Private England: Another victim of war

By June Cho
RAW STORY COLUMNIST

Women have been primary victims of crimes related to sex during major wars.

Some of the most brutal crimes committed against women arguably were against the comfort women for the Japanese military during World War II. Japanese military drafted women coercively into the comfort service station at the Japanese military bases in Southeast Asia. The comfort women lived under surveillance and served as sex slaves. Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Dutch and Japanese women were victims of this atrocity. As the comfort women case suggests, the female gender often is a victim, and the male gender often is an aggressor.

However, gender ideology changed in the war against Iraq. Traditional gender roles and double standards between men and women are not reflected in the recent case of Iraqi prison abuse. The main suspect, at lease visually in the photos, is a woman: Pfc. Lynndie England. I did not realize that England was a woman until I read it in the news media. I thought that the person who posed with a thumbs-up in front of naked Iraqi men was a male soldier with long hair. I was wondering whether it could be a woman, but I did not want to admit that women could be part of such a horrendous act.

I am not a feminist in the sense that feminism is about white, middle-class women’s interests and concerns, but I am still in favor of it. Feminism holds that women cannot be aggressors because of their neglected history. Feminism also promotes a politics in which equality must be respected fully. However, in the Abu Ghraib prison case, women are not victims, but aggressors and suspects. Gender or sexism is not the issue any more, although England could be an easy target because of her gender. How dare a woman make fun of men’s sexual organs! We are all Freudians in some senses, and she should envy and respect them rather than make fun of them.

Ethnocentrism is a potential issue here. Ethnocentrism occurs when one ethnic group believes it is better than others are. For example, Americans might believe they are better than Arabs are. However, American is not really an ethnic identity. Being an American is more of an affiliation. Racism is not the issue either. A few black soldiers are accused along with England. There are no categories to explain this prison abuse scandal in my limited social scientific and humanistic knowledge system. If we could not understand things in the categorical boundaries, the danger would be higher.

The main issue is power. Depending on who holds the power, one can be either aggressor or victim. The United States is the power in Iraq right now. How wisely the nation uses this power might be the key to handle the current situation.

I do not know much about England’s story except that she claimed she just followed orders. What I expected from her was that she could refuse to follow the orders in the first place, if they were given. I have no idea what the consequences would be if she did not follow the order. As she claimed, she could be a victim of the military order. However, after she followed the order, if she realized what she did to these Iraqi prisoners, she could apologize to them. But she did not, as far as I know.

Despite what happened in Abu Ghraib prison, I still believe that human nature is originally good. I am neither an ethicist nor a moralist, but there is an old saying in the ancient Asian tradition: You can hate the act but do not hate the people who did it. I hate what England did, but I do not hate her.

Surviving comfort women still struggle with their painful memories of World War II, although the war was ended almost a half-century ago. The victims of Abu Ghraib prison, and even England, never will get over what they have been through. To me, England is just another victim of this unjustifiable war.

Born and raised in South Korea, June Cho is a freelance writer and graduate student in Los Angeles, California. Her writing covers international affairs and politics focusing on Asia.