Mark Steyn: Torturous Apology

The Jerusalem Post ^ | May 11, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

'Just look at the way US army reservist Lynndie England holds the leash of the naked, bearded Iraqi," writes Robert Fisk, famed Middle East correspondent of the London Independent.

"Take a close look at the leather strap, the pain on the prisoner's face. No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image. In September 2001, the planes smashed into the buildings; today, Lynndie smashes to pieces our entire morality with just one tug on the leash."

Hmm. Sounds like Fiskie's the one straining at the leash here. You can practically hear him panting. Down, boy.

For a week now, readers have been e-mailing me crowing that I haven't got the guts to confront the truth about Abu Ghraib prison. As one correspondent put it, "I was looking forward to reading about how the moronic lefty press should instead be praising those heroic American soldiers bringing freedom, and saving us from those barbaric Arabs. I thought at least that you'd say that you'd have done the same thing in their position."

Well, no, actually. Making a homoerotic pyramid of fetching young Iraqi men naked with their bottoms in the air is not my idea of a good time, unless it's 48 hours from the Turner Prize deadline at London's Tate Gallery and I'm all out of ideas for this year's installation.

So I didn't write about it last week, because I didn't have anything much to say. I'm revolted by the abuse of prisoners, but evidently not as revolted as Fiskie and Co., so best to let 'em off the leash and go capering round the yard.

-snip-

[EllaMinnow]

No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image.

Wrong again, Fisk.

[narby]

Too bad this is excerpted. I don't like to join things. It brings too many cookies.

[My2Cents]

Making a homoerotic pyramid of fetching young Iraqi men naked with their bottoms in the air is not my idea of a good time, unless it's 48 hours from the Turner Prize deadline at London's Tate Gallery and I'm all out of ideas for this year's installation.

British version of a Maplethorp exhibit, I assume....

[MEG33]

Fisk can watch the beheading video looped for hours...He will feel better I am sure.

[MEG33]

Sorry to miss another article. Perhaps Tolik can help.

[quidnunc]

My2Cents wrote: (Making a homoerotic pyramid of fetching young Iraqi men naked with their bottoms in the air is not my idea of a good time, unless it's 48 hours from the Turner Prize deadline at London's Tate Gallery and I'm all out of ideas for this year's installation.) British version of a Maplethorp exhibit, I assume....

It's a prize for contempory art.

Last year it was awarded for a dark room with a single light bulb burniung in it.

[oolatec]

What does Fisk have to say now?

[expatpat]

As for the allegedly seething Arab street, my advice to it would be......not to respond to the pictures by saying things like, "They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel, and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman."

These Muslims have some serious hang-ups, even the ones who are not Islamofascists.

[moonhawk]

Steyn Ping for ya...

"I can't believe I posted the whole thing!"

[moonhawk]

Sorry...For some reason my posting of the whole article was pulled...(comment #9)

[moonhawk]

How come my post was pulled?

Thanks

[Rummyfan]

Well, no, actually. Making a homoerotic pyramid of fetching young Iraqi men naked with their bottoms in the air is not my idea of a good time, unless it's 48 hours from the Turner Prize deadline at London's Tate Gallery and I'm all out of ideas for this year's installation.

I love Mark Steyn!

[Rummyfan]

Are full reposts from the Jerusalem Post no longer allowed?

[Redcoat LI]

check your freepmail

[FairOpinion]

Here is a good excerpt:

"As a political scandal, it's already over. Historians will disagree about the precise moment it turned into a damp squib. Perhaps it was when Democratic blowhard Joe Biden demanded of Don Rumsfeld: "What did he know and when did he know it?" Or perhaps it was when the Democrats' leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle, launched into a long, whiney complaint about why he and his colleagues hadn't been kept informed by the Pentagon. "Why were we not told in a classified briefing why this happened, and that it happened at all?" he huffed. "That is inexcusable; it's an outrage."

[FairOpinion]

These days we can't post the full article from most publications -- excerpt only, and some don't even let us post an excerpt, only title and link.

There are lists of these publications, but there are so many, virtually everything is on the list.

[Irene Adler]

Just imagine if the prisoners had been forced to wear burkas for, say, 30 days or so, night and day. Not a bad idea, IMHO.

[McGavin999]

We keep being told that we don't understand the middle eastern mind, and I guess that's true. It's also true that middle easterners don't understand the American mind.

We ARE sorry for what happened, and we don't mind apologizing for the bad behavior of a dozen or so of our people. So, we apologized, now let it drop! There is a difference between an apology and groveling and we don't do grovel.

If there's a problem, we fix it and then forget it. The reason we are a successful country is because we look forward, we only use the past as a point of reference.