Mitigating Circumstances

Wherein Our Heroine Doesn't Buy It.

There have been various attempts to provide "perspective" to the torture at Abu Ghraib prison. The Washington Times, in an editorial about the recent words of Senator Inhofe, offers this on the torture that occurred:

"If photographs of detainee abuse are authorized for public dissemination, he said, 'for every picture of abuse or alleged abuse of prisoners, we have pictures of mass graves, pictures of children being executed, pictures of the four Americans ... that were burned and their bodies were mutilated and dismembered in public. Let's get the whole picture.'"

The article also touches on the number of people who were involved in the acts at Abu Ghraib. These are seven, according to Inhofe's count (those are the seven currently accused - chain of command is not taken into account). Inhofe finds it significant that these seven are a tiny fraction of a percent of the entire force in Iraq.

This is a heated issue, and it seems to be causing some brain fever. So I will posit a scenario for consideration. Imagine: a mugger is in front of a judge, charged with armed robbery and assault. He has viciously beaten a man in the course of stealing his victim's wallet and watch. His defense runs thusly: he presents photos of the victims of a gang (already in custody) which had perpetrated a series of brutal murders. He points out that he is only one man in society, a tiny fraction of the town in which he lives. He argues that he has caused very limited harm - a robbery and beating, as opposed to the multiple murders committed by this gang. "Your honor," says his attorney, "please keep this man's actions in perspective. He didn't cause as much harm as the gang: let's get the whole picture. I think it is just time to move on."

To me, that does not look like perspective; it looks like obfuscation. Each defendant is only one person, yet if they are found guilty, they are not judged by how much of a percentage of the human race they comprise - they are judged by the harm that they do.

"It could have been worse," is not a defense at law, and perspective is not a mitigating circumstance for a crime.

Posted: Thursday - May 13, 2004 at 08:21 AM | |