"Hajji"

[endymion]

Originally Posted by techjunkie

Here's another Vietnam parallel for you. From the documentary Hearts and Minds, video clip from during the Vietnam conflict of an old Vietnamese guy saying,

"Americans say the Vietnamese are just slant-eyed savages. The Vietnamese have 5000 years of history. We fight against the invaders. It is not we, who are the savages."

Study: Many U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Admit Abusing Civilians, Backing Torture
Published: May 05, 2007 9:25 AM ET
WASHINGTON In a survey of U.S. troops in combat in Iraq, less than half of Marines soldiers said they feel they should treat noncombatants with respect. Only about a half said they would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.

More than 40 percent support the idea of torture in some cases, and 10 percent reported personally abusing Iraqi civilians, the Pentagon said Friday in what it called its first ethics study of troops at the war front.

Here is a sampling of what people around the world are reading about American soldiers:

US troops admit abuse
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

A third of US troops condone torture
PRESS TV, Iran

10 % of US soldiers in Iraq mistreating civilians
Hindustan Times, India

Nearly half of US troops in Iraq condone torture
NEWS.com.au, Australia

US Iraq troops 'condone torture'
Radio New Zealand, New Zealand

[quote author=V. Barbarino link=board=2;threadid=39325;start=#msg439966 date=1177972513]
on 60 mins blacks talk about how they don't "snitch".... something is seriously wrong with these people, and it's so common the media doesn't cover it.
[/quote]

“Most US soldiers won’t report civilian killings, torture”
Aljazeera.com

[web_norah]

it is brutal what the international press reports about American troops in Iraq, not pretty when you hear it / see it abroad.

[pod]

In any sort of group/society, there is the wall of silence. Be it a group of friends, a police force, or a military unit. We're all "conditioned" not to snitch on people. The consequences either being ostracism, "snitches get stitches", or worse. And you're promised and shown rewards for keeping quiet.

Look at it from childhood. Playground dynamics and all. Then if you were a member of a "Greek" (BTW, most ethnic Greeks find the term offensive) society, it's a rule not to tell on your brothers. Then in the business world, there's all sorts of things.

[Buck White]

Originally Posted by pod

In any sort of group/society, there is the wall of silence. Be it a group of friends, a police force, or a military unit. We're all "conditioned" not to snitch on people. The consequences either being ostracism, "snitches get stitches", or worse. And you're promised and shown rewards for keeping quiet.

Look at it from childhood. Playground dynamics and all. Then if you were a member of a "Greek" (BTW, most ethnic Greeks find the term offensive) society, it's a rule not to tell on your brothers. Then in the business world, there's all sorts of things.

Well put, pod. I had a 25 line post that I'm glad I didnt send....because you summed it up in 9.

[pod]

Heh.

But it's true. We all do it, we don't rat out our friends, fellow officers, squadmates, frat brothers, etc. Either through threat of violence, or we expect the same in return for our gaffes.

[endymion]

Originally Posted by techjunkie

The Serbian solution to the terrorist problem was that they proceeded to demonize ethnic Albanians. *They considered Albanians to be less than human, and fair targets for rape or murder. *Their ultimate solution to the problem was to occupy Kosovo, cripple the Albanian population by displacing them from their homes, killing their religious leaders, raping their women, and executing the ones that they thought were a potential threat. *Millions of ethnic Albanians were displaced from their homes by force. *This was in the name of fighting terrorism.

In Iraq we play by pretty much the same rules. *The only thing that we haven’t done (yet) is the mass rape, mass grave thing. *Are we somehow immune to the forces that led the Serbs to justify genocide? *Are we somehow inherently stronger than them, and not susceptible to the same errors in human judgment that led the Serbs to find a rationalization for murder?

[endymion]

Vietnam had its "g00ks," and now, the War on Terrorism has its own dehumanizing name: "hajji."
...
"Hajji," Shehata said, sounds like racist terms that U.S. soldiers used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, such as "towel-head."

The term brings back heavy memories for those who spent time in Vietnam during that war.

"That sounds familiar," said John Balaban, an N.C. State University English professor and poet-in-residence who has written about Vietnam and the war. As a conscientious objector, Balaban did alternative service in Vietnam.

"There were several words -- 'g00k,' 'slope,' 'dink,' " he said. "Some of these were meaningless, but they were all working toward the same goal, of trivializing and depersonalizing the enemy.

"It makes it easier to kill these people and not feel bad about it."