Lynndie England – American war heroine was "joking around"

Poor girl was “Just joking around” or was she a victim of the chain of command?

What a wonderful time some US citizens have during their hours of leisure. Could it be that they play chess, read books, take a walk in the forest or go to a cultural center? As far as Lynndie England and her supporters are concerned, it would seem not.

Lynndie England, one of the American torturers caught red-handed at Abu Ghraib, and her supporters, claim one minute that she was “just joking around” and next, that she was only acting on orders from above. So which of the two was it, joking around or acting on orders?

If it was joking around, what a strange way these….er…people? no, that's not the right word….have of enjoying themselves. Forcing defenceless prisoners to commit acts of sodomy, holding people on dogs' leads, forcing Moslems to eat pork, forcing them to form human pyramids, playing with their genital organs, setting dogs on them, beating them, burning them with cigarettes…great fun. Imagine these people with a pet hamster and a microwave oven. Or a fluffy poodle dog, a can of petrol and a box of matches. Or a new-born baby, a high-rise block of apartments and a window.

Just joking around.

If this is how people just joke around in the area of the United States of America where this…female….hails from, one wonders whether she was born at the Gates of Hell. Or was she receiving orders from above? The mind boggles when one attempts to imagine the conversation between the superior officer and this private.

“Private England!”
“Yessir!”
“Tie this man's genitals up with wire!”
“Yessir!”
“Force these civilians into a human pyramid!”
“Yessir!”

Or did she receive written orders from the Pentagon, saying “Private England, we exhort you to do your duty to the United States of America and soften up prisoners so that we can ascertain where the WMD is. God Bless America”?

Or, is Private Lynndie England a perverted, warped little coward who hid behind her uniform, disgraced her unit, her armed forces and her country while she played out her adolescent fantasies on defenceless human beings and now tries to hide behind two false pretexts, that she was just joking around while at the same time was receiving messages from above?

Maybe like her President she receives messages from God. In any of these cases, she is a human being and has a mother who loves her and cares for her, undeniably, along with the rest of her family. Why then is she in this predicament, pregnant and liable to spend many years staring at the sun through a metal grille?

Maybe one could ask Donald Rumsfeld that question. Why do the US Armed Forces enlist torturers in their midst, or why is the enlistment policy so lax as to allow mentally retarded or mentally ill persons such as this Lynndie England female into their ranks?