Sex for Violence -- Obscene

The military would like us to think that the grotesque behavior of US troops at the Abu Gharib prison was an aberration. The human rights abuses, the violation of the Geneva Convention, the military code of conduct, and hey, just plain decency.....these things happen, and those were just a few rotten apples to tarnish the image of our brave fighting men-and-women.

But the attitude and conduct is more pervasive than they would have us believe. For the past year, our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been submitting graphic photographs of mangled corpses to a porno website, in exchange for free access to the more typical pornography -- t 'n' a, split beavers, all that stuff.

"For a year now, American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have
been posting photographs of corpses -- insurgent corpses, civilian corpses,unidentifiable piles of guts in various stages of mutilation
-- on the site in return for free access to its porn cache. And these
pictures have in turn drawn thousands of civilian gawkers who find the
sight of laughing soldiers posing with dead bodies at least as titillating
as candid shots of women in flagrante delicto.
Explicit sex, graphic violence. For some guys, they're twin stimuli."(link)

To encourage visitors to the website, the soldier-photographers helpfully label their submissions with such vicious and illiterate captions as "Iraqi Driver Tryed[sic]to Run a Check Point" and "Name This Body Part" and "Destruction of the Afgans [sic] at the Hands of the Marines!"

Ooh-Rah.

[Aside: you'd think a soldier who could figure out how to work a digital camera might be capable of learning how to spell the name of the country where he's killing insurgents, but whatever.]

I won't list the site url here. If you want to find it, read Neva Chonin's full column (SF Chronicle, Oct 2). These are shots of the reality of war, so be advised -- best not to view before breakfast. Or any meal. Or bedtime. There's nothing glorious or noble about it. It's nothing like "a movie," much less the news.

In this country the media, stifled by the Bush administration, is reluctant even to show a respectful, flag-draped coffin. These photos show what's left of human beings after their brains and body parts have been blown apart. Photos taken by U.S. soldiers who represent our country. Taunting, sneering, and traded for photos of lurid sex.

Now, that's obscene.