Pizza, Slumber Parties for Abused Abu Ghraib Prisoners “Too Little Too Late”
Pizza, Slumber Parties for Abused Abu Ghraib Prisoners “Too Little Too Late” says Arab Population
New pictures released by the US Army depicting events and activities surrounding “Abu Ghraib Prisoner’s Day”, in which detainees can be seen in party hats eating pizza and cake, opening presents, and lying on sleeping bags playing video games, have done little to ameliorate the hard feelings harbored by Arabs around the world over the abuse Iraqi prisoners have suffered in the prison at the hands of semi-retarded, ugly army people who are just stupid enough to be deluded into thinking they’re better than anybody.
The festivities, which Al-Jazeera has branded, “Venom spit in our wounds”, began around mid-day May 21st when jubilant prison guards burst into the main ward at Abu Ghraib with their arms full of food and party paraphernalia. The baffled prisoners were released from their cells and herded into the middle of the room where they were fed pizza and drank Pepsi while albums by Linkin’ Park and Mary J. Blige played from a nearby ghetto blaster. The prisoners were then donned with party hats, sang “Happy Birthday to Iraq” over a large cake decorated with their country’s newly ordained flag, and given as wrapped gifts signed pictures of Donald Rumsfeld that read ‘Sorry for the bad treatment’.
Later, the cheerful guards returned with dozens of sleeping bags, the makings for smores, and a big screen television equipped with a Sony Playstation. The prisoners were gathered once again in the common area where they played Conflict: Desert Storm until the early hours of the morning out of an acute fear caused by their hosts veiled but ultimately innocent warning that they, “Shouldn’t be the first to fall asleep, or else.”
Sources also report that the guards attempted to engage the prisoners in a pillow fight with the secret intention of letting them win in order to allow them to vent some anger and feel better, but the prisoners did not grasp the concept, and the guards gave up after hitting their guests a few times without eliciting any retaliation.
Response to the new round of photographs has been mixed, with some Arabs considering the activities a nice gesture, but not nearly enough to compensate for the abuse suffered by the prisoners, while others have been more vitriolic. An Iraqi man in central Baghdad expressed his indignation over the most recent accounts from Abu Ghraib: “Now they are making them eat pepperoni and hot and cold together? This is against Arab custom! And this music I hear is like having a nest of termites in your head! Then they hit them with pillows and give them smores? Everyone knows no slumber party is a real slumber party without Rice Krispy treats. It is sheer torture! Rice Krispy treats!”
The US government was quick to defend itself from the latest controversy emerging from Abu Ghraib. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed, “I had no foreknowledge of the Abu Ghraib ‘Prisoner’s Day’ party just as I knew nothing of the previous abuse that took place there.”
President Bush also reiterated his confidence in Rumsfeld, saying, "Our Secretary of Defense knows nothing and is doing a great job.”
