An American army sergeant, Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, has been sentenced to 100 years for raping a young girl and murdering her family in Iraq. It is put down to stress by his defence and he is very remorseful, wondering how he could have behaved so much 'out of character'. He told the judge he didn't 'have an answer' and wished he hadn't done it. He wanted to apologise to the family for all of the 'pain and suffering' he caused.
Five soldiers who served with Cortez in Iraq confirmed that his actions were 'out of character' and described the war's hardships. Even a psychologist testified that Cortez and the other soldiers had probably suffered stress brought on by fatigue and trauma, which was 'not unique', with wars being so bloody.
But I believe that stress is only partially responsible for such despicable behaviour. If stress were really a major factor, many more soldiers would have succumbed to vile deeds by now. It would have been very difficult to contain them because war is a very stressful business. Imagine living every day wondering if you are going to be killed that day or not, whether you'll be ambushed or kidnapped, whether someone from your team or unit will go down, or what awful tragedy you'll be witnessing that day. It is no fun and games out there and it does take its toll on our soldiers.
Absolute Power
However, the mere fact that many soldiers do not use their stress to commit evil deeds shows that something else is also in operation; something much more stark. And it is naked, absolute POWER. The power to have the life of someone in your hands and be judge, jury and executioner at that precise time; the power to enjoy the authority invested through your uniform and your rank; the power to do virtually anything you like at that given moment so long as your discretion warrants it. After all, your life is worth more at such times and you have to defend yourself. In that moment of madness, power is an overpowering kind of aphrodisiac. It makes one dizzy with the thought of having it and being able to use it. Add some vulnerable, defenceless humans to the tinderbox, like 14 year olds and women, and the realisation of such power and the use of it becomes dangerous and hypnotic.
So why isn't everyone affected by such use of power?
Simply because the greater its use, the lower in esteem the users are. People relying upon their power to maim and hurt are unhappy beings, very low in self-esteem and self-love; who need someone to BLAME. Those soldiers most likely saw the helpless Iraqis in front of them as responsible for them being far away from home, from their families, from the things or people they cherish; responsible for the crap way they felt. And someone, those victims, had to pay. I doubt if they were killed out of sheer malice. They were killed because someone had to pay for their captors' loneliness and stress and the victims were vulnerable enough to be sitting ducks. Yet, the real tragedy is that they were supposed to be protecting that family. And if your protectors turn on you, what hope or life have you got?
Those innocent Iraqis were killed because their captors had the power and the authority to do their worst and snuff out their lives, especially when people in groups tend to behave much worse than on their own. But, far more disturbing, those soldiers killed that family at that moment quite simply because they could.
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