prisonabuse

No one should be shocked by photos of Iraqi “prisoner abuse,” and neither should they be appalled. Certainly, it is embarrassing to think that the rest of the world may now hold this as a snapshot of American attitudes, but the reality is that it probably does. The irony here is that American conservatives, who have long been critical of the demise of American culture, now must withstand the worst of criticism for its public display. Humiliated Iraqi soldiers have become the poster children of the American conservative-led war in Iraq.

The pictures themselves are merely disgusting, but they are not shocking. As a lawyer, I defer judgment as I anxiously await the issues raised by each soldier’s defense and the explanations they will offer for their behavior. As well, I have no opinion or comments on what should be done - if anything – to any of those American soldiers – the Uniform Code of Military Justice will deal with it.

Most lawyers, however, and especially those who represent defendants, have strong opinions about guilt or innocence; they have good instincts about what may not be readily apparent in all of this. We ask the questions, “Why are the Americans in the pictures clowning around and having such a good time?” “Who decided to take the pictures, and for what reason?” “Why is the Secretary of Defense, who is attempting to reform the outmoded, and overly bureaucratic and politically correct military, the fall guy?” As should all level-headed, fair-minded persons, I will stick with asking rhetorical questions and keep my personal biases and prejudices to myself. We need to give this some time so the context can be developed.

The end of May, I will be speaking to European audiences during a scheduled trip there. Despite the fact that I have been a constant and consistent critic of America’s licentious secularism, the Europeans will be grilling me about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, as if it was my fault. On the contrary, I have long represented Christians, who aggressive and legally opposed the liberals’ onslaught that tolerates, even encourages, the type of crudity demonstrated in these pictures. How am I to answer them at this Polish conference as I present my paper about the reasons for American cultural change? My focus is America’s judicially-enacted evolution in the Rule of Law, and now I will have to defend or explain away these lawbreakers. (I have this haunting feeling that if these photos had resulted from a federally-funded exposition of some liberated American artist, it would be us Christians attacking them, rather than now being asked to defend them.)

The Washington Post condemns all Americans for what happened in the prison photos, but I refuse to take the blame. I want it made clear that the blame lies with the half of America that votes for and supports the elitist liberalism that dominates American culture. I have made this clear in Leviticus v. Leviathan, my book that warns of the dangers of a secular culture, and shows how the rotted fruit of our cultural trees is now becoming apparent to the world.

Like it or not, America is where is being fought the battle between Christian values and the secularism that has already shrouded Western Europe in moral darkness. None of us should be surprised that scandalous behavior and stories of heroism and nobility and altruism should come from America at the same time. It is the same conflict played out in every day in our own neighborhoods. So callous and accustomed to this have we become that it no longer shocks or appalls us when we see it happen in Minneapolis or St. Paul. Instead, we shrug our shoulders, sigh, and are content with being "simply disgusted."

When we conservatives are attacked as bigots, hate-filled and narrow-minded for being critical about what is going on in our own culture, at least we can now point to the photos of Iraqi prisoners to show what happens when our soldiers, raised in a libertine secular society, see as legal, moral and normal the sexual degradation of another individual.