[lbo-talk] Lyndie England

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Sep 28 13:13:58 PDT 2005


Michael Hirsch wrote:


>So you get the creeps when somebody exhalts in the punishment Lyndie
>English will receive? Do you also quiver 'n shake when civil rights
>leaders join Mickey Schwerner's widow in saying hard time for the
>septogenarian killer racist of her husband is long overdue? If not,
>why not? That Mississippi fucker was just a pawn in their game, too?
>
>Of course she deserves punishment. And if there is justice in the
>world, it wouldn't be the US army trying her; it would be a world
>court if not a court of Iraqi victims. The fact that the army is
>using her and Graner as scapegoats to cover up systematic brutality
>and the logical outcome of an imperial adventure doesn't excuse her,
>or require you to think warm and fuzzy thoughts about a poor,
>abused, working class victim. There were plenty of poor, abused
>working class victims in Hitler's army, or in Lt. Calley's command.
>When you can't reach them, or when they can't be persuaded to turn
>the guns around, they become fair targets. Turn your guns around,
>Doug. You're not raising consciousness about imperialism by
>apologizing for the unspeakable.

Hi, Mike. Welcom. Nice rant. Hope it made you feel good.

Look, I said she's criminally guilty and should do time. But what I objected to was Leigh the Hippie's high-horse moralizing about her responsibility and all that shit. Her school psychologist, who knew her from kindergarten, said she was oxygen-deprived at birth and had trouble learning to read. She was chronically depressed and pliable, and fell under the spell of Graner. She was installed as a cog in a brutal killing and torture machine. Sure she's guilty, but in a minor way next to the architects and builders of that machine. Blaming her is exactly what Donald Rumsfeld would like you to do. And you don't want to do Rummy's work for him, do you?

Doug



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