When the architects of torture assert that enhanced interrogation is strictly “by the book,” it turns out that they mean this in a more literal sense than we might have imagined: the Bible, it turns out, was used as a form of torture at Abu Ghraib.
Iraqi POW Haj Ali Shalal (“the man behind the hood”) has reported that he was forced to listen to loud and constant repetitions of Psalm 137—in the jaunty, disco-reggae rendition of Boney M’s “Rivers of Babylon.” The lyrics are taken directly from the psalm, with its poignant opening lines: “By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept.”
No one has yet cried sacrilege over this detail of the still-emerging outrages of Abu Ghraib, or even really commented on it. Yet the deep ironies of this choice of music reveal much about a belief system that keeps the United States from facing torture.
America as Both Captor and Captive
When US interrogators chose songs with references to Babylon linking Iraq and ancient Babylon, they were also tapping into a lengthy apocalyptic tradition in which Babylon becomes a mythical figure of evil; the biblical account of Babylon conquering Judah, exiling the people of Israel, and destroying the temple has long been read as part of an enduring spiritual struggle. In the United States, Babylon is often used to represent what the nation opposes.
Yet at Abu Ghraib, the allegory of “Rivers of Babylon” works uneasily, contradictorily. In the usual pattern of apocalyptic and national biblical interpretation we would expect the ancient Israelite captives to represent the United States, under threat by Babylon. But in this case, it is the Iraqi (“Babylonian”) detainees weeping by the waters of Babylon, while US soldiers are the cruel captors.
Also incongruous is the particular choice of Boney M’s hit cover of the Melodians’ original tune. With its reggae-disco beat and Jamaican origin, the song takes up Rastafarianism’s critique of Babylon as colonial power that enslaves and oppresses.
What does it mean when a country that likes to proclaim itself as beyond slavery plays a song about freedom to people it is torturing?
More disturbing still, US soldiers seemed to invoke the troubling ending of Psalm 137, which haunts any citation of this well-known psalm. The psalmist entertains a potent and disquieting revenge fantasy:
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you for what you have done to us—the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
The dream of violent role reversal allows the allegory to cut both ways: the United States is both Israel (dreaming of retribution)and Babylon (captor and oppressor).
Acceptable Empire
The surprising, yet evidently persistent, identification with Babylon at Abu Ghraib points to a conflicted (and perhaps unconscious) desire for empire. The simultaneous association of the United States with Babylon and with the Bible’s Israelite captives gives voice to a longing for dominance, but at the same time obscures it. Cruel imperialism becomes acceptable in the context of seeking freedom from mythical “captivity.”
Torture ostensibly protects the United States under siege, while in reality it proclaims empire. Such strategies for pursuing empire look more palatable, more righteous—more like national health and security.
These are the dangerous pitfalls of a widely accepted allegorical mode of biblical interpretation. This has not been the only time the Bible was read this way; the Pentagon itself used the Bible to motivate soldiers, including a reference to Iraq as Babylon. But it’s easy for contradictory truths to materialize when ancient texts are used to represent cosmic truths of good and evil that are then applied to shifting contemporary geopolitical situations. An allegorical mode of biblical interpretation can facilitate empire by producing contradictory feelings about its value.
Reticence to take full responsibility for torture fits with these ambivalent mythic associations. It is amazing to watch the US administration’s refusal to come clean on the nation’s culpability for torture. The president refuses to prosecute those responsible or even release photos; the CIA demands that interrogation records be kept secret. The Pentagon denies that the recent accusations of rape at Abu Ghraib can be documented—even though General Taguba (who conducted an inquiry on military misconduct in 2004 at the behest of Donald Rumsfeld) insists that they can. The nation hides its misdeeds in the name of national health and security.
Legal scholars have argued that prosecution for torture will succeed or fail based on belief: whether those authorizing harsh tactics believed that “enhanced interrogation techniques” contravened federal laws, whether they knew it was wrong. If they are right, the two-way mythic identification with the biblical Israel and Babylon may explain how those defending the country can believe they are patriotically righteous while allowing something the country decries.
It provides a mythological story in which this dissonance makes sense.
A desire for righteous domination, rooted in allegorical biblical myth, legitimizes a stance that allows torture and condemns it, and that speaks out against torture without prosecuting those responsible. The United States’ conflicted love and hate for empire is enabled by an allegorical identification with both exiled Israel and conquering Babylon. In this national myth, torture-by-the-book becomes both permissible and necessary. The Bible at Abu Ghraib tells us so.
Tags: abu ghraib, babylon, bible, iraq, iraq war, pentagon, rumsfeld, torture
Our lack of respect for cultural and religious diversity is blasphemy. We saw this lack of respect throughout American history. Thank you for the article.
