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Abuse of Iraqi prisoners provokes anti-gay hate among Arabs and Muslims

OutRage! News Service | 02.06.2004 23:31 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Gender | London | World

The US military’s use of homosexuality to humiliate Iraqi prisoners has been condemned as “homophobic sadism” by the gay rights group OutRage! It says the officially sanctioned culture of homophobia in the US armed forces is directly to blame.

LONDON – The US military’s use of homosexuality to humiliate Iraqi prisoners has been condemned as “homophobic sadism” by the gay rights group OutRage! It says the officially sanctioned culture of homophobia in the US armed forces is directly to blame.

"By associating homosexuality with oppression and torture, the US military is not only displaying its institutional homophobia", says Brett Lock of OutRage, "but also stirring up homophobic hatred throughout the Middle East.

"Obviously we condemn all forms of torture and ritual humiliation of prisoners in whatever form they take," says Lock, “but the fact is that many Arab and Muslim people now associate homosexuality with torture and oppression. This is destroying all hope of advancing lesbian and gay human rights in the Middle East, and is likely to lead to intensified repression of queers in the region.

According to media reports, US military personnel have forced Iraqi prisoners to masturbate or pose in positions feigning "homosexual acts" and oral sex. In some photographs, US personnel can be seen pointing and laughing as the Iraqi prisoners are forced to act like "homosexuals". Other reports allege that Iraqi prisoners have been raped and ‘sodomised’ with light bulbs, broomsticks and other objects.

Although the US military authorities deny any official knowledge or endorsement of these actions, it is clear that homophobia is very much a part of US military culture. During the post-9/11 bombing of Afghanistan, the military was embarrassed when a journalist photographed navy personal scribbling "high jack this fags" (sic) onto bombs being loaded onto aircraft. Clearly there is a culture of labelling "the enemy" as homosexuals, a view reinforced by the ban on lesbian and gay people serving openly in the US military.

“Already the associations between homosexuality and sadism are being made. A week ago, protesters in Egypt laid the blame on ‘homosexual American executioners’,” says Lock.

"The tragic irony, he adds "is that the homophobia that drives the American actions is now leading to gays - who can't even serve in the military openly - being blamed for this abuse. The US military, consciously or unconsciously, seems to be deliberately promoting a link between homosexuality and sadistic torture. Not only does it obviously
serve a wider antigay political agenda in America, but it will make it almost impossible to talk sensibly about sexual orientation in Iraq and other Muslim countries in the future. These are countries where lesbians and gays face the most brutal repression and where gay rights campaigning is most urgently needed."

“OutRage! is deeply concerned that both sides in the conflict use homosexuality to debase and dehumanise the other side, linking it with torture, humiliation and shame - with the US military playing it out in the most graphic and debased way. The backlash, the group fears, will ultimately be against the already-persecuted and defenceless lesbian and gay people in the region who, owing to the US military's actions, may ultimately be beyond help” he says.

OutRage! News Service
- e-mail: media@outrage.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.outrage.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

You there, I order you to go shag that prisoner...

03.06.2004 01:06

yeah right !

I would have thought that a man who seeks to commit a sexual act with another man would fall under the catigory of homosexual rather than homophobe ?

Are you seriously suggesting the male rapes were carried out by homophobes ?

?


homophobic homosexuals

03.06.2004 05:59

Think it through with your small head and you might figure out it is pretty simple matter to be homophobic and engage in homosexual acts. There is another term called homosocial useful in understanding fascists and the military worth some research given the stupidity of the above comment.

As for the title of this article as republished why is baiting Muslim and Arab haters? Why not just go with "Homophobia basic to American military culture"?

tired of idiots


It's very well-orchestrated Psy-Warfare

26.07.2004 07:28

It's a very well-orchestrated Psy-Warfare campaign. The pictures were a setup. Ms. England was indeed handed a leash and told to march around with a human on the end, like a dog, for five hours while intelligence photographers snapped photos.

Here. From the article: "The US military, consciously or unconsciously, seems to be deliberately promoting a link between homosexuality and sadistic torture. Not only does it obviously
serve a wider antigay political agenda in America, but it will make it almost impossible to talk sensibly about sexual orientation in Iraq and other Muslim countries in the future."

Just trade the words 'US Military' with 'Black-Ops-Psy-Warfare,' and what we have is a GLOBAL CONSPIRACY AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY. This useful psy-op-warfare enflames BOTH SIDES of the conflict, and arms sales skyrocket. It's all about money, of course. Governments go to war against governments ... using The People as 'Pawns of War.'

CLAYTON LEON WINTON
mail e-mail: cwinton@surf1.ws


homophobia and sexism

05.09.2004 19:34

In addition to the humiliation being homophobic and reflecting homophobic values in the military, homophobia is also often an indication of sexism and masculinism in a given environment. The goal in abusing prisoners in this way was not only anti-gay, but also shows the conceptual link between feminization and weakness. The prisoners were in a position of weakness, so they were feminized by being sexually assaulted. This incident of abuse was exceptional for how it was documented, and because it was abuse of men. Female prisoners are frequently sexually asaulted; women who are not prisoners are frequently sexually assaulted.

Connie Gadell
mail e-mail: cngadell@yahoo.com


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