Melville CookeJOHN RAMBO, he of strong arm and extremely sharp knife, has made a return to the US television networks. I caught pieces of the first in the series, 'First Blood', on three US cable stations over the past week and could not help reflecting on the timing of the re-run.
The revival of the blood and gore classic on television, 22 years after it was released, comes at a crucial time in the American soldier's history. It comes when US soldiers have been exposed worldwide torturing and sexually molesting Iraqi prisoners and when they are getting their butts whupped in Iraq. For make no mistake about it, the inability of the most dominant military machine the world has ever seen to stamp out resistance in a country that was starved by 10 years of UN sanctions before it was attacked, then decimated with cluster and 500-pound bombs before the heavy armour rolled in, means that they are getting their butts whupped.
This film was crucial when it came out, as it distracted attention from the fact that the Americans got their butts whupped in Vietnam. But it rammed home some crucial images of US soldiers that are key to this day. The primary one is in the title. It is explained very late in the film, when Rambo makes one of his few attempts at speaking, when he explains why he went on a rampage with an M-60 to his former Green Beret commanding officer. "They drew first blood," he howls. So we are left with the image that the American soldier is not an aggressor, but if attacked will respond to devastating effect.
NOBLE, LONELY WARRIOR
Another image is, of course, the power of the US soldier who has been sent overseas. Then there are the images of the noble, lonely warrior, the self-sufficient fighter and all that rubbish. And, do not forget this one, John Rambo is honest to a fault. The reality of what the US soldier is like in Iraq is very different from the Rambos of the screen. It goes way deeper than the setting on of dogs and forcing men to masturbate. It goes even beyond the kicking in of doors and screaming that old American favourite, "motherf....r" as I saw US troops do on BBC earlier this year.
On May 25 this year, the Yahoo news service carried a Reuters report written by a Luke Baker, which began "besides the prisoner-abuse scandal, there is another, more pervasive problem Iraqis say they suffer daily at the hands of U.S. troops - theft of money and other property during aggressive American raids. Over the past 14 months of occupation, U.S. forces have carried out literally thousands of raids on homes across the country, routinely seizing money, jewelry and other property from Iraqis suspected of 'anti-coalition activities'.
It goes on to give a specific example, of an 80-year-old widow whose home in a Baghdad middle-class neighbourhood was raided. "During the raid, which lasted around 30 minutes, the woman and her family, who live across the street, were kept outside. ...When Younis' sister arrived she immediately rushed upstairs to a small cabinet and found it empty - $5,000 in cash, gold and other jewelry, including her wedding ring, were missing." "The family filed a claim against the U.S. military - a complex process that took nearly three months to get a reply. In response, the military said the raid was justified and no compensation was owed. The officer who commanded the raid told Younis: "My soldiers aren't thieves."
1919-20 WAR OF OCCUPATION
And just in case you may think this is something new, consider this excerpt from the US Senate "Inquiry into Occupation and Administration of Haiti", arising out of the 1919-20 war of occupation US troops against the resistance movement led by Charlemagne Peralte. This is part of the testimony of a Madame Onexile, whose mule was stolen by a US soldier, who had her jailed when she went to reclaim her property: "When I came back to my habitation, Capt. Kelly came out in charge of a patrol. He took my husband and hung him to the rafters. He took our little bag of money and set fire to the house. Hung him to the rafters, and then set fire to the house."
Then there is a review of 'Against Our Will Men, Women and Rape' by Susan Brownmiller: Simon & Schuster, New York, 1975, which reads ..."she shows how in Vietnam in spite of the existence of massage parlours, 'hootchmaids' and military brothels for the sexual relief of the soldiers, rapes single and especially gang rapes by soldiers on Vietnamese women were common. When the victim did not die from repeated brutal assaults, the soldiers summarily murdered her to remove the evidence of their crime."
When these fresh-faced, smiling soldiers return from Iraq they are greeted as heroes. They are not. They are part of a murderous occupation army and, no matter how they scrub themselves and do fresh clothes, they cannot wash away the vicious deeds they have personally done, or been a part of by association. And the 'incidents' of abuse, murder and theft are not 'isolated' or the 'actions of a few rogue soldiers'. They are the consistent behaviour of a vicious occupation army. My consolation is that when these descendants of Rambo return home, some are sure to carry their overseas behaviour along. And that 'Ramboisation' will not be televised.
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
