The Source of Infinite Small Hatreds

When the naked Iraqi man in the hood was having the leash fastened around his neck to be led around by a tiny 20-year-old American woman, what was he thinking? Did he repent and pray to God for forgiveness for whatever crime he had committed? Did he consider himself lucky, knowing that some prisoners at Abu Ghraib did not survive their interrogations? Or did his chest swell with the fear that grows into hate? Did he vow revenge?

We’ll never know. Though his picture has been in newspapers the world over, he remains anonymous. The young woman holding the leash, though, we know her. Lynndie England tried this week to plead guilty to torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib, but the judge, a Colonel Pohl, would not let her do it. He threw out her plea because her lawyers were introducing evidence that seemed to argue she didn’t know right from wrong, because she had a “compliant personality” and was born a “blue baby.” This is the kind of mitigation evidence you would introduce at the sentencing phase in a civilian trial, but Lynndie England’s trial is military. The military justice approach to guilt is different; if you’re guilty, it’s because you did wrong. If you’re not, you didn’t. No middle ground for the psychology. It’s a harsh system, which is probably why the Pentagon wants to use it on terrorists.

Seven months ago, Lynndie England gave birth to a child whose father was her commanding officer at Abu Ghraib. She is now twenty-two years old. Before she went to Iraq, she worked at a Domino’s Pizza. She’s from rural West Virginia, and she looks like she’s from there, too. She is now an unwed mother, and she’s almost certainly going to be dishonorably discharged from the military, whether or not she does any prison time. That dishonorable discharge will affect her ability to get a job. The odds are that she’s going to end up a welfare mother. On top of all this, she now has the kind of notoriety you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. And she’s going to be back on trial soon.

Lock her up, we say. She’s no victim. When your lover hands you a leash that’s attached to a naked man’s neck, you should know better than to take it, especially if your lover also has a camera. Torturing another human being is a crime. Getting caught on film committing torture just makes you a stupid criminal.

But we do feel some sympathy…it seems odd to call her a criminal; shouldn’t she at least be a “war” criminal? I mean, she was under combat conditions and ended up going over the line, right?

No, that’s not what the government is saying. The official position is that a bunch of unsupervised underlings got out of hand at Abu Ghraib, and the nasty actions captured on film were the result. No war crimes, just adolescent tomfoolery that rises to the level of criminal offenses because people died and because there were pictures. The Army has investigated itself and has determined that, regrettably, it hired some bad people.

Which brings us back to the man with the leash around his neck. If he still lives, what does he think now? Will he forgive us now that we’ve locked up some uncouth but unrepresentative prison guards?

The answer to that, of course, is that we don’t care what he thinks. If we did, more generals and defense department officials would have to resign. In corporate America, if the stock tanks, you fire the CEO. It doesn’t matter if the loss was his fault or not; you need the stockholders to know that you care what they think, and that you’re going to try to do better. So you fire the guy who was in charge when the stock tanked.

But we just reelected the guy who was in charge, because the man with the leash around his neck holds only the tiniest share of stock in America. If he had more than a tiny share, we’d want to reassure him that we’re moving in a different direction. If he had more than a tiny share, we’d want to make sure he kept his investment with us. But his share is too small for us to notice. We’ve got larger concerns than his dignity. Let’s hope he has larger concerns than his revenge.