Abu Ghraib Abuse is a Feminist’s Dream, Says Military Expert
By: Richard Stewart | Source: CNSNews.com
May 10, 2004 10:41PM EST

(CNSNews.com) - The globally distributed photo of a U.S. servicewoman holding a naked Iraqi prisoner by a leash "is exactly what feminists have dreamed of for years," according to a military expert and frequent critic of attempts to integrate all aspects of the U.S. armed forces.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, also believes social-engineering in the military and the degradation of American culture are to blame for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility near Baghdad.

"That demeaning photo of a female soldier with an Iraqi man on a leash - a woman had to have taken that picture," Donnelly said. "And I understand the other woman soldier has admitted that she did."

Donnelly believes the majority of American women reject what she calls the "attitude of hostility," toward men but she warns the feminist message has a powerful influence on young women.

"In this case, these women may not have been aware of it. But if they've been raised in a culture that you have a lack of respect between men and women, it becomes a little bit more understandable even though it's not excusable," Donnelly added.

Although certain feminists would not admit it publicly, "they're probably quite fond" of the photo showing the Iraqi prisoner being held on a leash, said Donnelly. That's "because it is demeaning to a man - any man."

The feminists to whom Donnelly refers are "the ones who like to buy man-hating greeting cards and have this kind of attitude that all men abused all women. It's a subculture of the feminist movement, but the driving force in it in many cases, certainly in academia," she said.

Donnelly also believes the U.S. military needs to drop its unofficial policy of gender quotas and keep basic training segregated by sex.

And While Congress conducts hearings into the abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Donnelly said the cultural issues are being ignored. "It's sort of like watching a traffic accident by the side of the road - to see so many people continuing and compounding errors made by immature, undisciplined soldiers," she added.

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