January 2, 2009
Dear Colleague:
I watched the documentary film, Standard Operating Procedure, the other night. It is made up of interviews with the soldiers guarding the Abu Ghraib camp and of the pictures they took of the prisoners in their charge. Many of the pictures you have already seen, for they are widely shown in newspapers and magazines; some you surely haven't, including a few short movie clips. The soldiers interviewed excused themselves on the ground that they never inflicted pain on their prisoners; they didn't have to, for they came to Abu Ghraib only after they were already submitted to torture by professional interviewers. In other words, the prisoners handed over to them were already fully trained to obey, their spirit being thoroughly broken earlier. In their "fun and games," the soldiers didn't have to use force; they didn't even have to shout. I can see no evidence of physical brutality—gun, whip, rod—anywhere. Apparently a soldier only had to say "strip" and they stripped until they were totally naked. "Stand against the wall and masturbate," and they did just that. One movie clip shows a female soldier (Lynndie England) pointing laughingly at the man's penis as he jerks off. Another shows a male soldier having a prisoner kneel and crawl to the center of the floor. He adjusts the naked body so that his bottom is appropriately raised, the scrotum and penis fully exposed. Three or four are lined up this way in a row, then others climb on top to form a wriggling "human pyramid" or "dog pile." The soldiers pose behind the pile, thumbs up, and have their pictures taken.
Standard Operating Procedure reminds me that the human spirit can be broken, that a man can be made into a dependent child or whimpering animal if sufficient force is applied. Of course, the Nazis have always known this and practiced it ruthlessly in concentration camps. The SS guards, however, were forbidden to "play" with the inmates, their job being the more demanding one of reducing the inmates to beasts of burden and, ultimately, to shit.
Today is the 9th day of aerial bombardment against Gaza. Some four hundred have been killed, including scores of women and children. The Israelis are doing the slaughter with real regret. On PBS, I see the Israeli foreign minister, the minister of defense, a retired general, and the ambassador to the United States, explaining their action. They all look remarkably wholesome; they have the air of being not only well fed but well read—civilized. They genuinely cannot understand why the Palestinians loop rockets into their settlements. The Palestinians are like feral dogs that not only bark but bite—and they bite indiscriminately. If only they can be house trained! Why, once they know how to beg and fetch they might even be admitted into the family. But no. They continue to misbehave and do not seem to respond even when the leash is tightened, the food supply into their compound restricted, and even—as in the last few days—death is rained on them from air, land, and sea. What can be done? Will the Palestinians ever learn to disown their elected leaders—the Hamas? Why do they so insist on standing on their dignity? As for Israel, has it at last learned the lesson that power—brute power—is effective only when it is used to the full?
Happy New Year!
Yi-Fu
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