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There can be no doubt that Mr. Graner deserves the prison sentence he got. And yet, like Mark I cannot help but feel a little sympathy for the man. First of all, the conditions he is held in do not square well with the idea of prison a civilized society should have after the era of enlightenment – but I concede: the Bushies were not only after the New Deal they were also after enlightenment. He “reaps what he sowed” should be beneath us.
Virginia Dentata describes a rather drastic choice that one faces in war times, yet in many cases the choice is not fraught with such extreme consequences. But in a hierarchy where command and obey is the rule and hammered into you daily, you need quite a moral compass to not just go along – and a little further. I served in the German Air Force in the sixties, and – given our history - we were taught, too that there were some orders you might refuse and others you had to refuse. Consequences of error in judgment, however, were yours to bear.
And that is the first instance of unfairness in Graner’s case. Quite a few of fellow posters are in the comfortable position of not having faced the inducive conditions of a prison guard in Abu Ghraib. I commend you on your moral rectitude but for those of you who are religious, is there not a line in the Lord’s Prayer “And lead us not into temptation”? If it were so easy, why then the necessity to pray? Rose put it very nicely. Being a German and born just after the war I have asked myself the same questions a lot of times. What would I have done in place of a seventeen year old youth in the Waffen-SS? And, yes, what would I have done in Graner's shoes? We are now slightly better off because we learnt our history. We do have role models - people who stood up for their moral beliefs, some facing death, others not even a demotion.
And of course, fairness in the judicial system means that everybody is treated the same before the law and according to one's responsibility. That certainly is not the case here, yet I am sorry to say, “He should not be in jail” is not what I feel, but certainly he should not be in such a prison - and should have lots of company.
