<http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact >
from which --
Taguba’s report listed some of the wrongdoing:
Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.
[...]
...
I remember viewing a PBS program, I think it was Bill Moyers' 'Now”, about a year ago in which there was a segment filmed in Cairo.
An NPR luminary was interviewing an aging Egyptian intellectual in an outdoor cafe. The man was obviously quite taken with the West.
He interpreted the then impending invasion of Iraq as a necessary step; necessary because of the “cultural inertia” of the Arab people. “But,” he cautioned, “don't remind us that we needed you to bring us civilization.” The reporter smiled and nodded. All was well.
That interview made me angry. I'm not Egyptian or even Arab but I found this man's kowtowing to be deeply disturbing. But then I re-thought; he probably was speaking for millions of people who, comparing their state to that of America –- the land of space probes and new cars every two years and manicured lawns, at least when viewed from a certain angle -– felt similarly.
The US, despite its horrific foreign policy record in the region, has been able to coast off of the hope of millions that it represented some advanced state of cultural and tech achievement over the Arabs. I imagine that for many years there've been discussions between people in Egypt and Yemen and Iraq and so on who, on the one side, felt that the Americans had much to offer and should be followed and others who wanted nothing to do with us.
I believe that the invasion of Iraq and all that's followed to date is decisively breaking the back of this pro-American sentiment, revealing the violent, racist heart of the culture – something various out-groups in the US have known about since the beginning but has been hidden from or glossed over by starry-eyed or incompletely informed international observers.
For me, this is the lasting meaning of the invasion and subsequent crimes such as the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and the Bush admin's unequivocal suport for just about anything Ariel Sharon dreams up.
Before the entire world, broadcast via television and the Internet, is undeniable proof of the contempt of many Americans for the very people they claim to be saving. There's no hiding any longer, no more sustainable dreams about this shining 'city on a hill'.
As the international club of true-believers shrinks and more folks turn their back on the US, it will become increasingly difficult for client governments to do their part in support of US hegemony, since average people will begin to challenge their government's 'shows of support' for Washington's agenda.
This is the Bushevik's unintentioned gift to the world: freedom from at least one illusion.
.d.