Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York, after his escape to the US embassy in Beijing last month sparked a diplomatic crisis.
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Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident who briefly took refuge in the U.S. embassy, recently expressed his hope that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would rescue him. “My fervent hope is that it would be possible for me and my family to leave for the U.S. on Hillary Clinton’s plane,” Chen told the Daily Beast.
The fog of war in the “Graveyard of Empires” conjures ghosts and living spirits that haunt the decade-long American military operation in Afghanistan. There was Pat Tillman, the former football player and Army Ranger, honored as a hero after dying in 2004 while supposedly fighting the enemy.
Only later was it revealed that Tillman died from “friendly fire” of American troops, the details never fully explained. ”The story itself seemed so contrived,” his mother, Mary, said shortly afterward. “It did sound kind of like a John Wayne movie. They made up a story.”
The year before that, it was Private Jessica Lynch, captured by the enemy, who supposedly fought them and escaped. She was hailed as a hero in the first rush of Bush-era jingoism and cocksure bellicosity. That ended when she said it was all a fake story. She was rescued by comrades; she never fired a shot. Lynch scoffed at what she called “the story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting.”
Read more at: Countdown with Keith Olbermann
The fog of war in the “Graveyard of Empires” conjures ghosts and living spirits that haunt the decade-long American military operation in Afghanistan. There was Pat Tillman, the former football player and Army Ranger, honored as a hero after dying in 2004 while supposedly fighting the enemy.
Only later was it revealed that Tillman died from “friendly fire” of American troops, the details never fully explained. ”The story itself seemed so contrived,” his mother, Mary, said shortly afterward. “It did sound kind of like a John Wayne movie. They made up a story.”
The year before that, it was Private Jessica Lynch, captured by the enemy, who supposedly fought them and escaped. She was hailed as a hero in the first rush of Bush-era jingoism and cocksure bellicosity. That ended when she said it was all a fake story. She was rescued by comrades; she never fired a shot. Lynch scoffed at what she called “the story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting.”
Army Pvt. Danny Chen's funeral procession in Chinatown on Oct. 13., 2011 in New York City. Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
At least those two stories had propaganda value, at first, until exposed as false. There is no such upside to the story of Private Danny Chen, who died in Kandahar province on Oct. 3 under chilling circumstances involving no enemy.
Chen was found in a guard tower with a bullet in his head, a possible suicide. On Wednesday, eight American soldiers were charged with manslaughter and other crimes in connection with Chen’s death.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, told the Associated Press the military was taking a zero-tolerance attitude toward soldiers who mistreat their comrades.
“That’s what this uniform requires. And when we don’t, there’s a justice system in place to deal with it,” Kirby said. “Hazing’s not tolerated in the military. If it’s found and it’s proven, it’s dealt with.”
Chen had told friends he was hazed repeatedly by fellow soldiers, in part because of his Chinese ancestry. Chen was raised in New York City’s Chinatown and East Village and graduated from Pace High school. He died at the age of 19.
At a news conference in Chinatown on Wednesday, a spokeswoman from the Organization of Chinese Americans referred to Chen’s Facebook page along with emails and some pages of his diary. Elizabeth OuYang said Chen’s fellow soldiers dragged him across the floor, threw stones at his back and made him keep liquid in his mouth while upside down.
They called him “Jackie Chen,” after the movie actor Jackie Chan.
“Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny are responsible for his death,” OuYang said. She added that Chen tried to accept the hazing and return it by teasing fellow soldiers.
This was echoed at a vigil last week. Chen’s cousin Banny Chen read from a February letter from Afghanistan: “People crack jokes about Chinese people all the time,” he read. “I’m running out of jokes to come back at them.”
Chen’s parents are to meet with Army officials on Jan. 4. They want more information, including his full diary. His parents are immigrants who speak little English.
His father, Yan Tao Chen, is a chef; his mother, Su Zhen Chen, a seamstress. They live in public housing but are seeking a smaller apartment, the New York Daily News reported, because the mother cannot bear to pass by her son’s empty room. She never wanted him to enlist.
The accused are members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
According to the Army statement, five were charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and assault consummated by batter, among other crimes.
An Army spokesman said the accused have been transferred from Kandahar to a different base and relieved of their duties, according to The Washington Post. Although under increased supervision, they are not detained and will probably be prosecuted in Afghanistan.
Chen’s death was a singular event, as all deaths are. But there are cultural undercurrents that spread wider. Hazing is hardly limited to the military; a band member at Florida A&M recently died of hazing injuries.
Bias against Chinese is not limited to Chen’s experience. In the U.S., there is growing paranoia about the rise of China as an economic and military power to challenge, equal or exceed the U.S. in the 21st century.
In addition, concern grows about a volunteer army with limited participation and the long-term psychological effects on soldiers deployed for repeated tours of duty in danger zones.
Politics also plays a part, as well, because President Obama plans a withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014.
We went there, we remember, to track down Osama bin Laden after he led terrorist attacks of 9/11, a wound of American history that continues to bleed every day in many ways.
