Iraqi prisoner photo scandal

I can't believe the army didn't cover this up. The situation jeopardizes. Reasons like this lead me to deny conspiracy theories.
 
This abuse really takes the cake for potentially recruiting thousands of more Arabs into the suicide attack business against U.S. interests.
 
Maybe AAA will tell us the media should not have covered it, for the coverage is only intended to hurt Bush politically.

Although if an Arab had done this, no other Arab would have blinked.
 
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TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?
Issue of 2004-05-10
Posted 2004-04-30


General Janis Karpinsky: ... “living conditions now are better in prison than at home. At one point we were concerned that they wouldn’t want to leave.” ...

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact


Additional images of the torture of Iraqi prisoners

Early this year, the senior U.S. Army commander in Iraq authorized a major investigation into the American Army's prison system there. The fifty-three-page report that resulted, which was written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and was not meant for public release, was devastating. Taguba found numerous instances of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" of Iraqis by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, located twenty miles west of Baghdad. This systematic and illegal abuse, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by members of the 320th Military Police Battalion, and also by members of the American intelligence community. There was considerable evidence to support the allegations, Taguba added, including "detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence"; the photographs, which were taken by American soldiers while the abuse was going on, were not included in the report, Taguba said, because of their "extremely sensitive nature." Here are ten of those photographs (see the related link to the right); we have digitally obscured some details.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/covers/?040510onco_covers_gallery
 
Quote from Nolan-Vinny-Sam:

"According to staff at the hospital, the only information provided by the Americans was the incorrect name and a medical report which said Mr. Abrahim had suffered a heart attack.

The doctors at the hospital in Tikrit, after performing diagnostic tests, informed the family that Mr. Abrahim had suffered massive head trauma, electrocution, and other bruises on his arms. An EKG proved that his heart was functioning perfectly. The family was told that he was in an unrecoverable state and would be in a coma for the rest of his life from the obvious trauma suffered."
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Is this sensational reporting? Is this accurate reporting? We're given a story by a freelance photographer with no ability to follow-up on the claims made in the story. Stories similar to this serve to stir up emotions within people and cause them to react to situations that may have never existed in the first place -- or, situations that were drastically different from those portrayed.

As an American, I'm predispositioned to read american interpretations of the war, which include the after-effects of the war and our own biased views on our foreign policy. However, after reading cnn.com, I then go over to Al-Jazeera and read about some of the exact same stories. There is of course a very large difference in how those two stories are written. One portrays a "liberation force" providing freedom, food and clothing to starving Iraqis. The other writes of an "occupational force" that is consistently engaged in questionable tactics, torture and the killing of innocent civilians.

Stepping even further from the situation, something slowly begins to creep over me. It is a sort of very ugly yet undeniable truth that is not inherent to either side, but to humanity itself. The truth is quite simple. There are bad arabs. There are bad Americans. America is not inherently evil, nor is the Arab world.

If our consumption of resources as compared to the rest of the world is viewed by non-Americans as wrong, then that is just the nature of our own capitalistic society. There is no "good or evil" about it, but only an interpretation from the rest of the world that our nation is an imperialistic one due to our need and consumption of raw natural resources like oil.

A picture per se is just a snapshot of something. Once journalists and reporters obtain that picture, they must then put a story with it. That story is then written for and then read by a mass audience. Unfortunately, the mass audience always has an average IQ of 100 and a majority of them will believe virtually anything published because they saw it in the "New York Times" or "Al-Jazeera."

We all remember very clearly people like Jayson Blair and what happens when a journalist needs to get a story published as quickly as possible. "Quickly" is a stranger to "accuracy," and in this circumstance, Blair's own ego superceded everything. "Getting caught" is the only difference between Blair and so many other editors and journalists still writing for countless media organizations.

Of course, the American side of the story is further complicated by extreme liberals who will write a piece to invoke outrage and resentment within the American public towards the American public. In effect, while enjoying their latte at Starbucks and cruising around the city in their petroleum-fueled vehicle, they will rail and rant against U.S. foreign policy and forget the simple fact that there is no real "inherent evil" taking place in America -- simply a natural byproduct of a successful political and socioeconomic system called "capitalism."

A lot of people are really stupid and, quite unfortunately, stupidity can be very contagious.
 
a percentage of any country's army will probably misbehave. this does not surprise me at all. the mistake people make is thinking THEIR country is perfect. americans should not think everything they do is perfect and all their people always do the right thing. people tend to think it's only the other side/enemy that does wrong things. the bottom line is: countries should not pretend they're perfect, nor expect their opposition to be perfect either.
 
Quote from ARogueTrader:

It is interesting that you label those white non Arab abusers stupid.

Did you also say that same thing about the Arabs who abused our prisoners or dead and wounded? Did you say they were simply being stupid?

Or did your blood boil because of their savage and demonic behavior toward civilized Americans.
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When I saw the videos of Arabs detaining and holding Americans, I was upset. Then again, this is a "war" and I would be living under a rock if I were to assume that those situations would never take place.

Unfortunately, sometimes I wish I could live under a rock but there isn't much room to live there now that all the liberals have taken refuge under them.
 
Quote of the week:

"A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we'd accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein. And as a result, there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq." (President Bush Welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Martin to White House, Friday, April 30, 2004)

nough said:eek:
 
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