I sincerely hope the military can prove these are isolated incidents, that somehow one guy was in the right combination of places to see every bad apple in the entire global military operation. Otherwise--well, we have some problems, even if they can prove that. For one, I doubt "Support the Troops Who Aren't Sadistic Assholes" will fit on one of those ribbon-shaped car magnets.
Since some of you won't take the time to click the link and read through the whole piece, allow me to quote the final two paragraphs of the story so you see what I mean:
Mr. Delgado [a private in the Army Reserve, stationed in Iraq], who eventually got conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged last January, recalled a disturbance that occurred while he was working in the Abu Ghraib motor pool. Detainees who had been demonstrating over a variety of grievances began throwing rocks at the guards. As the disturbance grew, the Army authorized lethal force. Four detainees were shot to death.
Mr. Delgado confronted a sergeant who, he said, had fired on the detainees. "I asked him," said Mr. Delgado, "if he was proud that he had shot unarmed men behind barbed wire for throwing stones. He didn't get mad at all. He was, like, 'Well, I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down.' "
Let me repeat that. "I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down." There are so many things wrong with that, I don't know where to start.
On a side note, people like the sergeant are one of the reasons I gave up organized religion.
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