Witness Testifies to Compassion, Care Expressed by American Gis in Iraq
by Bill Fancher
May 12, 2004
(AgapePress) - Families and friends of the American GIs being court-martialed for their mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners are saying that kind of action is contrary to the character of these soldiers. One observer -- Col. Oliver North -- says that while the national media continues to pound out stories about the indecent treatment of some of those prisoners, the truth about the majority of American troops is being obscured.What are U.S. troops really like? Oliver North recently returned from Baghdad where he spent three weeks with American troops. The retired Marine officer says the true picture of the character of those troops can be seen in what he witnessed as he sat in a medivac helicopter and watched a corpsman carrying an Iraqi on his back.
"And then he staggers aboard the helicopter and places the wounded Iraqi gently next to the wounded Marines, all of them tended with the same battle dressings by that same corpsman," North recalls.
"As he staggered back off the helicopter, a reporter shouted out to him: 'What did you do that for? Didn't you notice it was an Iraqi?' And the young corpsman looked over at [the reporter] with disgust and said: 'Didn't you notice he was wounded?'"
Addressing a Washington audience during National Day of Prayer events, North said that U.S. troops in Iraq are courageous and honorable -- and that all Americans should be proud of the soldiers those young people have turned into.
"That same youngster now mends and tends his own clothing. He keeps his feet dry and his canteens full. He's totally self-sufficient," North stated. "The kid who once wouldn't share a candy bar with his little brother now gives away his last drop of water to a wounded comrade, gives his only MRE to a hungry Iraqi kid, and splits his ammo with a mate in a firefight."
This, North said, is the true picture of American troops.
Cultural Deviance
Still, Americans are reacting with disbelief and anger regarding the mistreatment and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Pro-family consultant Pat Trueman with the Family Research Council says the public should not be surprised that Americans are capable of such dehumanizing treatment. He says those involved in the abuses grew up in a culture that embraces such behavior.
"I would guess that everyone who is involved in this sexual deviance ... is not new to this genre of material," Trueman laments. "They've viewed it on the Internet, they've probably purchased it, they've probably participated in this kind of activity."
This kind of treatment is nothing new, says the long-time defender of family values. "I think there's a common thread in the kind of humiliation and sexual deviance that we saw in this prison in Iraq that you see among pornographers, among consumers of pornographic material, among sexual traffickers worldwide," he says.
According to Trueman, this kind of treatment of human beings can even be found in music videos and video games available through the American media.
