I got some comments on my last post, suggesting that maybe I was making a stretch between American homophobia and what happened in Iraq. It may be true that it is not possible at this time for us to figure out what were the sociological underpinnings of such abhorent behavior. Also, there is still a lot to be sorted out in public view as to whether this was bad behavior of a few low ranking soldiers, or whether there was some systematic request for the guards to engage in these practices. The reason, however, that I attribute this to homophobia, that is to say a derision and hatred of gay sexuality, is that, in my mind, employing techniques to humiliate that include making a man masturbate in front of other men, making someone pretend to engage in sexual practices with and in front of other men, purposely capitalizing on Iraqi cultural norms relating to homosexuality as a way of making torture MORE humiliating and MORE brutal, to me seems to be the most extreme manifestation of fear and hatred of homosexuality. Potentially, these activities point to a side of these young people, be it their American culture or their human nature that is particuarly ugly. There are lots of ways to intimidate or brutalize people, and these young people chose these methods. Clearly these ideas came from somewhere, and I can't help but identify them with other instances brutality in the United States in which sexuality was an issue.