Sex Crimes in the White House

NEW YORK - Sex crime has a telltale signature, even when those directing the outrages are some of the most powerful men and women in the United States. How extraordinary, then, to learn that one of the perpetrators of these crimes, Condoleezza Rice, has just led the debate in a special session of the United Nations Security Council on the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

I had a sense of déjà vu when I saw the photos that emerged in 2004 from Abu Ghraib prison. Even as the Bush administration was spinning the notion that the torture of prisoners was the work of "a few bad apples" low in the military hierarchy, I knew that we were seeing evidence of a systemic policy set at the top. It's not that I am a genius. It's simply that, having worked at a rape crisis center and been trained in the basics of sex crime, I have learned that all sex predators go about things in certain recognizable ways.

We now know that the torture of prisoners was the result of a policy set in the White House by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Rice -- who actually chaired the torture meetings. The Pentagon has also acknowledged that it had authorized sexualized abuse of detainees as part of interrogation practices to be performed by female operatives. And documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union have Rumsfeld, in his own words, checking in on the sexualized humiliation of prisoners.

The sexualization of torture from the top basically turned Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay into an organized sex-crime ring in which the trafficked sex slaves were US-held prisoners. Looking at the classic S and M nature of some of this torture, it is hard not to speculate that someone setting policy was aroused by all of this. And Phillipe Sands' impeccably documented Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values, now proves that sex crime was authorized and, at least one source reports, eroticized: Diane Beaver, the Staff Judge Advocate at Guantanamo who signed off on many torture techniques, told Sands about brainstorming sessions that included the use of "sexual tension," which was "culturally taboo, disrespectful, humiliating and potentially unexpected."

"These brainstorming meetings at Guantanamo produced animated discussion," writes Sands. "'Who has the glassy eyes?" Beaver asked herself as she surveyed the men around the room, thirty or more of them. She was invariably the only woman in the room, keeping control of the boys. The younger men would get excited, agitated, even: "You could almost see their dicks getting hard as they got new ideas" [reported Beaver]. A wan smile crossed Beaver's face: "And I said to myself, you know what, I don't have a dick to get hard, I can stay detached."' [Sands, p 63]

The nonsexual torture that was committed ranged from beatings and suffocation, electrodes attached to sensitive areas, and forced sleep deprivation, to prisoners being hung by the wrists from the ceiling and placed in solitary confinement until psychosis was induced. These abuses violate both US and international law. Three former military attorneys, recognizing this blunt truth, refused to participate in the "military tribunals" -- rather, "show trials" -- aimed at condemning men whose confessions were elicited through torture.

Though we can now debate what the penalty for waterboarding should be, America as a nation, maintaining an odd silence, still cannot seem to discuss the sex crimes involved.

Why? It's not as if the sex crimes that US leaders either authorized or tolerated are not staring Americans in the face: the images of male prisoners with their heads hooded with women's underwear; the documented reports of female US soldiers deployed to smear menstrual blood on the faces of male prisoners, and of military interrogators or contractors forcing prisoners to simulate sex with each other, to penetrate themselves with objects, or to submit to being penetrated by objects. Indeed, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was written deliberately with loopholes that gave immunity to perpetrators of many kinds of sexual humiliation and abuse.

There is also the testimony by female soldiers such as Lynndie England about compelling male prisoners to masturbate, as well as an FBI memo objecting to a policy of "highly aggressive interrogation techniques." The memo cites a female interrogator rubbing lotion on a shackled detainee and whispering in his ear -- during Ramadan when sexual contact with a strange woman would be most offensive -- then suddenly bending back his thumbs until he grimaced in pain, and violently grabbing his genitals. Sexual abuse in US-operated prisons got worse and worse over time, ultimately including, according to doctors who examined detainees, anal sodomy.

All this may sound bizarre if you are a normal person, but it is standard operating procedure for sex offenders. Those who work in the field know that once sex abusers control a powerless victim, they will invariably push the boundaries with ever more extreme behavior. Abusers start by undressing their victims, but once that line has been breached, you are likely to hear from the victim about oral and anal penetration, greater and greater pain and fear being inflicted, and more and more carelessness about exposing the crimes as the perpetrator's inhibitions fall away.

The perpetrator is also likely to engage in ever-escalating rationalizations, often arguing that the offenses serve a greater good. Finally, the victim is blamed for the abuse: in the case of the detainees, if they would only "behave," and confess, they wouldn't bring all this on themselves.

Silence, and even collusion, is also typical of sex crimes within a family. Americans are behaving like a dysfunctional family by shielding sex criminals in their midst through silence.

