There we go: Hillary Clinton condemns rape as “war of weapon” (BBC sic dixit). Well, the mean “weapon of war”, of course. She should know – she was one of those who pushed her husband, Bill, to wage war against Serbia using exactly the same ‘hyper-pious’ pretext. Of course, nobody in the White House is suggestion waging war on the Congo were over 1000 rapes were recorded each day (Maybe because the leaders of the Congolese rapists have not been accused of providing Viagra to their “rape forces”?).
Seriously, each time I think of the NATO war on Libya I am torn between a deep sense of repulsion for the “axis of kindness” and its imbecile propaganda about “rape as a weapon of war”, a sense of outrage at all those who are willing to gobble up the exact same propaganda techniques a second time, and a sense of frustration and helplessness before the lukewarm indifference of those who *know* that this all crude propaganda and yet prefer to look away or accept it for the sake of some warped idea of political expedience.
And in Yemen the so-called opposition is also courting the US Empire making all sorts of promises of continuity and anti-al-Qaeda efforts.
This is all so discouraging…
Welcome to the world of propaganda and politics…..Whoever wields the power wields the control of a majority of the sheep….
Rape does happen in war of course and is also perpetrated by the “good guys” When they took Berlin the Red Army raped half the women in the city, having been brutalised by the horror of the war.
Historically St Augustine’s rule of siege meant if a city or fortress didn’t surrender it could be taken by storm and the gloves came off. When Wellington’s army took Badajoz there was an orgy of looting and rape for three days until the Duke restored order. Taking a heavily defended position by storm is one of the worst things in warfare and if you’ve seen your mates blown to bits around you blustlust can take over when the thing falls.
War is the most terrible thing on earth which is why nobody who hasn’t got their head stuck up their ass would go looking for one. These liberal humanitarians who call for war while sitting at home deserve to be teleported into a war zone to see what it’s like.
@Robert:Rape does happen in war of course and is also perpetrated by the “good guys”
Exactly. According to research by Professor Lilly, 11’000 German women were raped by US soldiers. And the French raped too, as did the Italians, and the Germans, of course.
And there is NO DOUBT in my mind whatsoever that many rapes were committed in Bosnia, and that some might well being committed by any side in Libya today.
The sad reality is that ALL wars results in 1) plunders 2) rapes. That is simply a fact, most unpalatable, but a fact.
What the US propaganda has made, though, is that it took this inevitable reality of war and made it some kind of sordid Machiavellian plan hatched by the commanders of the forces which the USA opposes.
And yet when mass rape, REAL mass rape occurs, like in the Congo, everybody looks away. This is what bugs me so much – the total hypocrisy of it all.
As for rapists – I would have them court-martialed and summarily executed, by the way. Rape (and plunder) as disastrous for the discipline (and morale) of the forces who tolerate them. They always result in a major breakdown of discipline. This is why elite units typically do no commit such actions.
Can you spell? Do you understand grammar? As a blogger, you really should be a bit more professional in your writing. Now to the substantive part — “rape as a weapon of war” is not propaganda nor a theme — it is an awful reality. Although some war rape may be characterized as simply gratuitous, there is no doubt that it was/is intentionally used as a weapon in places such as Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, the Sudan, Burma, Colombia, etc. because it is so effective in destroying families, cultures and communities of the enemy.
@anonymous: Can you spell? Do you understand grammar?
Not very well. English is my 4th language, but I use it on this blog because it reaches most people. But your point is taken, I really should learn how to spell better.
“rape as a weapon of war” is not propaganda nor a theme — it is an awful reality
Nonsense. For example in Bosnia the NATO propaganda said that Serbs raped “Bosniac” women in order to create more ethnic Serbs. That idiocy ignores a basic fact: there is no ethnic difference between Bosnian-Muslims (aka “Bosniacs”) and Bosnian-Serbs.
I won’t even go into the crap about Viagra as a weapon of war.
This is all NATO propaganda to justify its imperial wars of aggression.