Prisoner abuse

[Guest charlie]

I was shocked. I always figured our CIA tortured a few prisioners here and there to get information (I'm not condoning that just saying I believed the CIA does it) but I still tend to think of the average American as being honorable, noble, yet humane like the American soldiers of WWII. I don't think todays young generation is "as a rule" like the WWII generation but it was still very shocking and sickening to me to see pictures of naked Iraqi men with an American female soldier smiling and pointing at their "privates".

What were all of yall's thoughts?

[cymba22]

personally i think the pics are fakes...why????you name one service personal that doesn't know the meaning of the words 'court marshel' and what it implies...unless there of the few who wear a uniform and dont recognise what it truly represents

[Guest charlie]

What do you mean by fakes? Even if they were "staged" that still doesn't excuse the prisioners being stripped of their clothing and the female soldier's smiling and pointing....that would have also been staged. Why would you have staged or faked something that pornographic? There's no rhyme or reason to that as far as I can see.

[cymba22]

1set of photos superimposed by another...or they wern't military at all and were from a porn site...it was only my opinion

[Guest yod]

Charlie,

I believe you are a decent American...we are all shocked by the thought of our soldiers being less than honorable and decent people.

But where is the outrage for the brutality that has been done to our soldiers? Where was Kennedy when Saddam was treating HIS prisoners brutally?

I'm not impressed when Sudan chastizes us for human rights. It is an obvious political calculation for the liberals and democrats to call for the resignation of Rumsfeld when they were the ones against putting Saddam out of power......and being silent when the 4 men were dragged through the streets of Fallujah.

Don't be sucked in by the hypocrisy.

I'm still waiting for someone to address the lives of American prisoners in American jails....those Iraqis didn't have it all that bad in comparison to Leavenworth, Sing-sing, Alcatraz.

This stuff is nothing new.

[Guest charlie]

This morning on the CBS morning show they interviewed the mother of that female soldier seen in the pictures. The mother said her daughter, Lindy England, said a lot of the pictures were "staged"....she didn't say faked, just staged......there's a difference. Evidently the girl didn't deny that the pictures were real and her mother seemed upset and astounded like many of us are.

I don't think the pictures were semi-imposed at all. I think they're real. I thought we were above that sort of thing.

Now, the mutilation of those American civilian contractors a few weeks ago will be forgotten and our position in that region will be further undermined with these pictures and abuses being used as an excuse to kill more of our people.

[Guest charlie]

Just saw your post after posting my last one Yod. I think we and most of the world has been disgusted with Saddam's cruelty and we're aware of what is often done to American prisioners of war. The North Koreans are experts at torture and many of us remember the tales that came out of vietnam.

My point is that when our soldiers do the same thing we're viewed as the hypocrits because we're the ones that holler about democracy and how evil the rest of the world is....we're suppose to be the good guys!

I've read stories of WWII prisioners that were held in this country returning with their families years later to visit the areas where they were held and they often say how good they were treated. That reflects favorably on Americans. Politics aside there's no excuse for what these soldiers did just as there's no excuse for what our enemies do to us when our people are taken prisioner. Wrong is wrong no matter who is doing it.

Also, I think this reflects on the overall "attitude" of the younger generation. I'm not sure when it happened but many young people today seem to have "waxed cold" if you know what I mean.....beautifully groomed on the outside but blank on the inside.

I know I wouldn't have made somebody strip off naked and pointed at their gentitals while getting my picture taken. Even if one didn't see "anything wrong with that", it was just a stupid thing to do.

Don't be sucked in by the hypocrisy

.

uuuhhhh, you might want to heed your own advise there Yod.

Edited May 6, 2004 by charlie

[Ovedya]

I personally think that it's deplorable the way the media - the liberal media, to use a coined phrase - is handling the war in toto. Where was the fury and outrage at the 4 civil engineers that who's bodies were emaciated and hung from a bridge for the world to see? Where is the outrage and anger over the man who was dropped several hundred stories from a building in Iraq yesterday (Betcha' didn't know about that one, did you?)? Yet here we have a small number of soldiers acting like complete maniacs and the entire world is up in arms!

Don't get me wrong, these pictures, if they are real, are disgusting. The soldiers involved deserve the full penalty of military law. But these few do not represent our entire military. Their behavior is not representative of our entire armed services, nor representative of American values. Listening to the liberal media and the media abroad though you would think that they are. It frustrates me to no end that American citizens are being brutalized and inhumanized before the whole world and no one cares a bit. But a few Iraqi prisoners are subjected to a kind of sick and twisted punishment and everyone goes crazy!

[Guest yod]

I totally agree it was stupid and it was wrong

It definetely hurts our authority to speak on matters of human rights IF we don't take serious action.

I'm just sick of hearing the liberals trying to divide Americans over every single incident that they can exploit to make us hate Bush or his administration.

And Sudan's criticism put me right over the edge! They have murdered over 2 million sudanese since 1988 and are one of the 2 or 3 countries where there are still slaves!

Where is the outrage? Where are those who are so concerned about these Iraqis who were not harmed...only humiliated.

And those Iraqis are not necessarily innocent.

[Guest charlie]

Listening to the liberal media and the media abroad though you would think that they are.

Why is it when something is reported that we don't want to hear the word "liberal media" is applied to the source of that information?

It frustrates me to no end that American citizens are being brutalized and inhumanized before the whole world and no one cares a bit.

It frustrates me too but now you can bet your bottom dollar that even more will be brutalized and inhumanized before the whole world, with the actions of these idiots being used as the excuse.

Question: Would any of you have done this to somebody, even an enemy?

Edited May 6, 2004 by charlie