Sadism in Foreign Lands: The Burn Pit Atrocity

Abstract

This paper explores one of the forgotten tragedies of the modern era – that of the burn pits. Burn pits were larges holes dug directly into the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war on terror where government contractors burned hazardous materials in direct proximity to human habitation. The result is not only air pollution and contamination of water tables, but also countless illnesses and death for soldiers and civilians exposed to these toxins. This paper supports the American courts’ opinion that military contractors were not to blame for these tragedies. Instead, this autoethnography uses the theories to Marquis de Sade to explore why senior military officials ignored the dangers of burn pit exposure deliberately to provide an illusion of normalcy during military deployments and to benefit from harming their subordinates. This paper is of use to academics who explore organization dysfunctions; it is one of a small number of papers that explores issues involving the burn pits; and, most importantly, it represents activism to use scholarly research for greater good and to expose evil.