The Faces of Terrorism

In three months here at Bagram, I have taken care of my fair share of patients that we call "enemies of peace" or EOP's. These of course are our patients who are suspected terrorists. They are often our most challenging patients for both medical and psychosocial reasons. There is one thing that is obvious to anyone who lays eyes on the EOP's. In short, these guys are some of the sorriest looking dudes you ever want to see! It seems hard to believe that 125 pound weaklings are the heart of the Taliban. They are illiterate people with little education. Their bodies are emaciated, basically just skin and bones. Of course, this all worsens after they have been shot up and spend days to weeks in the hospital. They will often refuse to eat or talk. It is not uncommon for them to be disoriented with extremely questionable mentation. This is certainly expected in the EOP's who have been shot in the head. Nobody expects those guys to be normal again. One of them was so out of his mind that he would incessantly bang his head up against the iron bars of his external fixator which was holding his mangled arm together. He had stitches all over his head resembling train tracks. It was not a pretty sight. Actually, it was disturbing to me to see him day after day.



Until the other day I had not seen an EOP that was intimidating in the least. We as Americans picture terrorists as shady, unsavory characters of middle eastern descent. Without a doubt, these EOP's are unsavory. But this is so because they are so malnourished, weak, and discheveled. Many of them look like they could be on a commerical for a world hunger organization. And yet we are struggling in this war against the Taliban and Al Queda. I think that speaks volumes to the fact that this war is very complicated. It is clear that the F-16's that take off all night long from Bagram are not going to take down the Taliban. Technology is not the answer. Brute military force is not the answer. After all, IED's made simply from fertilizer are used to take out our million dollar, giant vehicles called MRAP's (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected). We are fighting an enemy that has been brainwashed into believing radical islam. That's a powerful force.

Today I met a young medic who works at the "detainment facility" , aka the prison. He was very disillusioned. He could not understand why the prisoners were getting top notch medical care. The prisoners get all kinds of medications there. Have you heard of Nexium? Yes it's true, we are treating heartburn in our prisoners with the "purple pill"! (Good for the pharmaceutical industry I guess) He went on to say that he could not understand why these prisoners were being held for years. If nothing else, the cost of doing this is mind boggling. I did not have any good answers for the young medic except to say that his concerns are valid and that I have similar concerns. I am trying to make sense of it myself.