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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
May 20, 2004
/29 Iyar, 5764
Atrocities happen in war, but self-flagellation only satiates a deranged individual
By
Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
Let's get something straight. We hate anyone who would torture a prisoner of war. But we also hate getting old, paying taxes, and square dancing. The point is, some things just go with the territory. Soldiers who go off to fight in a war are not going to a Bar Mitzvah. They are ordinary people who are subjected to extraordinary pressures while separated from family, friends, the Saturday night wrestling in back of a pickup truck, and the structured life a civilized society provides. Without any life experience that could prepare them for what they will encounter, they live under constant or near constant threat of attack and the daily deaths or mutilations of friends and colleagues. Worse yet, they risk their lives to free a people who are more than just ungrateful — people who have turned on them, and now often seek to destroy them.
There never was a war where the participants, who are usually barely old enough to shave, on both sides, did not commit atrocities. Yes, it happened in the last great war by both the Germans and Americans, and for the Japanese this was "business as usual." The difference between us and them is that we do not treat this as acceptable behavior, we do not condone it; we investigate, we make it public, and we punish. They celebrate it.
It is of singular importance that under Saddam Hussein, in that very same prison, Abu Ghraib, that is now being scrutinized by the American authorities, rape, murder, the cutting off of limbs, and whatever tortures the ingenuity of a highly technologically advanced society could devise were a routine daily occurrence. The whole world knew of this Arab-on-Arab torture. Yet not a peep. Now when a few individuals out of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers have acted inappropriately, the Arab world is outraged.
Ironically, in the Arab world, torture is still practiced and enjoys an historical precedent dating back to, at least 608, when the Prophet's favorite grandson had his head cut off in Iraq and sent first to Damascus and then to Egypt. Today, a thief in Arab countries worries about forfeiting his hand as well as his freedom, and a wife who is romantic with the wrong man has more to worry about than being sued in a divorce case. The message is clear: one standard of conduct for Arabs, another for Americans.
If Arabs enjoy the pleasure of a double standard, we claim no less a right. To be very clear (readers of the New York Times avert your gaze), if it is Arab discomfort as opposed to American young men and women being turned into chop meat, in our eyes it is no contest. It must be borne in mind that the abuse victims were all in cell block 1-A or 1-B, which basically means that there was evidence to believe that they were murderers, terrorists, or insurgents. If the new standards for their treatment now being put in place will prevent the obtaining of information that could have saved American lives, in our book, our politicians and military brass should have a lot more to answer for than the mistreatment of a few thugs.
If anyone questioned the necessity for our attacking Iraq the TV beheading of the 26-year-old businessman Nick Berg should have been an awakening experience. It should be clear to the world that what we are unwillingly faced with is a clash of cultures. It was not sought, it was thrust upon us on 9/11. Can any American in a modern world, where the furthest is but hours away from the nearest, feel safe where there is loosed upon the world a society where the cultural norm for a showing of dissatisfaction is the television beheading of an innocent person?
President Bush, in his address to Congress after 9/1, made the most important, and obvious but unspoken, policy declaration since the Monroe Doctrine: friend to our friend is our friend, friend to our enemy is our enemy. In the velocity of events in the modern world it cannot be otherwise.
Picture a world in which we did not take action. Of course, it would have been a more peaceful world today, and President Bush would have had an easier chance for re-election. But the same people who complain that our deficit will burden the next generation should apply the same thinking to the Iraq situation. If America had done nothing, Iraq would continue to try to shoot down our planes who were conducting fly-overs pursuant to a peace treaty. We could do either one of two things: let American planes be shot down and the pilots, if alive, subjected to Hussein-style Iraqi justice, or discontinue the flights. To allow the former would be criminal inaction by the people in Washington; in the latter case we would be humiliated before the Arab world and our timidity would be interpreted as license. If we wrote off the search for WMD, could any one this side of a lunatic asylum believe that Saddam Hussein, who has sought, and has previously used some of them (and who but for the Israelis' destruction of the facility at Osirak would have already gone nuclear) would not, fueled by his own and other Arab wealth, eventually acquire all of them?
Americans should understand that self-flagellation only satiates a deranged individual. They should also take note of Lincoln's observation that the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present.
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JWR contributors Jackie Mason and Raoul Felder need no introduction. Comment on this column by clicking here.
© 2004, Mason and Felder
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