What If It Was Your Daughter?
I am horrified and sickened by the rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and her family by U.S. soldiers. In yesterday's newspaper I read that the 5 soldiers hit some golf balls, then sat around drinking and playing cards while planning the rape. The girl and her family lived only 250 yards, just a short stroll, from the soldiers' traffic checkpoint in the town of Muhmoudiya. While brutally raping the child, they killed her mother, father and 5-year-old sister, finally shooting the girl several times until she was dead. To cover up their crime, one of the soldiers then doused her body in kerosene and set it on fire. Then the soldiers returned to their post and grilled chicken wings.
I am outraged, horrified, deeply ashamed and disturbed by these acts. What if the bombs were falling on America? What if the soldiers were on my street corner, presumably to keep my family safe? What if I nodded and said hello to those soldiers on my way to and from the grocery or school? What if suddenly they were pounding into my home, terrorizing my family with their guns and their shouting? What if I could hear the screams and sobs of my daughter as they raped my precious child? What if I were the one pleading for my child's life and mine?
I cannot get these images out of my mind. What does war do to people that killing and rape become mundane acts sandwiched between the normal activities of a typical day? War seems to strip every last vestige of civilization from people. Rape, murder, torture and retaliation seem to be everyday events in Iraq, and many of the crimes are perpetrated by Iraqis on Iraqis. In war how can people see a Sunni or a Shiite, but not see a person? How can they see Hezbollah or Israeli, but not a man or woman? Why does war destroy our humanity? What does war do to us that we lose the very most basic elements that make us human?
I am outraged, horrified, deeply ashamed and disturbed by these acts. What if the bombs were falling on America? What if the soldiers were on my street corner, presumably to keep my family safe? What if I nodded and said hello to those soldiers on my way to and from the grocery or school? What if suddenly they were pounding into my home, terrorizing my family with their guns and their shouting? What if I could hear the screams and sobs of my daughter as they raped my precious child? What if I were the one pleading for my child's life and mine?
I cannot get these images out of my mind. What does war do to people that killing and rape become mundane acts sandwiched between the normal activities of a typical day? War seems to strip every last vestige of civilization from people. Rape, murder, torture and retaliation seem to be everyday events in Iraq, and many of the crimes are perpetrated by Iraqis on Iraqis. In war how can people see a Sunni or a Shiite, but not see a person? How can they see Hezbollah or Israeli, but not a man or woman? Why does war destroy our humanity? What does war do to us that we lose the very most basic elements that make us human?
