Honoring The
Dead
By Dr. Trudy
Bond
02 September, 2005
Countercurrents.org
The
Veterans for Peace project, http://www.veteransforpeace.org/bostonworkshops.htm
has become best-known recently for its display and the desecration of
the display at Cindy Sheehans camp outside Crawford, Texas. The
cemetery is made up of small wooden grave markers in the shape of crosses,
crescents or Stars of David, each with the name of a dead American soldier.
The purpose of the project is to make the consequences of war real,
and to allow people to express their grief, respect and thoughts. Pro-war
protesters, however, are incensed that the name of their child, husband,
wife, or parent is being used to protest the war in Iraq, and have walked
through the symbolic cemetery in Crawford, removing grave markers. The
claim is that the name of their relative is personal and private, resulting
in Veterans for Peace agitating about the conflict.
Crosses and tombstones
with names, photos of caskets, all with the question as to whether we
are honoring or dishonoring the dead and their families. Sensitive issues
here in the United States. In contrast is the recent report carried
by the Italian Press Agency http://www.ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/
mondo/news/2005-08-21_1057322.html. What follows is a portion
of a dispatch written by correspondent Gioia Giudici for
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano
/Cronache/2005/08_Agosto/21/blog.shtml Corriere
della Sera, which has been translated http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/08
/what-noble-people-what-noble-cause.html
As if they were figurines, terrifying images of Iraqis and Afghanis
dismembered by explosions are exchanged on-line for free access to a
porn site. The invitation to post photos of shocking cruelty is proposed
to US combat troops who are asked to post their horror shots in order
to enter the porn section of the site. Once gaining entry, many site
visitors have been unable to resist the deal offered by www.nowthatsfuckedup.com
: "If you are a US soldier deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan
or any other theatre of war and you would like free access to the site,
upload the photos which you and your buddies took during your service."
. . . The other section is a veritable chamber of horrors with photos
of dead Iraqis and dismembered bodies. Once you enter this section you
are immediately advised that you will be seeing cruel images and that
persons not wishing to view this type of material should not enter.
Browsing through
the posts is like a descent into hell. Each post contains the most graphic
of images, escalating in barbarity and viciousness and accentuated by
the comments left by posters. The posts exalt the violence of the images,
shot in a theatre of war. You see headless, armless burnt bodies, a
face in a bowl, the remains of suicide bombers, an arm or a leg accompanied
by inhuman comments, extolling the horrors..."the only good Iraqi
is a dead Iraqi." The comments are stupefying in their cynicism...there
is even a barbaric quiz, asking the question, "what body part is
this"...?
Interesting dilemmas
that this website, www.nowthatsfuckedup.com, creates. People are agitating
here on the issues of honoring our dead soldiers, though some of our
soldiers and our government, in the form of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo,
appear to have no compunctions regarding dishonoring the dead. Perhaps
the incongruence are best expressed by the blogger http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/08
/what-noble-people-what-noble-cause.html
If you question the President's lies, you're a subversive. If
you hold a candle in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan, youre an old
hippie consigned to the dustbin of history. If you complain to your
Senator, you don't understand the nobility of our cause. If you go downtown
and carry a sign, you're part of a flakey focus group. But if you hate
the human race, if you're devoid of compassion, if you sell your soul
for a peep show, if you ambush Italian reporters, if you stalk "foreign-looking"
civilians on the Tube, if you murder the wounded and the imprisoned,
if you torture for information, then to our twisted masters, or so-called
Executive, then you are a twenty-first century hero for democracy.
Dr. Trudy Bond is
a psychologist in Toledo, Ohio, and a peace activist. She
can be reached at [email protected]