Grin And Bare It
‘IN September 2001, the planes smashed into buildings; today, Lynnie smashes to pieces our entire morality with just one tug on the leash.
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| Oops! Lynnie arrives at the wrong time…again |
So writes Robert Fisk on the cover of todays Independent, in a piece produced beneath the shadow of the grandiose headline: THE DESTRUCTION OF MORALITY.
The veteran reporter is of the mind that the photograph of the US solider dragging her naked and prone captive along by a dog-style lead is as destructive to our collective selves as planes deliberately being flown into the World Trade Center.
The shot, which appears on the papers front page, presents a damning picture of American aggression and racism – as Fisk notes, the victims are brown-skinned Muslims, while the alleged perpetrators are churchgoing white Christians.
But how emblematic of an entire culture can a few boneheads be? Should we all be held accountable for Lynnies actions?
To find out more, we need to find out who Lynnie is, the brown-haired woman who has posed for photographs smoking a cigarette and giving an idiotic thumbs-up while pointing at the groins of stripped Iraqis, and now seen pulling a man along behind her like a dog?
First the bad news, or the even worse news: Lynnies full name in Lynnie England. Its an unlucky quirk of fate that this inadequate should be so easily linked with the British war effort.
We need to learn more, and helping us with our enquiries is Terrie England, Lynnies mom, who speaks to the Telegraph from her trailer park home in West Virginia.
Dismissing the images of her daughter as stupid, kid things pranks, Mom England adds that her daughter was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She was nothing more than a pen pusher, explains Terrie. She just happened to be there when they took those photographs.
But perhaps its not mere coincidence. Perhaps its something to do with destiny?
Painted on a rock outside the home of one of the six members of the US Armys 372nd Military Police Company facing court-martial, one Charles Graner, is a verse from the book of Hosea.
It says: Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to see the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
After a hard day a-beating and a-torturing, theres nothing like a good refreshing shower of righteousness to make you sleep at nights.
That Hosea fella sure was one smart cookie. But he was no American solider ’
Posted: 7th, May 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
