The Victim Is Always Guilty

Well, there's enough truth to the statement -- the victim is always guilty -- to let it stand as is.

Alright, since you insist, I will explain. You ask: what about all those people, children and old folk, mothers and fathers, all ordinary people who are victims of earthquakes and typhoons and civil war and drought and viral epidemics, and sinking ships and accidental shootings? What did they do to deserve untimely deaths? Answer: they were all guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know, then you argue that just about everybody is "in the wrong place at the wrong time". No, for example, if you're a pedestrian jaywalking and no car runs over you. you are in the wrong place but not the wrong time if no auto ran over you.

The problem with conventional sense of justice is that you might well believe that for every unfortunate thing (getting in the way while Mother Nature is having a fit or by Acts of God, if you're legally disposed) there is a villain or culprit or perpetrator.

See, this business of wanting to see justice (or fairness, if you're still in kindergarten) done is the way of our species to find malevolence wherever there is violence whether the perpetrator is Mother Nature, another government or your own or your neighbor's or even your own kin..

Must we haggle about verbal postulates? Just take my word for it, you can be guilty of being a victim without deliberately intending to be victimized by punks, thugs, robbers, neighbors, et al. If you are so inclined, you might find some comfort in arguing the role of various gods or God himself or herself has taken note of some degree of sin in the victims prior behavior.

I noted in my previous post that there had been no trials at Guantanamo in the seven years since the prisons were opened for detainees. Last Friday, August 8, the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver (why wasn't he referred to as his chauffeur?) Salim Hamdad was found guilty of providing material support of terrorism, but acquitted of charges of conspiracy, a more serious charge (dare I inquire why providing material support is more serious than conspiracy?). He was sentenced to 66 months, but has already served all but 5, after which time served he will remain a detainee for legal reasons yet to be ascertained. You should note that Hamdan was stopped at the Pakistani border by Afghan troops, and then was turned over to U.S. troops. Hamdan cooperated fully with the U.S. forces, thus, avoiding torture forcing him to give false or unimportant information to his captors.

I suspect that the primary reason more detainees at Guantanamo have not been brought to trial is because they have not cooperated with the prosecutors, leaving them with skimpy dossiers of evidence. If you were an Afghan native and were brought in by Afghan war lords in exchange for $5,000 bounty, without collaborating testimony by the captures, the charge obviously is "being in the wrong place at the wrong time" And if you're a detainee and have failed to provide sufficient confessional testimony, then you are, ipso facto, guilty of being in the wrong place in the first degree.

Now, aren't you sorry you just had to know about a rule of life so elementary and manifest as the victim is guilty? You' may find out someday when you are found to be in the wrong place at the wrong time -- and you try to exonerate yourself by pleading innocence. Alas, even if you are later exonerated for being wrongly imprisoned, you'll find out that being proven innocent (by DNA etc.) hardly renders you newly innocent and wrongly accused by the Public. You may find some groups who are Soft on Crime who will support you, but all those who have never been caught being in the wrong place at the wrong time will hardly sympathize, even if you've done 20 plus years in prison. [Don't despair: there's a magazine just for you: "Justice Denied: the Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted".}

I hope you're happy now. I was going to tell you about finally finding Mr. Pant in a place where we could sit and talk for a few minutes. You''ll have to wait for the next exciting encounter with the Stranger from Out There Somewhere.