The stories that Aiden Delgado tells are disturbing, horrific stories about what our military is actually doing over in Iraq. It seems that racism has taken over our armed forces overseas. Not just anyone, but men who were supposedly devout Christians are over in Iraq committing heinous acts you would only see a monster act out.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/133/133_think_racism_military.html
Delgado is a converted Buddhist who was a member of the 320th Military Police Company that helped to serve our country detaining POW's at the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. He wrote a bunch of articles called "The Sutras of Abu Ghraib" about what actually went on in the prison and all the atrocities that the government was hiding from the American public. When I say that this is an instance where it was evident that racism was taking over our military I meant it not in the exact sense as the Lavena Johnson story, but in a similar sense. The Johnson story is an example of how racism exists within our armed forces, and Aidan Delgado's stories are, to me, those same evils of racism that exist in our armed forces let out on our enemies. Chris Hedges who is the war correspondent for the New York Times said it best when talking about war saying "War forms its own culture...it also promotes killers and racists."
From the beginning of the invasion, it went from being a war on terror to being an anti-Arab, anti-Muslim war. Since the beginning of the time there has always had to be a good and an evil, and the war went from being a war against terrorists, to the U.S. vs. Iraq, to our "Christian" country vs. their Muslim country. Troops were and still are killing innocent civilians in Iraq, and degrading an entire country's population, just because they have this preconceived notion that all Muslims have the potential to be these "terrorists" that did damages to our country. The term "Hajjis" is a word commonly used among our troops to refer to any Muslim or someone of Middle Eastern descent. The term is used by Muslims to refer to someone who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, according to Delgado, but our troops have turned it into the new ethnic slur, with the same connotations as the n-word has. It seems to me that this "War on Terror" is just giving a lot of racist bigots a chance to unleash their racism on some people of color in a way that society makes feasible.
In Abu Ghraib, they housed civilians who were unarmed that just happened to be around the area when it was attacked by enemy forces. Not only did they house innocent civilians, but when they got unruly, the soldiers were allowed to use lethal force. Lethal force on civilians just because they were getting "unruly." So a little yelling is enough reason to murder someone in cold blood? Not only did they do this but they saw it as a macho thing on who could kill the most people? According to Delgago they saw it as a "macho" thing when they killed these people, and they posted pictures up of the murders they committed.
The idea that from the beginning of training, basic training, soldiers are already being taught anti-Arab chants...racist chants...is a testament to what really drives our soldiers in Iraq. Not the idea that we need to get revenge on those who committed those acts on that heinous day in September or anyone involved, but that ALL Muslims and ALL Iraqis are evil and had a part in what happened on 9/11. The hatred of a whole ethnicity because of something a few men did, sounds like racism to me.
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