A response to the furor over "torture" Pictures

[stormraiser]

It is a little long, but the whole thing is good. It comes from Northeast Intelligence Network Analyst Laura Mansfield.

https://www.homelandsecurityus.com7 May 2004 - An Open Letter to the Iraqi?s ?Tortured? by American Soldiers
by Laura Mansfield

Salam Aliekum. Peace be unto you. I?m writing you this letter in hope that you will read it. I?d like to tell you a few things about Americans.

It?s important that you listen because you do not understand us. And we do not understand you either.

We care about people ? not just our own citizens, but we care about the people of the world. That?s why we give money in large amounts to organizations such as CARE and Save the Children ? organizations that exist for the sole purpose of reducing poverty, providing food and health care, and building infrastructure throughout the world. In the 1960?s, President John F. Kennedy created an organization called the Peace Corps, where people of all ages volunteer to go to other, less developed countries and teach them the skills they need to improve their quality of life. We work to build schools, hospitals, water treatment plants, and factories to produce the products that are needed to help the people in those countries have better lives for themselves, and their children, and their grandchildren. We don?t care if those people are religious or have no religion; we do not care what God they choose to worship.

You see, we aren?t like you. We don?t drag charred bodies through the streets. We don?t shoot women and children for political reasons. We don?t take airplanes full of civilians and use them like missiles, bringing down buildings that hold tens of thousands of people at work.

Instead, we build buildings for the people of the world; we build airports so that you can import food and medical supplies, as well as the tools to build your infrastructure. We raise money in our communities, and network with doctors and health providers to bring injured or sick children to our country for the best health care that we have available. We don?t do this for personal gain; we take the money that we work hard to earn and share it, voluntarily, with others in other lands.

Our caring nature is showing up in our newspapers, on the internet, and on television sets around the world. And you are ridiculing it, and making fun of it. You see it as a sign of weakness.

As a society, we are compelled to continuously question our humanity, to hold ourselves to a higher standard that the rest of the world. That is what keeps us strong and great as a nation. We make mistakes, we admit them, apologize, and take steps to make sure that they do not recur. We see it as a sign of strength; you see it as an indication that we are close to defeat.

For years, prisoners in jails in the Islamic world have truly been tortured. I don?t mean they?ve been embarrassed, or had their feelings hurt. I mean they have been tortured. Ask your leader, Dr. Ayman Zawahiri (second in command of Al Qaeda), about the torture he received in Egyptian jails in his own country; he should be able to explain to you the difference between being humiliated and being tortured. Not much more than a year ago, in that same prison in Iraq, where some of your countrymen were hazed, Iraqi civilians were being murdered day in and day out. They were beaten, electrocuted, raped, and fed through industrial shredders. They had eyes poked out, and body parts amputated. That?s torture.

That doesn?t mean what our soldiers did was right. It wasn?t. But I daresay those prisoners are not in jail for jaywalking, or even smoking marijuana. They are in Abu Graith because they tried to kill OUR countrymen. They will try again the first chance they get. That has been proven over and over again.

We have made our disgust with the actions of our soldiers known. Our President and our Secretary of Defense have apologized. The persons who perpetrated these acts have been relieved of duty and will be subjected to military discipline. It won?t be fun.

Now if you don?t mind, I?d really appreciate it if you could answer a couple of questions for me.

With all of the oil money, I?m sure you can list a few places where you have gone and built schools and hospitals. What was the name of your international aid agency? What charities have you donated to recently? What happened to all the money you paid in Zakat, the alms for the poor, that Islam requires of you as one of its five pillars?

What happened to those who tortured Iraqi civilians in that same building? Have they apologized? Have they been disciplined? Have they had to answer for their crimes? Has anyone in the Arab world even complained about those actions? Nope, I didn?t think so.

What about those responsible for bringing down the World Trade Center, for attacking our embassies and ships around the world, for executing the Italian hostage, for murdering those school children in Basra a couple of weeks ago? Should I call the networks and book some time for them to make a public apology? Nope, I didn?t think so.

You laugh at our 911 Commission, and the fact that our President and our Vice-President were required to answer their questions. But you don?t understand. It is the very concept of accountability, of accepting personal responsibility for ones actions that keep us human. That is what allows us to respond with outrage at the photos that degrade Iraq prisoners, and to ignore the fact that maybe that prisoner killed an American serviceman, or an Iraqi kindergartener.

What you see as weakness is a deep-rooted strength that can only grown in an atmosphere of freedom. We do not just have the basic freedoms granted us in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, but we also have the freedom to question ourselves, and to hold our leaders accountable.

And we also have the right to hold you accountable for your actions. I?m sure you?ll find it an enlightening experience.