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
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
this is nothing new in america . . . our domestic prisons are openly acknowledged rape farms, and it is a stock joke on television and in movies that, if an attractive male goes to jail, he will be made someone's b*tch
it sickens me to think that the persons in authority who order, commit and/or tolerate these sadistic acts are still free men and women, while their victims, even if freed, will suffer the effects of those acts for the rest of their lives
I agree. I get really upset by dramas or just commentary on news shows that seem to assume it goes without saying that when you go to jail, you can expect to be raped. That is NOT something that should be tolerated. The procedures in military prisons were able to be dreamed up so easily because there are way to many people who are unconcerned with what happens in US prisons or even get a sick fetishistic kick out of the thought of such things happening to convicts, who are thought to "deserve" it. Few people truly believe there is much wrong with that idea.
Where are all our trolls to defend this? What's up military worshippers? C'mon let's here it for the brave men and women in uniform who tortured these prisoners (for fun in many cases)? C'mon surely there is some fearless freeper with a military-sounding screen-name that is going to tell us that this was all OK because they were just following orders? Most of us are well aware that most of the original AG detainees were eventually released quietly after they had been tortured. That is because most of them were innocent. If you really love your country and Jesus and the Flag and all things American-- you will not rest until these scum are rooted out of the military and out of our government. But I've been posting here a long time and I know better. Phony wars by phony patriots for phony reasons are getting really old--apparantly we learned nothing from Vietnam, except how to cover up the war crimes better
Ask Michale.
Good lord, what has happened to this country? Neocons are almost enough to make me believe in the existence of a devil.
Naomi hits the nail on the head with this astute analysis of Republican sexual perversity in war crimes. I trust her wisdom and judgment as a former counselor in a rape-counseling center. I was well aware of the gist of these scandals, but this insightful description sounds like a manuscript for a pornographic snuff film screenplay. We shouldn't be surprised, however, by the level of depravity involved therein, given GWB's lifelong penchant for all manners of sleazy sadism, at least starting with his habit of blowing up frogs with firecrackers with his teenage friends, if not earlier. His family also has a tradition of trophy-hunting, whose hegemonic conceptualization is directly parallel to that which drives men to seek power over women, treated as erotic commodities to satisfy male whims and disposed of at will like yesterday's trash. A similarly astute analysis is found in Carol J. Adams' book, "The Sexual Politics of Meat." The women who were complicit in these hideous crimes, from the soldiers in the prisons themselves all the way up to at least one herein named Judge Advocate, are a pitiful reflection on our society's tendency to inspire the most exploited human classes, whether ethnic or gender-based, to feel empowered unto themselves by subjecting other sentient beings, human or otherwise, to the same contemptuous treatment as they once were. Defeating the perpetrators by becoming one of them further degrades our society and annihilates any civilization we could ever honestly claim to uphold.
Great post, Naomi, but SOS Rice is PROUD of those sex (and war) crimes, don't you know. Just this week she had the galling audacity to tell OUR country how proud she is that we invaded Iraq, and I'm wondering if it's not really because she and her friends hold a great deal of energy stocks. The price per barrel is now more than $100 dollars higher than before the criminal invasion and occupation, so perhaps she's actually proud because her 'oily friends' are much wealthier. After all, she didn't 'personally' force groups to strip naked and get in a pile, or attach electrodes to a man's privates.
Their HYPOCRISY seems boundless.
I may be sick. Will we ever be able to hold them responsible? Are these the 21st century american values? As any therapist knows, healing cannot begin until the truth is spoken openly and honestly. I fear america is doomed to an inevitable decline as this cancer eats away at us.
toolate,
Your fears seem warranted when one looks at the behavior of our current leaders, both in congress and the presidential candidates, none of whom seem to be addressing these issues on any level whatsoever. They are complicit in these crimes when they ignore them.
I know that a president mccain will not hold the bush admin accountable and I fear that a President Obama will not try to hold the bush admin accountable. I am very concerned that Obama has never called for the impeachment of bush which, as you say, makes him complicit (as it does every other senator or rep. who has sat silently as bush has tried to shred the Constitution).
Why are people surprised when it is shown that Americans are not always "good"? Americans are human and humans sometimes do vile things, like start a slave trade (both the humans who bought the slaves and those in Africa who sold them the slaves) and commit genocide (both the killers of Native Americans and the Native Americans who would have done the same to other Native Americans if they had the white man's weapons) and torture (both the Americans at Abu Ghraib and the Iraqis who did the same to other Iraqis and would do the same to Americans if they had the power). We are all human and it's not easy to admit what all humans are capable of.
I agree with you.
But, what I find most despicable about our current American leaders is that they 1) deny the atrocities they are committing, and 2) the things they will admit to doing they justify by telling us they are necessary to keep us "safe".
I would have at least a sliver of respect for them if they would just admit to being the evil, sick, power hungry, greedy, twisted monsters that they really are.
the icing on that cake is that those of us who seek to hold our leaders to account are called unpatriotic and accused of wanting the terrorists to win . . . if you are not for organized gang rape and sexual torture, then you are against us . . .
