From "What does it mean to take 'responsibility'?" by Raff Ellis
Americans had no problem making Saddam Hussein responsible for the crimes committed by his minions in pre-war Iraq. It was always Saddam's torture chambers, Saddam's rape rooms, Saddam's prisons, Saddam's murders, etc. It was never the acts of a group of untrained, misguided or demented people. No, the blame rolled all the way uphill to the top, as it should have. However, that's not the way it works here in America. You won't hear anyone say it was Bush's rape rooms or Bush's torture chambers or even Bush's prison. It was clearly the acts of a few poorly trained low-level people in the military who took it upon themselves to "soften up" prisoners for further interrogation. Yeah, right, no responsibility here.
And for those who say, "But the Iraqis, Muslims, Arabs -- (pick one) -- have done worse," in order to justify our behavior, I say it's not a case of who commits the greatest atrocity or a question of taking an eye for an eye, because that behavior debases you, your comrades and the rest of civilized society. It also sets one hell of an example of "democracy" in action.
Remember, the dust hadn't settled on 9-11 before we were blaming whole countries, if not an entire geographic region, for the acts of a few. We were not having it that this was the undertaking of a small group of deranged fanatics. So, now as the chickens are en route home, clucking all the way, will the responsibility and the punishment roll up the hill as it did for Saddam or will a half-dozen GIs take the fall? Don't hold your breath waiting for the answer on that one.
Americans had no problem making Saddam Hussein responsible for the crimes committed by his minions in pre-war Iraq. It was always Saddam's torture chambers, Saddam's rape rooms, Saddam's prisons, Saddam's murders, etc. It was never the acts of a group of untrained, misguided or demented people. No, the blame rolled all the way uphill to the top, as it should have. However, that's not the way it works here in America. You won't hear anyone say it was Bush's rape rooms or Bush's torture chambers or even Bush's prison. It was clearly the acts of a few poorly trained low-level people in the military who took it upon themselves to "soften up" prisoners for further interrogation. Yeah, right, no responsibility here.
And for those who say, "But the Iraqis, Muslims, Arabs -- (pick one) -- have done worse," in order to justify our behavior, I say it's not a case of who commits the greatest atrocity or a question of taking an eye for an eye, because that behavior debases you, your comrades and the rest of civilized society. It also sets one hell of an example of "democracy" in action.
Remember, the dust hadn't settled on 9-11 before we were blaming whole countries, if not an entire geographic region, for the acts of a few. We were not having it that this was the undertaking of a small group of deranged fanatics. So, now as the chickens are en route home, clucking all the way, will the responsibility and the punishment roll up the hill as it did for Saddam or will a half-dozen GIs take the fall? Don't hold your breath waiting for the answer on that one.
