Prime Directive

While reading the essay, I found it to be very interesting, yet I did not quite understand it. Initially I thought it was because i was not a viewer of Star Trek but after I finished reading the essay I did some research and looked up the things I did not understand on Wikipedia. After that, I found the essay to be extremely interesting! It also raises many questions and brings a lot to our attention.

The three things I looked up were Charles Grainer, Abu Ghraib, and the Prime Directive. I found out Charles Grainer is a former Army member charged by the Army in the Abu Ghraib scandal(a prison located in the city of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. It was where Saddam Hussain tortured and killed people who opposed him. The prison was later renamed when "U.S. forces expelled the former Iraqi government". It was called the Baghdad Central Confinement Facility and changed to Camp redemption in 2004) . He and others of the U.S. army were "accussed of being a torturer, sadist, and war criminal." They " inflicted sexual, physical, and psycological" abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war(P.O.W.s) in Abu Ghraib. He was found guilty of all charges in january 2004 on conspiracy to "maltreat detainees, failing to protect detainees, failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty, and maltreatment", as well as assault, indecency, adultery, and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to ten years in military prison the next day.

After learning about the events in the story, i was left wondering what the title of the essay meant. Prime Directive. I looked it up and understood the essay immediately. The Prime Directive is the number one law in the Star Trek world. It says that there should be no interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations. Correlation SO obvious! Whoever wrote this was a genius. HELLO!!??!! Other civilizations= Iraq. Break it down, every civilization(country) should mind their own damn business( therefore, NOT Iraq's!). Loves it. And I totally agree. America has enough power as a country alone. Why should we tell another country how it should be organized. Is that really our job? NO! I mean yes "we should fight evil and stuff" but I liked how the situation was compared to the Prime Directive.
Something i found...puzzling... in the essay was the way the gut at the end dressed as Charles Garner for Halloween. this really made me think a lot( I would write EVERYTHING but Im tired as hell). First off, he dressed as an US army officer for HALLOWEEN. The holiday where people chose to be scary, threatening, frightening, monsters that people are afraid of. This should not be two things that can be related. I should not find ther people responsible to protect the country that I live in to be frightening and threatening. They should nit be looked upon as monsters, yet the events that took place justify such a costume in a way. he was found guilty of pathetic crimes. But honestly, as Americans do we REALLY look down upon the officers as if we would if it were Iraqi soldiers who did this to American a P.O.W.s??? I honestly dont think so. Im not afraid to admit that I am guilty of ethnocentrism myself. Nothing ever hurts as much as when it is close to home. Naturally we would have been furious and defensive if it were "THEM" torturing "US". And I would even go as far as to some some Americans may have felt an erie pride to find that "the enemy" has suffered under the hand of one of us. That sense of payback in some way. Human nature is a strange thing. We all know whats right. And we also all know we dont always do right. Nor do we feel the way we "should" feel. We SHOULD all be ashamed, disgusted, apalled, embarrassed, etc. of a soldier who would do such a thing. But are we really? The essay presents an interesting POV. How many of us would have actually posed in that picture? How many of us would have thought "its about time they suffer to" instead of feeling immediate compassion for those who are "the enemy". Pride AND compassion are both natural feelings. So is revenge. But when they all come together, its confusing as hell. And we somewhat feel guilty.