The Inconveniences Of Immorality
June 16, 2008, Matthew Good Today’s Toronto Star features a shocking revelation about a standing order with regards to ignoring incidents of sexual assault involving the Afghan civilian population…
“Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been ordered by commanding officers “to ignore” incidents of sexual assault among the civilian population, says a military chaplain who counsels troops returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The chaplain, Jean Johns, says she recently counselled a Canadian soldier who said he witnessed a boy being raped by an Afghan soldier, then wrote a report on the allegation for her brigade chaplain.
In her March report, which she says should have been advanced “up the chain of command,” Johns says the corporal told her that Canadian troops have been ordered by commanding officers “to ignore” incidents of sexual assault. Johns hasn’t received a reply to the report.
While several Canadian Forces chaplains say other soldiers have made similar claims, Department of National Defence lawyers have argued Canada isn’t obliged to investigate because none of the soldiers has made a formal complaint, says a senior Canadian officer familiar with the matter.
“It’s ridiculous,” the officer says. “We have an ethical and moral responsibility to pursue this, not to shut our eyes to it because it would make it more difficult to work with the Afghan government.
“We’re supposed to be in Afghanistan to help people who are being victimized.”
For some reason, reading this story reminds me of a scene from the film Platoon in which Chris, played by Charlie Sheen, comes across other members of his platoon raping Vietnamese girls. In that scene, Sheen’s character remarks “they’re human beings” and refers to his fellow soldiers as animals.
Now, obviously we’re not talking about Canadian soldiers raping Afghan civilians, but there is a psychological comparison to be made with regards to how the people of Afghanistan are viewed by foreign soldiers given that they are protecting some of them and fighting others. A disconnect occurs when you realize that while the motives of two indigenous sides aren’t the same, their faces are, which can often lead to a perspective of generalized dehumanization. Thus, while the Taliban is the enemy, their faces, their very race, remains the same as those that are being defended, which can easily lead to the generalization of a perceived moral inferiority.
In the end, rape is rape, and to suggest that not being involved in the reporting of such crimes committed by our Afghan allies is tantamount to covering it up for them. Ultimately, it is, in truth, probably more a matter of negative press and how that would impact domestic perceptions regarding the war.
Not all members of the CF agree with such orders. In fact, I would put money on the probability that most don’t. Then again, I would also put money on the probability that most fighting in Afghanistan right now view the conflict as one that is to be simply survived, and not one in which some noble outcome is being achieved. Like the majority of those Americans serving in Iraq, it is simply a matter of ‘making it through’ and getting home to family and friends. The policies of those that do not have to fight the war in Afghanistan have placed our men and women in harms way. While they make speeches on the Hill and elsewhere, kids from towns and cities all over this nation are the ones paying the price. The government and military leadership then have the audacity to use their deaths as justifications for the continuance of a course of action that is bearing no tangible results.
Those that serve this nation deserve our respect. There is, of course, a very marked difference between supporting them and supporting the policies that send them into harms way. While I support the former, I do not support the latter, as most of you are well aware.
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If true, it is disgusting that members of the CF have been ordered to ignore incidents of rape.
I read this article earlier today. It makes me feel ill. Sigh.
If it’s true, it’s disgusting all around. Disgusting that such a policy would be in place, and disgusting that it would be followed.
Wow what a great world this is! Every time I think things are looking grim, someone comes up with a real eye opener and all is better! *sarcasm btw* the absolute atrocity that is that policy made me sick to my stomach. I perhaps may be a little ignorant as to why someone would stand by and follow that policy.
Soldiers are told that they are there to help the people, but they are than told to ignore specific happenings which harm the people. Is it than, really about the people?
Casualties of War was on a few weeks ago. I hated Sean Penn but I guess no one else could have done that. I wished it never got made but then there would be nothing on it. so it had to be made. I still wonder how many thousands of stories that movie spoke for… so sad.
[quote comment="55779"]Wow what a great world this is! Every time I think things are looking grim, someone comes up with a real eye opener and all is better![/quote]
I feel the same way strangedays … I wake up hoping that something wonderful has happened in the world, and I only find myself disappointed moments later. People are always telling me to cheer up; to look on the bright side… well show me the bright side and maybe I’ll consider it.
Things like this make me ill, and obviously others get that same feeling; now if only those responsible could feel the same way.
You know what Amanda, I should apologize for making you feel that way - I shouldn’t be so cynical - there are many amazing things worth living for in this world, I have one thats about 2 and a half feet high - Answers to Gabby - No one will ever be able to fix the stuff like this that happens, and whats worse is what DIDN’T make the news. That whole.. look on the bright side thing is just what people who don’t want to deal with it say– the truth is, you have to accept the bad with the good– we would never know love if we never knew hate — we would never know the joy of a birth if not for the despair of a death. We would never know the value of an innocent child if innocence was never torn away from them - as sick and unfair as it is, we can’t have paradise- we don’t deserve it.
Thats pretty extreme. It’d be hard to be in the situation on viewing that sort of instance and knowing that according to your commands, you can do nothing. Then you have a within conflict involving whether or not to obey your orders and suck it up or do something because you know its morally right. Disgusting to be submerged into a situation like that, disgusting policy.
This is shameful. Makes me sick.
