Such Fine Americans

link from suburban guerrilla:

The torture victim

... snip ...

Speaking through a translator, Mr Abd explained that as an Arab, perhaps the most degrading aspect of the abuse was the sexual humiliation. During one session of abuse, he and six other prisoners who had been involved in a fight were stripped naked, forced to straddle each other's backs and then made to simulate oral sex.

Mr Abd said he recalled having his hood removed and being told by the soldiers' Arabic translator to masturbate as he looked at Ms England. "She was laughing and she put her hands on her breasts," he told the newspaper. "Of course I couldn't do it, so they beat me in the stomach and I fell to the ground. The translator said, 'Do it, do it. It's better than being beaten.' I said 'How can I do it?' So I put my hand on my penis, just pretending."

At this point, one of the other prisoners ­ a friend of Mr Abd's identified as Hussein ­ was pushed towards his genitals while the hood was put back over his own head.

"They made him sit next to me. My penis was very close to his mouth. I did not know it was my friend because of the hood. It was humiliating. We didn't think that we would survive. All of us believed we would be killed and we would not get out alive," said Mr Abd. One of the photographs appears to show this precise moment.

more ...

at first, i was stunned that the soldiers had so little understanding of the strict physical modesty that is so important to devout muslims. after reading this, i conclude that this behavior was in fact designed to show an utter lack of respect for the importance of physical modesty. they knew that for devout muslims, this behavior would have a special character of shame and humiliation.

after all the fuss about gays in the military, here we have young, red-blooded, heterosexual soldiers forcing prisoners of war to simulate homosexual sex for their amusement. on american soil, this kind of behavior would constitute a hate crime, and that is exactly what this sort of abuse was. a hate crime rooted in both homophobia and hatred of muslims.