Just as sex criminals -- and the leaders who directed the use of rape and sexual abuse as a military strategy -- were tried and sentenced after the wars in Bosnia and Sierra Leone, so Americans must hold accountable those who committed, or authorized, sex crimes in US-operated prisons. Throughout the world, this perverse and graphic criminality has added fuel to anxiety about US cultural and military power. These acts need to be called by their true names -- war crimes and sex crimes -- and people in America need to demand justice for the perpetrators and their victims. As in a family, only when people start to speak out and tell the truth about rape and sexual assault can the healing begin.

© Project Syndicate

Comments

[SadVoter]

As a woman, I believe I can see the problem very clearly. The reason this issue is completely ignored is because the sexual abuse is being perpetrated against MEN. And our society seems to believe that men cannot be sexually abused - or if they are sexually abused, then they should be ashamed for being weak enough to let it happen. If the victims were females or children, then our nation would be enraged. But since it is happening to grown men, there is silence.

There is also the opposite problem happening. Since the perpetrators are female, no-one talks about it because it is also believed that women are incapable of committing sexual abuse. If it were men putting men's underwear over the heads of female prisoners, then our nation would rise up in anger. Feminists across the country would be marching in the streets and congress would be holding daily hearings. But since it is women abusing men, nobody seems to have a problem with it.

Kudos to Naomi for bringing this important issue to light. She is now my new hero.

[JohnJames]

Another factor might also be that some prisoners were forced to imitate sex between men and maybe not just imitate. As this article makes clear male service members were also among the planners and perpetrators. In our homophobic society and especially among those Americans most inclined to be knee-jerk supporters of the military there's something far worse than commiting sex crimes and that's associating red-blooded all-American military men with anything that can be construed as homosexual.

[Boadicea]

Thanks for saying out loud what so many of us have been thinking in silence. It's a very sad period in our history.

[Dannydel]

Naomi, how on earth did we as a country, get from the brave, self sacrificing world saving idealogy of my parents generation, when much of the world relied upon America for everything from information,(Radio Free Europe), to assistance (The Berlin airlift, The Peace Corps etc.) to being universally despised for being an uncaring, greedy invader and despoiler of our planet? You speak of wartime tribunals and for holding the perpetrators of these actions,crimes by any other name, accountable. I agree 1000%. The Bush's, Cheyneys and Rice's of the world must be made to face the utter destruction they have wrought in the name of "spreading democracy." And you're right on another point. americans don't care about whats going on because they are uninformed, politically lazy, they feel entitled and they are so out of touch with the rest of the planet, it's pathetic. And if they are close minded and stupid enough to vote McCain in as President, well it will all soon be over.

[farseer]

Politicians involved in sex abuse scandals seem to be Republicans more of the time. What Wolf reports is consistent with that.

[Sarahjan]

thank you Naomi for being a voice of reason in this time of irrationality and fear. We shall overcome, peace

[RoseMerry]

Naomi Wolf is a great American and I am proud to have had the pleasure of meeting her. She represents the kind of leadership we can never have in high office, like that fantasy of Aaron Sorkin's, "The West Wing".

Oh, please, God, make me wrong someday!
My tears fall like rain.

[Kassandra]

No kidding! everybody in America should be crying for their country.

[wdw101]

why.......i like my country........

[mergina]

America died, I MEAN REALLY DIED, CLOSE TO THE LAST NAIL IN THE COFFIN died, the day the Supreme Court placed Bush and Cheney in charge of this country. In my opinion, those on the Supreme Court who voted to do so are criminals, as guilty and Bush and Cheney are for all of their crimes, as if they participated in each of them standing at their sides. Justice would be trying and convicting the lot of them for their CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, because that is indeed what they are guilty of.

IMAGINE, just stop for a moment and simply IMAGINE what this world might be like had they not handed the Free World to two thieving oilmen.

NO 9-11 ATTACK
NO ANTHRAX
NO WAR WITH IRAQ
NO WAR WITH AFGHANISTAN
NO THIEVING TAX BREAKS FOR THE FILTHY RICH
NO BREAKS TO OIL COMPANIES
NO OIL PRICES ESCALATING OUT OF CONTROL.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, NO IGNORING CLIMATE CHANGE, THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE EACH AND EVERY HUMAN MUST ADDRESS.

IMAGINE!

[wdw101]

wow, are you saying bush caused 9/11 and started climate change......you do have an imagination. Clinton did not allow expanded oil drilling. Had he not screwed up then we would already have new oil production and prices would not be so high.

[mikekev58]

Clinton...the gift that keeps on giving!

Of course, that Bush ignored "bin Laden determined to strike in the US" is completely ignored by wdw101.

So, if we're going to speculate, as it were:
Had Rice and Bush taken that briefing seriously...

And of course, wdw101 ignores, or is ignorant of, the opposition to offshore drilling that came from the states with valuable coastlines, including Florida. One of the biggest opponents of opening up drilling off the coast of Florida was Jeb Bush.

Clinton certainly had say so on Federal land, like ANWR, but despite the right wing's caricature to the contrary, the opposition to drilling there was bipartisan.

