Lynndie England: Misguided trailer-trash?
JoeUser Forums
I've been following with interest the furor of reports surrounding the fate of Lynndie England, the female Army Reservist pictures absuing and torturing Iraqi POW's.
It made me wonder how this small-town girl from West Virginia came to such notoriety. What series of unfortunate events led her to be pictured grinning like a loon, cigarette hanging from her slack-jawed mouth, pointing to the genitals of a naked, hooded man? How did she come to have her photo taken dragging another naked Iraqi around by a leash?
I think that a general lack of common sense coupled with a lack of appropriate supervison and poor leadership all contributed to Lynndie's downfall. First of all, she isn't an MP. She was 'attached' to the 372nd Military Police Company, but her actual training is reportedly as a personnel clerk. She was just a warm body filling a spot. Secondly, there was an obvious lack of supervision and leadership at that facility. The mere fact that she's pregnant by one of her superiors speaks volumes. And how did she, a female, come to be allowed into that kind of circumstance in a male facility anyway? According to the former NCO In Charge of our local military confinement facility, while female officers are permitted to work with male inmates, common sense dictates and military procedure forbids that they put themselves in certain circumstances around male prisoners....because of the risk of both impropriety and the female officer's safety. The fact that a number of the personnel there are both pictured and implicated again, speaks volumes to the quality of the leadership. Thirdly, there was a lack of training and equipment. SSgt Chip Frederick, another of the people charged, states that they didn't even have a copy of the Geneva Convention's rules regarding the proper treatment of prisoners.
So, we have a veritable litany of errors to fall back on...or do we? The bottom line is this: no-one coerced Lynndie into behaving that way. No-one put a gun to her head and made her do it. She did it, she should take responsibility for her actions. Yes, there were somewhat extenuating circumstances...but there is no excuse for the scenarios depicted in those photgraphs. None.
Lynndie dug her own grave when she posed for those pictures. And with Rumsfeld taking the heat for her actions, you can be sure it will be a deep, dark one.
