I know I have spent too much time in maximum security prisons in the States as a journalist and investigator over the past couple of decades. Why? Because when I read an article like the one below, which is an interview with a National Guardsman who shot to death two inmates in Abu Ghraib, and seriously wounded others, I actually understand his point of view. I don't like it. I know I don't like him. I've known too many correctional officers with his attitude, and in truth I loathe each and every one of them. BUT, I understand him, and them. There are many more correctional officers that I know quite well and like a whole lot. While none of them can be accused of "coddling" convicted violent felons, they have compassion and basic human respect for the inmates whose complete lives they are responsible for, down to the smallest detail.
Therefore, my perspective on this particular aspect of the Abu Ghraib scandal is admittedly suspect. On the other hand, the sexual degradation and base perversity aspects has me outraged--and seriously puzzled--because I do NOT understand it and never will. It has exposed a nauseous vein in the American psyche I did not know existed outside of the sick but relatively rare world of sexual predators and monsters, a few of whom I have had the distinct displeasure of spending time with in an attempt to capture their thoughts for posterity.
You should read Sgt. Terry Stowe's story and judge him for yourself:
"A few people would probably say that I jumped at the opportunity on taking a life," said Sgt. Terry Stowe, 44, a National Guardsman with the 870th Military Police Company. ...
"I tried my darndest not to pull the trigger the whole damn time I was there, but when I see my fellow soldiers and my comrades in mortal danger, I'm going to do what I can to save their lives."
Stowe, in an interview with Reuters, justified his actions on the grounds that he was acting to prevent greater violence. A March internal military report prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba has criticized the military's lack of training and other conditions that led to the three deaths in the Nov. 24 riot.
The former security company official, who served at Abu Ghraib from July 2003 to March 2004, said some fellow MPs, as well as officials in Washington, failed to understand the harsh realities of running a prison where a few hundred U.S. guards control thousands of Iraqi prisoners.
"There were many small aspects of violence that were needed when one or two people get too unruly or won't do as they're told," said Stowe, who served in the first Gulf War before joining the National Guard. "Just to keep the peace we use non-lethal (force) or just tell them: 'Hey, you need to quit.' Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."
He said the U.S. government had exacerbated difficulties in Abu Ghraib by jailing many Iraqis who did not deserve to be there. He cited one man arrested for stealing a toothbrush and given what he said was a long sentence.
Stowe also blamed the military and politicians in Washington for turning a blind eye to realities in Iraq. "The military chain of command is so uptight with politics, they don't want to know the real deal. Our people are put under so much stress ... they don't know where to turn."
Speaking in Redwood City south of San Francisco where he lives, Stowe cited several times when he used rubber bullets. Once he fired on a crowd of 15 or 20 engaged in a fight that broke out during a soccer game. He said no one was killed, although some prisoners developed welts. One time, he said he fired a rubber bullet at a prisoner who refused to sit down.
"Bang, nonlethal, just give him a little nudge or rubber bullet in the chest saying 'you will do as you're told,"' he said of the incident. "He was not posing a danger but if you let him get away with it he will constantly do it. It's almost like a stepping stone on how far they can push a soldier." ...
The Nov, 24 riot still haunts Stowe in his dreams as he replays his shooting of three from a guard tower above the prison yard about 150 feet away. He said other MPs tried rubber bullets and other means without success.
"There were two MPs on the ground in between two compounds where they were getting pummeled by large rocks and bricks and whatever they were throwing," he said. "That's when I wounded the first one to get them to stop, to give them their warning that deadly force is authorized."
"Then the prisoners concentrated on the tower in between the two compounds -- there were two more MPs in that tower," he said. "They were getting pummeled also, and that's when I had to take two more shots." The second two shots were fatal. The prisoner hit by the first bullet survived.
