Crossing the Wire by AnnaMaria Cardinalli

Author:AnnaMaria Cardinalli [Cardinalli, AnnaMaria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-1057-2
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

Men waiting in the shade of a building.

Chapter 14

To Walk a Mile for a Camel

Day 105

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear the phrase “I’d walk a mile for a Camel” in the same way again. I remember the poor hobbled camel I saw in Helmand, but here in Kandahar, I have learned that camels sometimes suffer an even worse fate after they are rendered three-footed and kept a mile out from town. The chow hall this morning was buzzing with enough uncomfortable conversation, nervous laughter, and gagging noises to get me to ask what had happened.

Apparently, a few soldiers with the duty of watching the perimeter of the camp overnight had witnessed a man approach an isolated hobbled camel. Thinking he was unobserved, he came equipped with a step-ladder, promptly sodomized the camel, and, when finished, to the hysterics of the soldiers watching from a distance, dismissed the camel with an elaborate slap on the rump—as if to celebrate the fact that he had just delivered a stellar performance. He then swaggered away, step ladder in tow.

Being the “cultural observation” person, I was asked to explain this. I can hardly imagine the research techniques that would be necessary to study bestiality formally in the context of Afghanistan, so I didn’t have many answers. However, just from casual observation, I thought one might argue that it may be based generally on the unavailability or undesirability of women. Further, while at least not directed toward human beings, the practice appeared to involve an element of excessive cruelty (because of the long-term isolation and hobbling of the animal) and could be called abusive.

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