Sean Baker
Veteran of the first Gulf War, Sean Baker, knew what he had to do the moment he saw the planes hit the World Trade Centre back in 2001: re-enlist in the army and do his part for his country.
He didn't know then that his country was going to fuck him up in a training exercise so badly that he would suffer permanent brain injury. Nor did he know that after fucking him up, his country would try to fuck him over by refusing him a disability payment.
Acting as a military policeman at Guantanamo Bay, Baker broke the first rule of being a soldier: he volunteered.
He didn't just volunteer, he volunteered to play an uncooperative prisoner in a training exercise. Except nobody bothered to tell the extraction team (the soldiers sent in to remove the prisoner from the cell) that it was an exercise. Instead, they were told that Baker was a real prisoner who had assaulted a guard and that pepper spray had not had any effect on him.
After the guards realised their mistake, the strangest thing happened. The video tape of the training exercise mysteriously disappeared. Funny about that.
Now, the thing is, all these injuries happened to Baker in possibly as little as thirty seconds or a minute. Had he been a real prisoner, had he not spoken English and not been wearing his military uniform under the orange jumpsuit, imagine how long the beating would have gone on and how badly he would have been injured.
What happened to Baker is quite shocking. And yet somehow it is hard for me to care. It's uncharitable, I know, but there you have it. Baker's mistake was being a stupid patriot. Not a real patriot who wants the best for his country men and women, but the stupid sort who will believe any lie, accept any mistreatment, ignore any crime, if it is wrapped in the flag. Some people might say that being a stupid patriot doesn't deserve a lifetime of epileptic fits, but goddamn it, if it wasn't for the fucking stupid patriots saying "Yes sir Mr President, fuck me up the arse!" all the time, we wouldn't be sinking into this fucking mess of bad wars and extraordinary renditions.
Even after his crippling at the hands of the guards, did he rethink the part he played in the illegal and immoral treatment of prisoners? No. Did he turn his back on a military and political system that fucked him up and fucked him over? No. Instead, he got a tattoo of SUCKER on his forehead, taped KICK ME on the seat of his pants, and tried to go back on duty. After the army tried to ignore their obligations to him by refusing him a medical pension, he sued them to get his job back.
Is he the stupidest arsehole in the universe or what?
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers in Gitmo who deserved to be taken out and beaten to an inch of their life, then one more inch. Aren't they lucky that, unlike the prisoners in their hands, they're protected from arbitrary detention, beatings, torture and execution? (Or at least, they're protected so long as Mad King George doesn't decide that they're a terrorist.) Nobody deserves to be left a cripple because someone else was having a bad day. They have due process, equitable treatment, and the protection of the law, and that's how it should be.
Sean Bean did not, because his fellow work-mates thought he was a prisoner.
Maybe, just maybe, some of the prisoners are actually bad guys, although judging by previous cases possibly not. Whether the prisoners are innocent or evil shits, it doesn't matter -- what defines us as "good guys" is that we don't do what the bad guys do.
If you'll torture for a good reason, you'll torture for a bad one. Rule of law, justice and -- yes, even for Muslims and terrorists -- mercy is what distinguishes decent, good people from thugs and monsters. Everybody, every single one of us, deserves to be beaten to death according to somebody. We distinguish ourselves from the al Qaedas and bin Ladens and Saddam Husseins by refusing to act as they act, not by meaningless white hats and black hats.
Sean Baker was part of a system that acts just like the bad guys act, only more efficiently. Regardless of the stars and stripes on his flag, that makes him a bad guy. His fellow bad guys almost beat him to death. That doesn't make him a hero in my book, it makes him a fucking moron who got a taste of what his buddies deal out every single day. He wasn't even defending his fellow country people. He was part of a system that tortures and brutalises an Australian kangaroo skinner and Osama bin Laden's chauffeur.
You sleep with hyenas, don't be surprised when they beat you to a bloody mess and leave you with brain damage.
He didn't know then that his country was going to fuck him up in a training exercise so badly that he would suffer permanent brain injury. Nor did he know that after fucking him up, his country would try to fuck him over by refusing him a disability payment.
Acting as a military policeman at Guantanamo Bay, Baker broke the first rule of being a soldier: he volunteered.
He didn't just volunteer, he volunteered to play an uncooperative prisoner in a training exercise. Except nobody bothered to tell the extraction team (the soldiers sent in to remove the prisoner from the cell) that it was an exercise. Instead, they were told that Baker was a real prisoner who had assaulted a guard and that pepper spray had not had any effect on him.
After the guards realised their mistake, the strangest thing happened. The video tape of the training exercise mysteriously disappeared. Funny about that.
Now, the thing is, all these injuries happened to Baker in possibly as little as thirty seconds or a minute. Had he been a real prisoner, had he not spoken English and not been wearing his military uniform under the orange jumpsuit, imagine how long the beating would have gone on and how badly he would have been injured.
What happened to Baker is quite shocking. And yet somehow it is hard for me to care. It's uncharitable, I know, but there you have it. Baker's mistake was being a stupid patriot. Not a real patriot who wants the best for his country men and women, but the stupid sort who will believe any lie, accept any mistreatment, ignore any crime, if it is wrapped in the flag. Some people might say that being a stupid patriot doesn't deserve a lifetime of epileptic fits, but goddamn it, if it wasn't for the fucking stupid patriots saying "Yes sir Mr President, fuck me up the arse!" all the time, we wouldn't be sinking into this fucking mess of bad wars and extraordinary renditions.
Even after his crippling at the hands of the guards, did he rethink the part he played in the illegal and immoral treatment of prisoners? No. Did he turn his back on a military and political system that fucked him up and fucked him over? No. Instead, he got a tattoo of SUCKER on his forehead, taped KICK ME on the seat of his pants, and tried to go back on duty. After the army tried to ignore their obligations to him by refusing him a medical pension, he sued them to get his job back.
Is he the stupidest arsehole in the universe or what?
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers in Gitmo who deserved to be taken out and beaten to an inch of their life, then one more inch. Aren't they lucky that, unlike the prisoners in their hands, they're protected from arbitrary detention, beatings, torture and execution? (Or at least, they're protected so long as Mad King George doesn't decide that they're a terrorist.) Nobody deserves to be left a cripple because someone else was having a bad day. They have due process, equitable treatment, and the protection of the law, and that's how it should be.
Sean Bean did not, because his fellow work-mates thought he was a prisoner.
Maybe, just maybe, some of the prisoners are actually bad guys, although judging by previous cases possibly not. Whether the prisoners are innocent or evil shits, it doesn't matter -- what defines us as "good guys" is that we don't do what the bad guys do.
If you'll torture for a good reason, you'll torture for a bad one. Rule of law, justice and -- yes, even for Muslims and terrorists -- mercy is what distinguishes decent, good people from thugs and monsters. Everybody, every single one of us, deserves to be beaten to death according to somebody. We distinguish ourselves from the al Qaedas and bin Ladens and Saddam Husseins by refusing to act as they act, not by meaningless white hats and black hats.
Sean Baker was part of a system that acts just like the bad guys act, only more efficiently. Regardless of the stars and stripes on his flag, that makes him a bad guy. His fellow bad guys almost beat him to death. That doesn't make him a hero in my book, it makes him a fucking moron who got a taste of what his buddies deal out every single day. He wasn't even defending his fellow country people. He was part of a system that tortures and brutalises an Australian kangaroo skinner and Osama bin Laden's chauffeur.
You sleep with hyenas, don't be surprised when they beat you to a bloody mess and leave you with brain damage.
posted by Vlad the Impala @ 3:20 pm
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