Recommendations of the Editorial team
I remember how to support my commitment to support the Iraq war returned while my ship was subjected to a maintenance phase. And how I on CNN the news about the Scandal in the Abu-Ghraib prison saw. The scandal was the worst thing that had happened to the US Army since the Vietnam War. When I was sitting on my ship that day, I realized that a year of hard work and loss of human life had been destroyed by a single photo.
This photo – Covered Lynndie England holds a leash on which a naked, hooded Iraqi hangs, which the soldiers call “GUS” – became a formative picture of the war. It destroyed every illusion that we were there as a liberator. It brought every member of the military in greater danger. And undergrow exactly the values that we defend. This one picture embodied everything that should not be America. And then Kristi Noem came.
Noem, the Minister of Homeland Donald Trumpadded the worst photo shoot that a cabinet member ever had. With a hat with badge (Fortunately not from the Art Paw Patrol) posed in front of men in cages without a shirt. Men in the notorious Gulag In El Salvador were held. She threatened to send more immigrants there. I felt this familiar stitch in the heart. Another photo. Another lost war. This time for basic decency and American democratic ideals.
Authoritarian theater and cruelty as a political trademark
In 1775 George Washington personally warned the British general Thomas Gage to abuse prisoners on the American continent. And referred to the “obligation that results from human rights”. Even in the middle of the brutality of the war, Washington understood that the way we prisoners treat is the soul of what American democracy should be. Washington went even further. He instructed his own commanders not to treat British soldiers the way they treated Americans. And sometimes starved them. Among other terrible things.
It’s about the American soul
Today Trump-loyal republicans like Noem threw the principles that Washington and our founding fathers stipulated such a long time ago. Since the beginning of Trump’s introduction to politics, the Republicans have become more and more friends with accepting authoritarian theater and cruelty as a political trademark. What was once a republic that founded honor and decency now flirted with tyranny. Far from what was intended for our great nation. The war we lose is not just around the hearts and heads. It’s about the American soul.
The photos from Abu Ghraib became a recruitment instrument for our enemies. As Veteran Let us remember the shame, the hearings, the apologies. And to the consequences. We remember the Americans who paid the price for it. Young soldiers who only commands followed. A warning story that has learned military personnel around the world, forgotten and repeatedly repeated.
It is most troubling that Noem’s actions specify the tone from above. It indicates the tone for every border protection officer and sworn in American officials to enforce the Immigration laws is involved. Many of them are veterans of the Iraq war. You witnessed the consequences of places like Abu Ghraib.
What happens if we rely on authoritarian regime?
Veterans know that the abuse of prisoners, no matter how “deserves” it may seem, makes us all less safe. By promoting this way of thinking, NoEM exposes border officials and others to a risk for the protection of which they are responsible.
Every American should ask: What happens if we find it normally to put people – without hearing or legal proceedings – in cages in foreign countries that are known for torture? What happens if we rely on authoritarian regime to do the dirty work that we cannot legally carry out on US soil?
And who do we become promoted if this is not only accepted, but is funded by managers at the highest government and military level?