Brigadier General Michael Lehnert, hero of Gitmo

Posted by Benjamin on: 01.29.2009 /

(H/T D)  Back before Guantanamo was an internationally infamous prison, General Lehnert managed to stay a sweet cucumber in a vinegar barrel, and set the camp up to actually follow international law and human decency.  From the story in the Washington Post.

Brig. Gen. Lehnert had built his own Guantanamo, one with ICRC oversight, a Muslim chaplain and an overriding ethos that stressed codified law and the unwritten rules of human decency. Lehnert’s team let the detainees talk among themselves; it provided halal food, an additional washing bucket inside cells that lacked toilet facilities, a Koran for each detainee, skullcaps and prayer beads for those who wanted them, and undergarments for the prisoners to wear at shower time, in accordance with Islamic laws that proscribe public nakedness.

I wanna be like that. All this vinegar, however, makes it difficult.

5 Responses to "Brigadier General Michael Lehnert, hero of Gitmo"

  • Comment by: Helen

    1 01/29/09 6:06 PM | Comment Link |

    All this vinegar, however, makes it difficult.

    What if you don’t let the vinegar have power over you?

  • Comment by: Benjamin Ady

    2 01/30/09 12:19 AM | Comment Link |

    What if you don’t let the vinegar have power over you?

    that’s what lots of the cucumbers are thinking. And yet the nature of vinegar being what it is, and the mere impossibility of getting out of the barrel ….

    Your question touches on the fundamental attribution error. Part of what *makes* heroes heroes is that they manage to stay sweet cucumbers in a vinegar barrel. The *normal* thing to do is turn into a pickle. Only relatively few people are going to be heroes, by definition. We’ve got to take steps to change the chemistry of the barrel. But ultimately in some ways the barrel is the whole world, and it’s moderately to severely difficult to change that from inside. Who was it–the ancient Greek, who said if he had a place to stand and a lever, he could move the world. But we *don’t* have a place to stand, although we might have (or be able to get) the lever.

  • Comment by: Seren

    3 01/30/09 1:55 AM | Comment Link |

    Archimedes. A place to stand and a long enough lever, and he could move the earth. i googled it.

    i quite like the thought of being in my own, small barrel with only the people i like in.

  • Comment by: Benjamin Ady

    4 01/30/09 2:02 AM | Comment Link |

    i quite like the thought of being in my own, small barrel with only the people i like in.

    Seren

    That’s a lovely thought. Lovely and slightly fantastic =)

  • Comment by: Helen

    5 01/30/09 7:57 AM | Comment Link |

    Benjamin wrote:

    Part of what *makes* heroes heroes is that they manage to stay sweet cucumbers in a vinegar barrel. The *normal* thing to do is turn into a pickle. Only relatively few people are going to be heroes, by definition.

    Ok, I’m with you so far.

    We’ve got to take steps to change the chemistry of the barrel.

    But that’s a further step - I thought you were just talking about staying sweet (positive/a good influence) in spite of what’s around us.

    But ultimately in some ways the barrel is the whole world, and it’s moderately to severely difficult to change that from inside.

    It’s impossible for any one of us to change the whole world. The example hero you gave didn’t do that - he just worked on one little part of it.

    We need to break the task down into a piece that’s doable for us.

    Who was it–the ancient Greek, who said if he had a place to stand and a lever, he could move the world. But we *don’t* have a place to stand, although we might have (or be able to get) the lever.

    Why don’t we have a place to stand?

    I think the unrealistic part is that one person could change the whole world.

    What Archimedes said was poetic but really it takes lots of people to make big changes, doesn’t it?