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• Thursday, February 16, 2006 07:40 AM

  The Daunting Task of Accountability

  I am saddened and horrified by the torture you document. I am even more saddened that some do not call it torture. They echo Gonzalas's wording in his infamous memo which implied: inflict any kind of pain, humiliation, deprivation, even rape -- as long as it doesn't leave a mark, it is not torture. Of course, this is ludicrous. It is also an important point.

  We define torture by "what doesn't leave a mark." In other words, torture is not defined by the effect it has on its victims (which in these cases is obviously horrific) but by the evidence it leaves.

  We, simply, do not want evidence. We do not want to "see" it: if no marks exist, it never happened.

  You have done a dangerous and brave service: you have shown us the scars. Now they exist. And any who would not see them now (who think this is something he/she would "pay for in Las Vegas") defines some aspect of our culture (American, human) that we should be wary of: it is a part of us, the secret wish of sadism.

  People say you are Anti-American for posting these photos. These photos will, they insist, insight violence. Hmm. . . Disturbing. This suggests a prejudice against Muslims: "They can't handle the truth." "They are irrational." (More irrational than we are? How? Please compare the riots over the cartoons to the incredible suffering we cause daily in the mere cause of our economy.)

  More disturbing, such people suggest that we cannot and should not be accountable for our actions -- the actions of our government (not mere soldiers). We tortured these men. We killed many. We should be accountable.

  The question then becomes: How do we save our soldiers? How do we protect them? Certainly not by denying the truth that Muslims have known anyway. Accountability is part of that answer, and then more -- but the question is, you see, a different one.

  I do have a lingering fear about these photos, however, and that is that I think that (this is horrible to say) many of us secretly want to see this. We are terrified of this new kind of war we find ourselves in; terrified of Muslims. We don't feel dialogue of any kind is possible with these "lower-than" others (and, therefore, we feel free not to be accountable or engage in dialogue.) And we enjoy seeing this "other" in these repulsive positions. That sadistic genie is released, and I am frightened of it.

  And I am cynical enough to wonder if this wasn't part of the rational behind this brand of torture (photographed as it was) to begin with. Justify a war by creating a war. Incite anger and even terrorism to justify invasion and more costly (if more acceptable) violence. I do not mean to justify terrorism here -- I am trying to understand a process. A machinery is in action; I want to understant it.

  Thank you for your documentation of the scars we have left. I hope we are up to the daunting task of accountability.

  —Laura Seltz
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