Here are some of the examination questions police cadets in the Iraqi Security Forces have been asked by the Occupation, according to the
Guardian
Human rights can be taken away from a person
a) never, human rights are inalienable
b) if the government says so
c) if the accused has committed a serious crime
d) in time of war
In a democratic free society the role of police is to protect
a) the citizens
b) the leader
c) the state
d) the military
The police basic standard of conduct requires
a) all citizens to be treated with respect and dignity
b) information to be shared with the local community
c) special treatment for privileged persons and organisations
d) bribes to be collected for services
Now, I could proceed to a fairly obvious rant about the nature of hypocrisy, or to bitter laughter at the comic spectacle of the United States presenting itself as a defender of human rights. "Surely the intent must be self-parody?" I could ask in innocent tones, but in truth, I lived long enough in the U.S to know that the Kool Aid flows freely.
So take the hypocrisy and my bitter laughter as read. I find most of my laughter is bitter these days.
Instead, let me ask another set of questions. Do any of you seriously imagine that any cadets flunked these questions? Do you think that any of the responses flagged a potential torturer? Or that any cadet was so naive as to announce that the "police basic standard of conduct" requires "bribes to be collected for services"? That anybody responded that, "Human rights can be taken away from a person" "if the government says so?"
Didn't think so. Then what was their purpose? What was the point of this laborious exercise?
Well, I have some ideas on this one.
Let me tell you a story.
When I first flew into the United States as an adult, I had to fill out a card. Now, I'd been very worried about this card from a practical and philosophical standpoint. I'd heard that you had to declare whether or not you'd ever been a member of a communist party. And I had been. I had no idea what I should put on the form -- if I said 'Yes' would I be admitted? If I said 'No' would they know I was lying? And if I said 'No,' what would that betrayal cost?
By the time I left New Zealand, I had a fine and extensive collection of regrets, personal and political. I did not want lying about my past political involvement to be among them.
But the strange parody of communism that was the pre-Gorbachev Soviet Union had collapsed. Gorbachev's socialism had been replaced by Yeltsin's capitalism. The Harvard B-School boys were in Moscow promoting the wonders of the unregulated free market, even as life expectancy plummeted like a stone. China was a valued U.S. trading partner. Tiananmen Square was quiet and orderly, though not peaceful, for what peace can there be without justice? More happily, Hungary had opened its borders. The Wall that David Bowie sang about ('And the guards, shot above our heads') had been pulled down and sold for souvenirs. As a result, the U.S. no longer cared whether you had communist sympathies or not, and I never had to decide how to answer that question. (And if you think from the foregoing paragraph that my relationship to communism is complicated, you'd be right)
Instead I checked the box stating that neither I, nor any family members had engaged in acts of genocide.
I stated that I hadn't used illegal drugs, or worked as a prostitute. From memory, I think I also declared that I was not seeking to enter the U.S. in order to overthrow the government by force.
And I wondered, does anyone ever check the `yes' box on these forms for any of the things that haven't already been externally verified?
Didn't think so. So what is its purpose?
Here's my take. Entering a country is a kind of ritual. You get off the plane, you show your passport at immigration control, you haul your luggage off the conveyor and take it through customs. There are clearly-defined steps, and also points of danger along the way. A rite of passage. And all-too-often that ritual is also about reinforcing hierarchies: the superiority of citizens over non-citizens; the power of the state and the powerlessness of the individual. The form I filled was part of that - a systematised kind of humiliation. Asking those questions was a way for the U.S. government to say, "You foreigners are dodgy, suspect and unwelcome. And just to make that absolutely crystal clear, we're going to ask you these stupid, insulting questions even though we know exactly what you will say."
For my money, the multiple choice exam questions asked of the cadets in the Iraqi Security Forces are the same kind of deal. A form of ritualised humiliation - albeit one far more subtle than the barbarities of Abu Ghraib - to which the colonised are subjected by their colonisers. It is a way for the occupiers to proclaim their superiority - moral and intellectual - over the occupied. After all, you don't ask questions like these of people you consider your equals. Because these are questions that we all know the answers to.