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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Early this month,
Britain's House of Commons defence select committee accused the army of
failing in its handling of new recruits and allowing bullying to go
unreported. The inquiry was sparked by the deaths of four recruits, aged
17-20, at Deepcut barracks in the south of England between 1995-2002. Army chiefs did not
need more public criticism – they are still coping with the courts martial of
at least 18 soldiers for abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Select committee
members were blunt: "In the past, insufficient weight has been given to
the issue of bullying, which led to a tolerance of, or at least insufficient
action being taken against, bullying." Similar allegations
have piled up not only in Britain but in Australia, Russia, the United States
and in New Zealand. Across the Tasman, a series of tragedies in the army,
including suicides and complaints of abuse, have raised questions about the
military culture. An Aboriginal trainee
of 19 hanged himself after ridicule from instructors at the level of
government handouts to his people. Another also hanged himself because, his
mother said, he was subject to racist taunts. Portuguese, he had
"spic" and "spiro" written on his face when he was found.
Last October,
revelations of institutional abuse – called dedovshchina – also came to light
in Russia. Human Rights Watch says "hazing" kills dozens of
conscripts and injures thousands more every year. At much the same time,
Defence Minister Mark Burton was confronted with allegations of physical and
sexual abuse of army cadets as young as 15 at the Waiouru cadet school from
1948-1991. Former army sergeant Ian Fraser blew the whistle. After his
version of events became known, similar tales were revealed by former cadets
all over the country. Mr Burton asked one-time High Court judge David Morris
to inquire into the claims. One cadet, Peter Murphy
of Lower Hutt, said last October that though he was kicked in the groin
during a fight with a corporal, the Regular Force Cadet School culture was
such that he dared not complain "basically out of a sense of shame, the
climate of fear and retribution". Some former senior soldiers of the
time have parried soldiers' claims with disbelief. Retired sergeant major Bob
Davies said if another former cadet's claims of pack sodomy were true,
"I will not only eat my beret and lemon squeezer but my tin hat as
well". One of the most difficult
aspects of Justice Morris' inquiries will be declining to judge the actions
of the 1960s and earlier by today's lack of tolerance for violence. He will
have to accept that the military culture is different from that in any other
workplace. Essentially, top brass are charged with hardening up young men and
women for war. That usually requires
their obeying even the daftest orders, withstanding privations and perhaps
injury, making fast decisions under fire, being able to rely on a fellow
grunt not being a wimp, and being prepared to kill another man when they can
see the whites of his eyes. But does hardening up
young soldiers to wage war on behalf of their fellow citizens need to involve
brutalising them? The answer must surely be no. And yet the pattern in
military establishments worldwide suggests otherwise. What is in the
barracks' drinking water? |
