Cohen on Lynndie England

Richard Cohen has finally lost his mind. Or, as a minimum, he should drink only decaf before he writes his column. I've read him forever and usually admire him, but this time I'm left shaking my head and wondering if he smelled burnt toast before he started writing.

This time he wrote about Lynndie England, a soldier charged in regard to prisoner abuse in Iraq. She was the one holding the leash around a prisoner's neck, among other criminal absurdities. She was also the one dominated and reportedly impregnated by another reservist, a prison guard in civilian life. It was his testimony in the sentencing phase of her trail, after she had already pled guilty, that resulted in a mistrial.

Cohen wrote about her, but I'm not sure what his point was. It would seem he meant to say that she victimized others but was a victim herself. He's not very clear about what she was a victim of, much less what that means. Along the way he said some pretty odd things:

There is no end to the sadness of Lynndie England. There is no excusing what she did, but explaining is a different matter. She is that rare genuine article, the cliche, the stereotype that turns out upon investigation to be true. She lived with her family in a trailer in West Virginia. She's only a high school graduate. She married when she was 19 -- on a lark, she told her friends, and then for only two years.

She joined the Army Reserve not, as the flag-wavers would like it, for patriotic reasons but for college money (she wanted to be a meteorologist and chase storms). She had an affair or something with Graner in Iraq and has a baby by him. He apparently encouraged her to abuse prisoners. He also married another woman.

A psychologist from her home area testified that England had been a blue baby, born also with a malformation of the tongue that gave her a speech impediment. Apparently, she often chose not to talk at all. She had a learning disability as well. And you can see -- can't you? -- what no one will testify to: She's homely -- and that matters for a woman in America. She posed for pornographic pictures with Graner. The discipline of the Army apparently meant she no longer had to have any herself. This is why fascism can be so (sexually) exciting.

Say what? But wait, there's more:

She is the sort of woman who gets used by others, most often men. Powerless everywhere in life except on her end of the leash, she just had to come night after night to the section of Abu Ghraib where Graner held sway. She was admonished for this -- her real work was suffering -- but Graner drew her. She knew that what she was doing was wrong -- "I could have said no,'' she told the military court. "I knew it was wrong.'' But in all likelihood, only theoretically could she have said no. Some women always say yes. ...

Lynndie England was one of [the little people], and she is suffering for that -- officially for abusing prisoners, actually for being a loser.

I'm not sure what his point was, but he insulted a lot of folks trying to get to it. As a liberal elite, he's expected to sneer at people who live in trailers in West Virginia and have only a high school education. You can bet he doesn't personally know anyone like that. After insulting other sorts of people, he wrapped up his definition of "loser" by including both homely women and some women who always say yes. Not cool, Richard.

I guess my favorite curiosity in this column is his observation that being in a disciplined organization means you don't have to have any self-discipline, which illustrates why fascism can be so sexually exciting.

Again--say what?