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Inside: Cultural Sausage. ~ Ludic Lists. ~ Skullbucket. Outside: Monday
makes me sick sometimes.
"I could be bounded in a nutshell" "dear God letters from children page" "nationalist songs" "Bartolo Colon endorsements" "She-Ra naked" "who does Saddam hate?" "origin of the word 'sheenie'" "cruel amputation video" |
01.10.2005
(Defense attorney Guy) Womack said pictures that appeared to portray abuse, such as one showing the detainees stacked in the human pyramid...did not depict any wrongdoing. Womack told the jurors, "You see a picture of men stacked up in a pyramid. Don't cheerleaders form pyramids all across America?" (from an AP article about the trial of Abu Ghraib torture suspect Charles Graner) "So, Specialist Graner, you see here the photograph -- this is labeled Exhibit 31A in your information packets, jury -- of the prisoners, these are Iraqi detainees, in a naked human pyramid." "Yes, sir." "And this was taken at Abu Ghraib's prison facility during the period in which you served there. Can you identify the person standing to the left, who appears to be pointing and smiling?" "Yes, sir. That would be me." "And what have you got to say for yourself?" "I want to apologize, sir." "You do?" "Yes, sir. We never could get that damn pyramid right, and I accept all the responsibility for the action." "You take full responsibility?" "Yes, sir. I absolutely pushed those boys too far too fast." "I beg your pardon?" "I should have gotten them started with simpler stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were real troupers. They mastered the basics -- jumping splits, cartwheels, backflips, high kicks, even rudimentary pom work -- in no time flat. And they certainly weren't lacking for spirit." "I see." "It's just...no offense to the Iraqi people, sir, but it's like the Dark Ages over there." "Specialist Graner, you've been warned about racial epithets in this courtmartial proceeding." "Damn it, sir, those people know nothing about cheer, not the way we know it in America. You don't know what I was working with. We were using shredded newspapers for poms. We had a rolled-up hygeine poster doubling as a megaphone. And that language of theirs, you know how hard it is to pronounce sis-boom-bah in Arabic? It took me almost six weeks to get them to learn who-do-we-appreciate, and even then, most of them would say 'Saddam!' instead of 'Cougars!'. Why the hell do you think they were naked, anyway, sir?" "Why don't you tell me, soldier?" "Because our cheer outfits have been on order for over a year! And not that I'm trying to jump on the bandwagon or anything, but I noticed that the regulars up in Mosul got their skirts and letter sweaters months before we reservists did." "So you're taking the blame? The buck stops here with you?" "I accept full responsibility, sir. The pyramid is one of the most complex cheer maneuvers to learn, and they just weren't ready for it. In fact, I'd like to thank the people who turned me in. I shudder to think what would have happened a week later if they hadn't interfered when they did." "What was going to happen in a week?" "Baton, sir. I was going to start them on baton." "Dear God." "I'm not proud of it, sir. I'm not proud. And damn it, cheering has to be about pride." |
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| TODAY'S DRIFTWOOD: "Any poet, if he is to survive as a writer beyond his twenty-fifth year, must alter; he must seek new literary influence. He will have different emotions to express." (T.S. Eliot) |