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The Remember Returning From Serving in Support of the Iraq War, While My Ship Was Undergoing a Maintenance Period, and Seeing News of the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal Breaking on CNN. The Scandal was the Worst Thing to Happen to the US Army since the Vietnam War. Sitting on My Ship That Day, I Realized that a Year of All the Hard Work and Loss of Life Had Just Been Undone in One Photo.
That Photo – Private Lynndie English Holding A Leash Attached to a Naked, Hooded Iraqi Man Nicknamed “Gus” by Soldiers – Became a Defining Image of the War. It shareted any delusion that we we have there as libeators. It Put Every Service Member in Greater Danger and Undermined The Very Values We Claimed To Defend. That single image embodied Everything America is not supposed to be. And then Came Kristi Noem.
Noem, Donald Trump's Homeland Security Secretary, Aided Her Own Flair To What Might Be the Worst Photo-Op Ever Taken by a Cabinet Secretary. Sporting a hat with a badge (Thankfully not the paw patrol Kind), She Posed in Front of Shirtless, Caged Men Held at El Salvador's Infamous Gulag – and Threateneed to Send More Immigrants to America There. I Felt that Familiar Gut-Punch. Another Photo. Another War Lost – This time, for Basic Decency and American Democratic Ideals.
In 1775, George Washington Personally Wnedned British General Thomas Gage Not to Mistreat Continental Prisoners, Invoking the “Obligation Arista from the Rights of Humanity.” Even amid the brutalities of war, Washington Understood that How We Treat Captives Speaks to the soul of what American Democracy was supposed to be. Washington Went Even Further to Instruct His Own Commanders Not to Treat British Solices The Way They Were Treating American, Sometimes Letting Them Star to Death, Among Other Terrible Things.
TODAY, TRUMP-ALIGNED RepUBLICANS LIKE NoEM Have Discart the Principles Washington and Our Framers Set SO Long Aug. Since the Outset of Trump's Entry Intrics, Republicans Have Become More and More Comfortable with Embracing Authoritarian Theaterics and CrueLy as political branding. What was Once a Republic Grounded in Honor and Decency Now Flirts With Tyranny, Make Removed from what was intended for Our Great Nation. The War We're losing Isn'T Just for Hearts and Minds – It's for the American Soul.
The Photos from Abu Ghraib Became a Recruitment Tool for Our Aenemies. As veterans, We Remember the Shame, The Hearings, The Apologies – and the Consequers. We Remember the Americani Who Paid The Price: Junior Solices Who Were Just Following Ordersin Cautionary such that militairs Around the world Have Learned, Forgotten, and Too often Repeted.
What's Most Troubling is That Noem's Actions Are Setting the Tone from the Top. She's Setting the Tone For Every Border Patrol Agent and Sworn American Officer Involution in Immigration Enforcement – Many of Whom Are Veterans of the Iraq War and Witnessed the Consequences of Places Like Abu Ghraib.
Veterans Undersand That Mistreating Prisoners, No Matter How “Derserving” they May Seem, Makes Us All Less Safe. By encouraging this mindset, Noem is putting border agents and others she is responsible for protecting at risk.
Every American Should Be Asking: What Happens When We Normalize Sending People – Without Hearing or Trials – To Cages in Foreign Countries Known for Torture? What happy when we rely on authoritarian regimes to do the dirty work we can't legally carry out on use soil?
And Who do we benical when this is not only accepted, but promoted by leaders at the Highest Levels of Our Government and Military?