Joyboy,
So, what exactly is your point? Is it merely that we should not be surprised at all of this?
It's just that I keep seeing these comments that America should somehow be morally superior because of our Constitution etc. My point was that we probably have the same percentage of bad guys as any other country, Constitution notwithstanding, which is why we have to be careful whom we vote for. And the Constitution was written by slaveholders.
this not about surprise that americans are not always good.
this is not about NOT GOOD americans.
this is about a bunch of criminals who have been controlling our national defense structure for decades and have somehow gotten a comlicit media to keep it away from the american public.
if all three broadcast networks (which get ten times collectively the viewers of an oreilly) were to tell the truth about this, heads would roll and people would be put in prison.
look at the outrage created by chris hansen's "to catch a predator" and multiply it by a hundred thousand.
i really resent this continued blaming of the general population who have been made numb as they struggle to survive. how dare you?
Thank you, Naomi. Please keep telling them. Maybe one day enough people will hear you. Hopefully, the American people will wake up to what their own country has done to its "enemies" BEFORE some other country does this sort of stuff to OUR soldiers and other American citizens. Because if this kind of stuff were being done to Americans, we would all collectively lose our simple minds. And, the end result would probably be a war which would destroy our planet as we know it.
Unbelievable. On the other hand, nothing this administration does should surprise us anymore. And we're supposed to be proud of our country. Sorry... I am deeply ashamed. They wonder why we are so hated around the world. If John McCain were to get into office, there is absolutely no doubt that these practices will continue and be covered up. It's hard to know where to put the outrage that builds when things like this are exposed. Thank you, Ms. Wolf. Obviously you have more courage than most of the media, be it tv or in print.
Abso-fuckin-lutely Naomi! One horrific crime among so many perpetrated. These violationns by our highest elected official must be aired-out for the world to see if we are ever to regain a moral high ground and respect in this world.
Watch out for politicians claiming "family values".
From the first, after seeing the images of Abu Ghraib, I knew that sexual depravity was being ordered from the top. I also, just based on instinct, could see that someone was getting off on all this. Certainly, Herr Rumsfeld would have been one, and I truly believe that Cheney and Bush would have been the others. Rice would of course, have agreed with everything they demanded, and perhaps it pleased her as well?
Seymour Hersh has reported on a video from Abu Ghraib, he claims to have seen, which features the anal rape of a 15 year old Iraqi boy. Clearly, this tape will never see the light of day, but it should. American's need to have their noses pushed into this steaming pile, and be made to see it for what it is...official US policy. And the very existence of such a tape begs the question, who was it made for? Not a subject that anyone could defend as being necessary to document, so the real question is, who would have enjoyed seeing such a thing? Look to the very top for the answer to that question.
And thank you Naomi Wolf for once again trying to open peoples eyes.
We think that we as Americans can do no wrong and that we are led by a higher power. Well, let me tell you that we are our own worst enemy. We are responsible for most of the misery of this country and around the world because of our holier than thou attitude. We condemn people and nations that kill their own, but fail to see our own crimes. When will there be justice for all the suffering here and abroad? When will the criminals of this administration be held responsible for their crimes?
This is so deeply disturbing at so many levels.
My biggest question is how many crimes can GWB and his administration commit or have been found to commit before they actually are held responsible for such atrocities? I read in the news that the impeachment process had begun, and then that no proceedings will take place. I also read that investigations are underway, and then learned they were terminated. It seems as if no straight answers are coming to the American public.
Is our government so corrupt at this point that something this blatant will go unpunished?
Lastly, I have to wonder if GWB took a gamble in thinking that in the beginning, post 9-11, when so many were behind him in going after OBL that no one would question his tactics.
CEDobson,
One is only held accountable if one loses miserably. The only reason Nazis / Japanese were war criminals was because they lost/surrendered/ were captured. Bush hasn't lost at all. He got everything he set out to do.. So what if it was at the expense of America and Iraq?
http://daltonator.net/durandal/blog/?p=68
According to the Taguba Report, at least one child was raped at Abu Ghraib by an American interrogator. Where's Chris Hansen when we really need him?
Also, quite a few women and girls were raped. There are pictures on that infamous CD the Pentagon keeps under wraps.
and the white house watched the tapes, according to insiders, and they laughed. Children were raped in front of parents, one with a florescent light bulb, and more info has not come out, for fear of outrage. AMERICA WOULD BE OUTRAGED if they knew, but MSM keeps secrets and promotes propaganda and lies. By the way, documented evidence shows this was developed by Israel. and of course, read and listen to Dr. Phillip McCoy, about the development of humilation and torture, by way of sensory deprivation and drugs, etc.
it will all come out ghosts. they will not be able to kill the internet in time.
It saddens me to think that Bush and his ilk will not spend one day in jail.
Maybe eternal damnation
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
