2008 Woodie Awards
The darker side of war
Are we providing fodder for the American Stereotype?
Alessa Adamo
Date created: 5/21/04 Section: OPINION
In the first Gulf War, I flew into the blistering Arabian desert, sweating under the burden of a full chemical suit, feeling my heart racing, looking over my shoulder for scud missiles loaded with chemical weapons, praying I could get to a shelter in time if the siren sounded its warning.
As we flew in and out of the war zones, each time we took off in our lumbering cargo plane, I looked for the deadly smoke tracers of the shoulder missiles that could blow us out of the sky-although there was nothing that could be done had I seen the smoke.
Through it all, whether I agreed with policy or not, I served my country with pride and dignity. I was one of the lucky ones and retired without a scratch more than 20 years after I first raised my hand pledging an oath to defend my country with my life.
Thus, it is with embarrassment and humiliation that I learn about the atrocities in Abu Ghraib committed by my brothers and sisters in uniform. I am not naive enough to believe that wars are honorable-they can bring out the worst in otherwise normal people. I still carry the shame of my own generation's Mi Lai massacre where a few misguided solders wiped out a village in Vietnam-more than 350 defenseless men, women and children.
War can make heroes too, and bring out the best in some people, but each time something like Mi Lai or Abu Ghraib happens, demonstrating the wickedness of war, it overshadows any good 100 -to -1.
It will take months, maybe years, to understand what happened at Abu Ghraib. As horrible as the abuse was, what is as bad is that the military apparently didn't take the initiative to correct the abuse. Despite warnings from the International Red Cross, and the reporting of the abuse by soldiers within the prison complex, the authorities didn't treat the matter seriously.
Only when CBS News aired the photos that told the graphic story, did the military take action-and at first that action, as disclosed in Senate committee testimony, was for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard B. Myers, to try to persuade CBS News to delay airing the pictures.
As we flew in and out of the war zones, each time we took off in our lumbering cargo plane, I looked for the deadly smoke tracers of the shoulder missiles that could blow us out of the sky-although there was nothing that could be done had I seen the smoke.
Through it all, whether I agreed with policy or not, I served my country with pride and dignity. I was one of the lucky ones and retired without a scratch more than 20 years after I first raised my hand pledging an oath to defend my country with my life.
Thus, it is with embarrassment and humiliation that I learn about the atrocities in Abu Ghraib committed by my brothers and sisters in uniform. I am not naive enough to believe that wars are honorable-they can bring out the worst in otherwise normal people. I still carry the shame of my own generation's Mi Lai massacre where a few misguided solders wiped out a village in Vietnam-more than 350 defenseless men, women and children.
War can make heroes too, and bring out the best in some people, but each time something like Mi Lai or Abu Ghraib happens, demonstrating the wickedness of war, it overshadows any good 100 -to -1.
It will take months, maybe years, to understand what happened at Abu Ghraib. As horrible as the abuse was, what is as bad is that the military apparently didn't take the initiative to correct the abuse. Despite warnings from the International Red Cross, and the reporting of the abuse by soldiers within the prison complex, the authorities didn't treat the matter seriously.
Only when CBS News aired the photos that told the graphic story, did the military take action-and at first that action, as disclosed in Senate committee testimony, was for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard B. Myers, to try to persuade CBS News to delay airing the pictures.
