Hannah's Blog

Shame!

Troops -- Ashamed and Shaming

Dear Editor,
Whatever the rationale for the re-embedding of the press with the troops
assaulting the people of Iraq, what I want to know is why American soldiers
cover their faces with bandanas, like wild west bandits, and smother their
captives with "capture hoods."
If the soldiers were outfitted with dust masks, that would make sense,
since the uranium oxide particles they are breathing in are almost certain
to make them ill long after they come home. But those bandanas are surely
not standard-issue and can have only one purpose--to keep the troops from
being recognized by the American public.
Lest you think that individual soldiers and marines are protecting
themselves from being retaliated against, I think we can be pretty sure,
based on the evidence, that ALL the military personnel, native and foreign,
have become targets of retaliation. The Iraqis have no personal animus
against those they target with their IEDs. That's about the only thing
that makes this confrontation a war; there's nothing personal about it.
The capture hoods are another matter. Like the rolls of plastic body bags,
the hoods with which captives are disoriented and made to fear for their
lives ARE standard issue. Which leads me to the question, who comes up
with such inhumane and degrading behaviors? The policies which contenance
the use of suffocation to subdue a civilian population, one that is already
stressed to the breaking point, are simply disgusting and shameful. They
make me ashamed to be an American.