Media myth versus Abu Ghraib prison reality

Cicada reports on Gwynne Dyer, clairvoyant and analyst extraordinaire writing in The New Zealand Herald

Gwynne Dyer puts on his magic ESP hat, telepathically scans the ether and informs us of several things in a column that can be found here.

A picture from Abu Ghraib prison ``conveys the contempt that ordinary American soldiers (and the Government that sent them) feel for Arabs.'

And ``most of the people detained at Abu Ghraib, at Bagram in Afghanistan, at Guantanamo and in the rest of the gulag are just innocent bystanders.''

This guy probably makes a killing in the stock market. Anyway, there's more.

``The American troops in Iraq are not cultural, political or historical experts. They are frightened and far from home, and 100 Hollywood movies have taught them that Arabs are dirty, sly, cruel enemies of all that is good.''

(sigh) If only the French had sent troops to Iraq. Their steady diet of films from Cannes produces just the kind of soldier we need for the situation.

But an Iraqi Doctor who worked at the prison found the American soldiers were the exact opposite. Who was closer to the story - an Iraqi Doctor at the prison or a New Zealander commenting from New Zealand?

From Iraq the Model

-Yes but what about the way they are treated? And how did you find American soldiers in general?

- I’ll tell you about that; first let me tell you that I was surprised with their politeness. Whenever they come to the hospital, they would take of their helmets and show great respect and they either call me Sir or doctor. As for the way they treat the prisoners, they never handcuff anyone of those, political or else, when they bring them for examination and treatment unless I ask them to do so if I know that a particular prisoner is aggressive, and I never saw them beat a prisoner and rarely did one of them use an offensive language with a prisoner.

One of those times, a member of the American MP brought one of the prisoners, who was complaining from a headache, but when I tried to take history from him he said to me “doctor, I had a problem with my partner (he was a homosexual) I’m not Ok and I need a morphine or at least a valium injection” when I told him I can’t do that, he was outraged, swore at me and at the Americans and threatened me. I told the soldier about that, and he said “Ok Sir, just please translate to him what I’m going to say”. I agreed and he said to him “I want you to apologize to the doctor and I want your word as a man that you’ll behave and will never say such things again” and the convict told him he has his word!!

Another incidence I remember was when one of the soldiers brought a young prisoner to the hospital. The boy needed admission but the soldier said he’s not comfortable with leaving the young boy (he was about 18) with those old criminals and wanted to keep him in the isolation room to protect him. I told him that this is not allowed according to the Red Cross regulations. He turned around and saw the paramedics’ room and asked me if he can keep him there, and I told him I couldn’t. The soldier turned to a locked door and asked me about it. I said to him “It’s an extra ward that is almost deserted but I don’t have the keys, as the director of the hospital keeps them with him”. The soldier grew restless, and then he brought some tools, broke that door, fixed it, put a new lock, put the boy inside and then locked the door and gave me the key!

[...]

-As you said these things are unaccepted but I’m sure that they are isolated and they are just very few exceptions that need to be dealt with, but definitely not the rule. The rule is kindness, care and respect that most of these thugs don’t deserve, and that I have seen by my own eyes. However I still don't understand why did this happen.