And, like you, as I support “them” - I completely do NOT support the reasons that we need “them”. The policies that send military into the clusterfuck of war, are, for the most part, completely bunk in my mind. I’m one of those people that have never been able to understand the idea of war in any sense. Who are we really helping? Why aren’t we helping our own people in our own contry before jumping into a totally different world that may not even want our help? Ugh. Sorry that got a little off track, but it truly irks me.
[quote comment="55785"]we can’t have paradise- we don’t deserve it.[/quote]
Wow.
I love that.
Sick? Yes. True? Even more so.
I’m completely dumbfounded by the text quoted. How can something like this be real when we’re supposed to be so civilized?
[quote comment="55789"]I’m completely dumbfounded by the text quoted. How can something like this be real when we’re supposed to be so civilized?[/quote]
’supposed’ to be civilized, but are we?
I know I’m making all of humanity sound like a terrible thing, and that it certainly is not.
We are capable of so much good… but it doesn’t always show.
Torture, abuse, rape, murder… these are not ‘civilized’ actions.
I guess it was rather abrupt to say that all of us do not deserve paradise… because all of us do.
But it does not just come, we have to earn it…
It just disgust me , that there are ppl like that out there, willing to do that to young children
I read this on the bus home from an overnight shift this morning and I felt completely ill. I don’t even know how to respond. As someone who was sexually abused as a child and later raped as an adult, my heart is just screaming. How can anyone just sit back and not say anything about such things? Why has it taken so long for what has likely been a long-term policy to come to light?
I don’t even know where to begin taking action but I’m ready to make phone calls, write letters, stand at protests… Would the policymakers sit back and watch someone rape their children? Would they be so nonchalant to watch a child be scarred for life and potentially live with life-threatening physical damage as well (which can happen)?
You’ve truly hit the nail on the head: the soldier abroad are just enduring this, just trying to get home…
[quote comment="55783"][quote comment="55779"]Wow what a great world this is! Every time I think things are looking grim, someone comes up with a real eye opener and all is better![/quote]
I feel the same way strangedays … I wake up hoping that something wonderful has happened in the world, and I only find myself disappointed moments later. People are always telling me to cheer up; to look on the bright side… well show me the bright side and maybe I’ll consider it.
Things like this make me ill, and obviously others get that same feeling; now if only those responsible could feel the same way.[/quote]
Hint: You aren’t the one being raped.
Turn a blind eye policy to the rape of children???
Sick, in the sickess sense.
I’m not all that shocked. It makes their jobs easier if they don’t have to deal with the paperwork.
Besides, why should they care about someone they don’t know? It’s not like sweeping this stuff under the rug will have any negative repercussions on themselves. Of course, the victims will suffer, but out of sight out of mind…
It’s appalling, but I feel quite familiar with this theme. People committing acts or committing acts of omission that devastate the lives of people they will never meet. There are always gonna be people who break the rules when no eyes are upon them.
Sorry, but the asshole in me just can’t let this go.
“A disconnect occurs when you realize that while the motives of two indigenous sides aren’t the same, their faces are, which can often lead to a perspective of generalized dehumanization. Thus, while the Taliban is the enemy, their faces, their very race, remains the same as those that are being defended, which can easily lead to the generalization of a perceived moral inferiority.”
While I agree with the post 100% and share the disgust at such despicable behaviour, the above quoted passage makes me pause. Why? I’m shocked, really, that given the theme of the post the word ‘race’ was invoked in regards to those individuals who live in Afghanistan and its nearby regions. The use was probably unintentional, but by employing the word race it furthers the notion that the human beings in that part of the world (or any other part) are actually somehow fundamentally different and that they should be treated as such. It is underlying notions such as this that allow for dehumanization to take place.
There is only one race: The Human Race.
[quote comment="55827"]The use was probably unintentional, but by employing the word race it furthers the notion that the human beings in that part of the world (or any other part) are actually somehow fundamentally different and that they should be treated as such. It is underlying notions such as this that allow for dehumanization to take place.[/quote]
I actually think the word race was appropriate in this context. Race has multiple definitions, none of which refers to any fundamental division in humankind. Although it is a pleasant thought to think of humankind as one race, one cannot deny the healthy diversity that exists among people. Given that race has been a factor in many sensitive issues throughout history, I can understand why the word might elicit bad vibes; however, I think Matt made his intentions clear in this case. That’s just my take on it.
[quote comment="55820"]I’m not all that shocked. It makes their jobs easier if they don’t have to deal with the paperwork..[/quote]
The paperwork has never bothered the officers I know.
[quote comment="55818"][quote comment="55783"][quote comment="55779"]Wow what a great world this is! Every time I think things are looking grim, someone comes up with a real eye opener and all is better![/quote]
I feel the same way strangedays … I wake up hoping that something wonderful has happened in the world, and I only find myself disappointed moments later. People are always telling me to cheer up; to look on the bright side… well show me the bright side and maybe I’ll consider it.
Things like this make me ill, and obviously others get that same feeling; now if only those responsible could feel the same way.[/quote]
Hint: You aren’t the one being raped.[/quote]
I don’t think you know if she has been or not. You shouldn’t assume you know someone’s pain before you attack them.
It constantly astounds me, the things that we humans will do to one another. When it’s all said and done we always say that “we’ll never forget” and yet we always repeat, don’t we?
I firmly believe that you can support the troops while not supporting the war itself- there are few bigger beasts.
So why are we in Afghanistan again?
I once heard to keep peace, but this article dismisses that reason.