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Soldier's Stiff Sentence May Make Others Think THE OBERLIN HERALD — Opinion Page 127th Year, Number 04 Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Soldier’s stiff sentence may make others think Maybe the next soldier who wants to beat for sport is crude and reprehensible, but it’s or humiliate a prisoner will think twice. not torture. Graner and his pals force people Ten years is a long time in Leavenworth, to strip, took their pictures in sexually embar- where the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks is the rassing poses, had them masturbate, force de- polite name for the Army’s penitentiary. voted Muslims to eat pork and drink liquor. Ten years is how long Specialist Charles It’s all disgusting, but in Iraq, there are many Graner Jr. will have to think about his sins. who know torture. Saddam Hussein and his Ten years for abusing prisoners in the now- minion were experts. Women were raped, men infamous Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad. An hooked up to electrodes, interrogators had Army jury could have given him 15, and many and worse methods. maybe they should have. That makes no difference, either. Our coun- Christmas tree haven for bird Graner didn’t sound too contrite after the try is not going to tolerate soldiers who abuse sentencing. prisoners, local citizens, or anyone else. Just Some people had a partridge in a “There is a war on,” he said. “Bad things because there’s a war on, we’re not going to pear tree over the holidays. I had a sparrow in the Christmas tree. happen.” abandon our principles. Steve warned me when I insisted Open Season That’s true. War, in the words of W.T. We hope Mr. Graner will not be the last con- on putting in a pet door that we Sherman, is hell. It makes men do things. victed in the Abu Ghraib scandal. If intelli- would be finding more than cats in- But in this country, we care. We know right gence agents put these soldiers up to abusing side the house. He was right. By Cynthia Haynes from wrong, and we expect our soldiers to re- prisoners, we’d like to see them in court, too. So far, the cats have brought in a bird every three to four weeks. [email protected] member the difference. We always have. And we hope the whole world is watching, Just after Christmas, after the chil- Now that Private Graner has been judged, because people should know not only that dren had all left and Steve was out though, Americans should make some distinc- Americans can make mistakes, but that we can doing errands, I was trying to solve been through the bird thing before. per, so I went out with the animal tions: and will make them right. the world’s problems when Molly I grabbed the bird out of her control officer to take dog pictures. First, though he claims intelligence agents War is never pretty, but it can be decent and Monster waltzed into the room with mouth and headed for the kitchen The dogs were great, though al- a sparrow in her mouth. door with the cat hot on my tail. most impossible to photograph. put him up to abusing prisoners to soften them honorable. That’s our commitment. That’s Like a flash, I was after her, but I could feel the little heart beating They were either trying to kiss me up for interrogation, the jury did not buy it. what this trial was all about. she headed through the kitchen into under my hand but figured any bird or run away. After a lot of laughter He’d still be guilty, even if someone put him Many nations wouldn’t bat an eye at the type the dining room, where she let go. that had been catted twice probably and licking, I got the happy faces of up to it. He did it willingly. He was having fun. of behavior Charles Graner was convicted of. Her prey immediately took flight, was a goner. Still, I wanted to toss three dogs. Second, though the media likes to talk about But this is America, and we like to think we headed for the living room. the corpse as far as I could in hopes There was only one cat at the shel- We were both in hot pursuit. that the cat couldn’t get it back be- ter, and it had escaped. It was hid- what he did as “torture,” it is not. Abuse, yes. are different. The bird seemed to be headed for fore I had a chance to run downstairs ing under the cat kennels, and I said Torture, hardly. — Steve Haynes the front window, but suddenly and block the cat door. I would help catch it. Making people do things to embarrass them spotted what looked like a safe ha- I threw the bird as hard as I could After all the excitement with the ven. It dove into the Christmas tree. and watched in amazement as it took dogs, though, the cat was not in a The cat and I both came to a wing and flew over the neighbor’s good mood. As soon as I laid hands Not really a laughing matter screeching halt and started staring roof. on it, it turned and went for me with intently at the tinsel- and light-fes- Molly was disgusted. I had not all 10 front claws. Have you ever had something tooned branches for a brown wing. only stolen her lunch, I had thrown My left hand looks a little like happen that, if the situation hadn’t I looked high while Molly looked it away. Fearless Leader from the Rocky and been so serious, it would have been low, then she jumped onto a chair to I felt good. I had won a battle with Bullwinkle Show. the funniest thing in the world? check the middle of the tree. She has a cat, which doesn’t happen every The scratches aren’t deep. It was I’ve told you before that Jim and Out Back better eyes or a better nose, because day. my own fault. A day later, the ani- I, along with another couple, go into she came up with the bird first. A few days later, I wasn’t so mal control officer said, she was the state prison every Sunday for By Carolyn Sue Kelley-Plotts However, I was armed with a lucky. able to catch the cat with no prob- chapel services. Jim preaches the [email protected] couple of paper towels and a strong I decided we could get more dogs lem. Timing is everything. sermon, Ila plays the piano, Bob desire to not have more feathers adopted at the Norton animal shel- So, I won one and I lost one. Fight- delivers one of his cowboy poems spread all over my house — we’d ter if we put their pictures in the pa- ing with cats, that’s pretty good. and I shake hands and remember names. had taken off his sport coat when we but the rest of us burst out laughing. Each Sunday, we go through the first got there and he carried it Jim began explaining about the din- Dog begins to earn her keep security check. Our bags and Bibles through with him. ner and how he had only used his are searched, we go through the You can imagine everyone’s fork. We’ve had more complaints metal detector and then we are shock when, as he swung the jacket The officer knew it was uninten- about the cat columns, so I thought “wanded” with a body scanner. It’s around to put it on, a spoon went fly- tional, but needless to say, the spoon — just to be fair — I’d bore you with a necessary step for everyone’s se- ing across the floor. We all gasped did not go in with us. some stories about my dog, Annie. Along the Sappa curity and we understand it and re- as the officer in charge of our screen- Poor Jim. He is normally so care- I don’t write about Annie too of- spect the seriousness of the situa- ing looked at the spoon, looked at ful. ten, because I prefer to let the stat- tion. Bringing contraband into a Jim and then back at the spoon. We On the way home, I said, “Let’s ute of limitations expire first. By Steve Haynes prison is a serious offense, and we knew what he was thinking: see you dig your way out of this Well, actually, she’s doing a lot could lose our volunteer status. “Aha. Contraband.” one.” better these days. I haven’t paid a [email protected] To speed up the checking-in pro- Jim had a stricken look on his To which he replied, “If I still had fine on her in nearly three years. cess and simplify things, we leave face, and I know we shouldn’t have, the spoon, I could.” Escapes are no longer on her daily listen to no command. I tried a long to me. Let go, too. everything we’re carrying on our to-do list. leash, but that was just a tangle. That didn’t do any good the other persons in the gatehouse in a locker. And she actually is starting to earn Then she met up with Mr. Shock day when I shot a pheasant. It hit the That includes keys, coins, folding Photo Policy her keep a little. Collar. People who knew her when ground and was never seen again.
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