As the Pentagon's Sexgate scandal deepens, it is hard not to feel some of the fallout of the mounting shame that is being heaped upon the armed forces. Today, only after being pushed,
he Pentagon admitted to using sexual tactics in order to `break' Guantanamo Bay detainees.inally, though often hindered, accountability has reached the halls of the Department of Defense.
I first wrote about this story several weeks ago, when an unfinished manuscript written by a former detainee surfaced in the media. The detainee leveled heavy accusations against the soldiers at Guantanamo Bay and the men and women in charge of giving the orders: intense sexual harassment and `sex tactics' designed to make the detainees so uncomfortable and disturbed that they would break down.
Soon after this, videos surfaced showing various abuses at the `secure' Guantanamo Bay facility. For some, however, this information was still not enough. There had to be some other explanation for it - after all, these men are terrorists, do they not deserve to be made uncomfortable? The answer to that, as the Pentagon's inquiry into the abuses has shown, is a resounding "No." Soldiers do not have the right to stomp on the culture and religion of detainees, no matter how vile they may be, no matter what wrongs they may have committed.
In the time before these detainees were allowed lawyers, the sordid, disgusting details of these abuses were kept within the confines of Camp X-Ray. Now that the detainees have been granted the fundamental right to legal counsel, out come the accusations, videos, and finally, admissions of wrongdoing.
Perhaps the most damning aspect of the report was the admission of the following long assumed fact:
The inquiry uncovered numerous instances in which female interrogators, using dye, pretended to spread menstrual blood on Muslim men, the official said. Separately, in court papers and public statements, three detainees say that women smeared them with blood.
The full explanation for the treatment was given by a Pentagon official speaking on condition of anonymity:
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been made public, said the fake blood was used on Muslim men before they intended to pray, because some Muslims believe that "if a woman touches him prior to prayer, then he's dirty and can't pray."
The psychological effects of such treatment have not yet been fully discovered, but the ripple effect appears to be great. We now have detainees who have left Guantanamo Bay, never charged with a crime, never convicted of any wrongdoing, who have been subject to gross misuse of tactics by the United States Army, the same Army that is supposed to be freeing such men from these exact mind games.
In this case, simply punishing several female soldiers will not be enough. As was the case with Abu Ghraib, the chain of command will have to be investigated as well, and full accountability must be made a priority. This is no longer a "minor issue," as one Guantanamo guard claimed a lifetime ago. This is now a matter of our most basic policies.
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