Thank you for this keen analysis and for boldly calling out the ways in which many of us liberals use postmodern notions of dissonance and ambivalence to continue to make explanations and rationales for why we do not seek to end torture in this country. Rather it is this continual flirtation with problematic religious misidentifications that further our belief that "some" torture is still justifiable. Again, thanks for this essay.
How can you speak on the subject of torture, when you don't stand against the brutal and tortureous act called "Partial Birth Abortion" committed on the poor innocent children who can not speak for themselves?
In fact, all acts of abortion are brutal and tortureous to the poor innocent unborn child!
What about these senseless acts of torture?
We are in fact a nation of many immigrants. People continue to flock here at any cost. They flock here from all walks of life, with different beliefs systems and false ideas about us. And some with hateful ideas about us still dormant in their sub-conscious minds.
To be God fearing and law bidding is not a requirement for citizenship! If it were, many would still flock here illegally.
Besides that, being God fearing, law bidding Christian, Jew, Catholic ect. does not make one perfect!
It is not a requirement for government service either. The folks who committed crimes at Abu Ghraib were punished and are still being punished.
Erin Runions you are a U.S. citizen and you have the right to express your opinion, more so here than in any other nation!
Abu Ghraib has been closed for at least 4 years if I am not mistaken. Did you voice your outrage when our folks were beheaded, their corpse mutilated and hung from a street post?
The few people who were water boarded coughed up valuable information that saved lives. They did not die, they were not physically mutilated.
America is a great nation! Our constitution was formed under the guide of principles from the Holy Bible...it is my conviction that this is one of the reasons why God has blessed America. Other nations have rewritten their declarations many times and suffered many revolutions.
Defining a Christian Nation
Contemporary post-modern critics (including President Obama) who assert that America is not a Christian nation always refrain from offering any definition of what the term “Christian nation” means. So what is an accurate definition of that term as demonstrated by the American experience?
Contrary to what critics imply, a Christian nation is not one in which all citizens are Christians, or the laws require everyone to adhere to Christian theology, or all leaders are Christians, or any other such superficial measurement. As Supreme Court Justice David Brewer (1837-1910) explained:
[I]n what sense can [America] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or that the people are in any manner compelled to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within our borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all. Nor is it Christian in the sense that a profession of Christianity is a condition of holding office or otherwise engaging in public service, or essential to recognition either politically or socially. In fact, the government as a legal organization is independent of all religions. Nevertheless, we constantly speak of this republic as a Christian nation – in fact, as the leading Christian nation of the world. 6
So, if being a Christian nation is not based on any of the above criterion, then what makes America a Christian nation? According to Justice Brewer, America was “of all the nations in the world . . . most justly called a Christian nation” because Christianity “has so largely shaped and molded it.” 7
Are you claiming the United States is a Christian nation? Many other religions and cultural influences shape our common life. After all, we live in a deeply pluralistic society. Please do not blame all our moral and societal failures on Christianity. We Christians have done great harm—after all, in our view, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, but we have had help from non-Christians and even from secular people. Think, for example, of the profound influence Godless, atheistic capitalism has on how we live.
Yes we are a Christian Nation!
Our constitution was created from principals of the Holy Bible and in my opinion it is the glue that holds us together.
Christianity is the blame when it does not speak out against those who took prayer and God's Word out of the public schools.
Christianity is the blame when we don't tell the practicing homosexual that homosexuality is a hate crime against Almighty God, a sin against their own bodies and as practicing homosexuals they can not hold leadership positions in the church!
When those who practice immorality are given leadship positions in the church, the whole body suffers and that chuch becomes an apostate church.
Christianity is the blame when we will not stand up for the poor innocent unborn child and knowingly allow practicing abortionists to hold leadership positions in the church.
Christians are the blame when we allow the wicked leadership to remove the Ten Commandments from public display. What's wrong with "Thou shall not murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery," ect?
By the way capitalism is a biblical principle and is not the blame for America's financial woes.
America's financial woes are a direct result of the shedding of innocent blood of the over 50,000,000 girls and boys who have been scarificed on the altar of a "woman's right to choose" to the "god of selfishness."
In my opinion, the Roe v Wade decision has placed our born alive children in mortal danger!
Until Roe v Wade is overturned, America will continue to experience murder, financial, moral and spiritual woes!
May the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on our souls!
The few people who were water boarded coughed up valuable information that saved lives. They did not die, they were not physically mutilated.Would you be angered if US soldiers were waterboarded, or would it be legitimate for their captors to do so repeatedly?
The few people who were water boarded coughed up valuable information that saved lives. They did not die, they were not physically mutilated.
Would you be angered if US soldiers were waterboarded, or would it be legitimate for their captors to do so repeatedly?
No! Our enemies have done worst...Ask John McCain. In fact our soldiers expect the worst from our enemies based on the past experiences of our POW's.
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