, heads full of myt=
hs about how Oceania always stands for freedom and democracy. We syste=
matically dehumanize them in basic training and teach them how to dehumanize=
“others,” “over there” until those others become &#=
8220;the enemy.” Surely whatever happens to the enemy is fair ga=
me. They are, after all, the enemy. <BR>
<BR>
Consider this from Hal Muskat, who went through basic training at Ft. Dix, =
NJ, describing a frightening scene during bayonet practice for 1,000 young m=
en: <BR>
<BR>
“In between the call/response of, ‘What's the spirit of bayonet=
?’ ‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’ drill instructors (DIs) would=
pick up megaphones and scream, ‘See those C-130s landing? They are br=
inging in bodies of dead Americans killed by gooks. The gooks murdered our s=
oldiers! Do you want to be a body on that plane? I can't hear you? &nb=
sp;What's the spirit of bayonet?’ Every once in a while, a DI wo=
uld pull several of us aside and give us lessons on the proper use of bayone=
t in performing a ‘field abortion.’ Stick the bayonet in t=
he gook’s cunt and pull up towards her throat. A dead gook in th=
e womb saves Americans lives!’” <BR>
<BR>
Or this, from Roger Domagalski, describing what he was told as a recruit an=
d his duties after basic training: “From the first moment we arrived, =
we often heard the words, ‘girls, ladies, sissies, pussies, and worse&=
#8217; when insulting us. Thus ‘women’ as a whole became a derog=
atory concept; very sexist and very dehumanizing…I had been dehumanize=
d to such an extent that I completely lacked all empathy for these frightene=
d, new trainees. Instead of treating them decently, I mistreated them as I h=
ad been mistreated. Once you dehumanize a person, you need to maintain contr=
ol because such a person is liable to do anything, from the relatively mild =
‘hazing’ I engaged in, to the Nazi-like terror tactics used by t=
he guards against Iraqi prisoners. Yes, basic training works...all too=
well sometimes.” <BR>
<BR>
Should we be shocked that good American kids are filling Fallujah’s s=
occer field with corpses, torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib, raping their ow=
n female comrades? <BR>
<BR>
While in Baghdad recently, more than one Iraqi asked me this tough question=
: “How can your soldiers do these things for America? Don’=
t you live in a democracy?” <BR>
<BR>
Perhaps some day we will live in a democracy and will no longer train soldi=
ers to do these things in our name. But until then, we continue to liv=
e much closer to the condition Eugene Debs described in the closing months o=
f World War One’s butchery, in his famous Canton, Ohio speech: “=
…when the feudal lords concluded to enlarge their domains…they d=
eclared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war an=
y more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to warR=
30;The serfs had been taught to believe that when their masters declared war=
upon one another it was their patriotic duty to cut one another’s thr=
oats…The working class who fight the battles and furnish the corpses, =
have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace.” <=
BR>
<BR>
George Bush can be outraged at the news from Abu Ghraib, but he is the one =
who unleashed the dogs of war at the behest of our modern feudal lords. &nbs=
p;The result is never pretty. Are we shocked? <BR>
########<BR>
<I>Ferner visited Iraq for two months earlier this year. He served as=
a Navy Corpsman during Viet Nam, is a member of Veterans for Peace &l=
t;www.veteransforpeace.org> and a former member of Toledo Cit=
y Council.</I> <BR>
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