Sergeant Paul Cortez on Tuesday pleaded guilty to raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, a crime for which three others still face charges. This story has been published all over the world, but the link I have supplied is from the English language edition of Al Jazeera.
My question is this, do you believe it has positive, or negative effects in the minds of Iraqis, and the Arab world in general, to read this type of story?
As is often the case, the answer isn't a simple one, and the most accurate answer I believe would be, "both."
There would be obvious negative effects. Oh look they would say, an American occupier rapes another one of our beautiful young virgins.
The positive effects I believe, would come in the demonstration of the rule of law, and legal justice.
Did anyone do anything, was anyone held to account, when a crime such as this was commited by Uday or Qusay or even Saddam himself?
It is my belief the Arabs cannot help but have respect for Americans, and the vivid demonstration of the rule of law in action, when they read about such events. Yes, the reason they are reading about it in the first place is a negative, but with the conviction, that negative is redeemed.
What do you think?
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 31
Sure some people would say...well, it's a war situation and you don't know what those brave people go through...bullsh*t...I know, and it doesn't involve pullng out your penis and raping a young lady, then murdering her and the family.
I say, bring down the law on him, and make no exceptions. This will be a prime example to the rest of the guys who have similar thoughts in their heads.
Yes, I believe this will have a negative effect, even though he was convicted.
Most of the world does not believe that we live up to our profession of a just and lawful nation.
He's been convicted, the law has been brought down, that's my point.
I believe this will have a negative effect, even though he was convicted.
So do I, I said so. I even said "obviously." I also believe it will have positive effects.
he wasn't convicted, but he plead guilty
Sorry, but the first line of the article stated clearly, "Sergeant Paul Cortez on Tuesday pleaded guilty to raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, a crime for which three others still face charges."
Once you have pleaded guilty, you are convicted.
I think there is some redeeming value
Agreed.
More than likely it will be another line on the laundry list of why America should leave.
Another "glass half empty" kind of guy, eh ???
Most of the world does not believe that we live up to our profession of a just and lawful nation.
All the more reason the Arabs get it, in the Arab press, yes ???
Oh yeah, do you remember John Marc Karr ???
do you remember John Marc Karr ???
uhh..... I'm not sure why I should, but that doesn't mean I don't. Does that answer your question???
In country, the context (occupation) may stress the negative. Also, apparently reports of rape (if not rape itself) are extremely rare in the ME. While the US ranks 9th in the world with .3 rapes per 1000 population, the reported incidence in Saudi Arabia is like 1/100th that number. I don't have the number for Iraq, but it is probably low also.
www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita
I'm glad they are getting tough sentences though. They shamed us all, not just the military, by their acts of brutality. There are too many fine women and men serving to have to put up with this as well as the task at hand.
Thanks.
You scoffers: How many nations can you name that have prosecuted their own soldiers for crimes against the invaded?
Just how much affect this will have may be minimal at first. But it is one more building block for our efforts.
Italy, Denmark, and France have done so, and come immediately to mind.
It is not a remarkabke occurrence. No nation can afford to have a rogue army rampaging about.
Even amidst the epidemic of human rights violations that were reported when international troops were stationed in the Congo and Rawanda, African states punished soldiers who were overtaken in the commission of crimes.
There is no positive from this, even with convictions. Yet another Iraqi family is gone at the hands of George W. Bush and his war profiteers. That these people were killed at the hands of rapists who will be convicted and sentenced is no saving grace. What becomes of the criminal who has ordered that thousands upon thousands of other innocent Iraqi families die from bombs and bullets?
As for questioning whether or not the Husseins were held to account for their crimes, you might direct that to the Reagan/Bush presidencies, since they were fully endorsing and subsidizing Saddam during the period of his most heinous attrocities.
It does my heart good to know even idiots like you are able to survive in this cruel cruel world.
Your every word is so amusingly contemptible, there is no other choice but to allow them to stand on their own, without rebuttal, and only my mocking tone to indicate you've said anything at all.
As usual, thanks for the larfs boys, even if one of you is in drag.
I am not going to exaggerate this and call this case the tip of the iceberg because that would be a lie. But it is perfectly obvious that there was poor oversight in this case just as there was poor oversight at Abu Ghraib. The prisoners and civilians who have been intentionally murdered in Iraq and Afghanistan are considerably more than a handful. On the one hand, it is a tribute to our sense of justice that a number of offenders have been brought to justice. One the other hand, it is shameful that their crimes occurred at all. In the eyes of their victims, the crimes reflect badly on all Americans- not just the guilty.
I don't think it can even be argued about the positive effects it MUST have, when the rule of law is carried out.
If the reverse is true, and it is--- witness the aftermath of the OJ trial, if it is true people lose faith in the justice system because of the breakdown of the system, it is also true then, they are heartened by the successes of the system.