I'm sure willing to place responsibility where it belongs, including on my own shoulders as a less frugal consumer of energy. But just as I am not solely responsible for the role Americans' oil consumption has contributed to the current situation, I also will not lay total blame on George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

By the same token, Bill Clinton's opposition to expanded oil drilling, along with the opposition that came from various governors, is not what has brought on $4+ a gallon for gas.

[Daughter2]

Imagining here. Imaging if the oil companies "ALLOWED" themselves to sell back our own oil to us if Clinton had "allowed" expanded drilling. No, they wouldn't have. They are in the oil business and do not care where they get it from. I used to think "ALLOWING" domestic drilling would answer our domestic gasoline and oil addiction. But, I repeat, the oil companies have no loyalties to any country from which they drill. Period.

[metropixie]

Brilliant view, wdw101! Of course, it was Bill Clinton all along and the rest of us stupidly thinking it was Bush and Cheney who were f*cking things up real good for the world.
So then, what about the other points mergina brings up?
Oh, I see, all Bill Clinton's doings too... That darned Bill Clinton! Impeach him!

[LillianB]

International media have reported on war crimes, torture, atrocities from 2001 (Guantanamo bay) until today, stories multiplying during the Iraq war. Yet, very few people (like Lynndie England) have been held responsible. Those who have, have been condemned as if they were alone in taking the initiative to their crimes. And yet, these crimes are so similar any thinking human being must see that someone, way above the soldiers, must have given the order. That this isn't a HUGE issue in the USA scares me. Bush's administration should be held responsible. No American voter should avoid knowing. No American politician should get away with NOT taking a stand against it. And this shouldn't wait until after the election. Cleanup, now!

[wdw101]

BlackWidowPilot .........I agree..... The only problem with your assertion is wolf dug the hole not me. The woman speaking sexy came from the article. You people keep redefining torture and who can have POV status.....Unfortunately bush caved in and changed their status in correctly.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Torture is both psychological as well as physical, 'wdw101." Just ask any POW of the VC or the NVA, the Nazis or the Imperial Japanese. But then again, that would require you, "wdw101," to accept information contrary to your cherished PNAC belief system, resulting in overwhelming cognitive dissonance, and we can't have that, now can we?

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[wdw101]

I do not know any POWs.

[kinkissimo]

While the dept of defense is making sexual torture a standard operating procedure, the justice department is busy prosecuting adult film producers for making porn films- an activity that is consensual and protected by the 1st amendment. This government is truly a band of sick monsters. They literally use sex as a weapon and prosecute consenting adults from engaging in adult behavior.

I appeal to the international community to do what our Democratic lead congress is too gutless to do- hold Bush and his criminal administration accountable for war crimes.

If Bush and his people get away with all their crimes, this country will truly be worthless.

[wdw101]

get off your soap box........ adult films and dealing with detainees are to different things. but you already know that don't you. A lot of these detainees are not even welcome in their own country. Where do you want them?

[knighthowl]

Please explain how anything you have said relates to the issue of whether we have the right to abuse our prisoners?

[PierreLeClerke]

Heres an idea for your consideration; Why don't we show them our best side instead of our worst. Educate, and rehabilitate them, reprogram them, give these damaged human beings the benefit of our understanding and compassion. Lift them from their ignorance regarding who we as a people are. What would Jesus do?
My Grandmother always said " Look for the good in every soul and draw it out " Her fundamental belief that all men are created equal, all have a soul and center, all are God's children, is the basis of our Nations foundation.
Return to your senses America, return to what you know in your heart to be the truth. Return to the GOLDEN RULE. Think America!
If we truely do onto others as we would have them do onto you, how much would our neighbor love us? How much would our neighbor hate us?
It is the covetous nature of the corporate beast that has allowed men to hide their lust for all things within.
Return to common decency America, we have become our own worst enemy.

[Dvmx]

Thank you for bringing this up and drilling the issue. It's astounding and shameful to me that the nation seems to prefer to collude and coverup these outrages.

[wdw101]

no just a lot of people do not find it outrages therefor no need for a coverup

[lepere]

What else can you expect from ideologues

[BadgerThorazine]

Thank you for stating something I'd noticed back then myself. I enthusiastically appreciate your report on this and other issues, although this one most of all.

[Tommygun264]

So was this an instructional "How To" session on the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war that Condi led?

[NTO08]

We all know the Nazis did the same thing with those who were in the concentration camps...it is not unusual for oppressive regimes to do this...

[wdw101]

really we have gas chambers and ovens down there? concentration camps? WOW

[metropixie]

Don't put words in NTO08's mouth wdw101. What he/she says is that the Nazis engaged in interrogation tacticts and treatment of prisoners so reprehensive that to this day we squirm when hearing about it. That our own government would stoop so low as to engage in similar acts is therefore equally reprehensible.