Is she pointing and laughing?
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Is she pointing and laughing?
Actually Lan, what makes you think they don't already get that kind of treatment. I do object to the physical abuse these prisoners received. There is no call for that kind of treatment. I do not object, however, to abusing them psychologically.
The motto of PSYOPS:
"PSYOPS - Because physical wounds heal"
Works for me...
Before passing judgment I still want to hear the soldier's side of it. What transpired just prior to the event? (Did the prisoners kill some of their comrades in a skirmish and then taunt them? did the prisoners taunt them about 9/11? did the prisoners make comments like "you are a bunch of faggots"? did the prisoners make generalizations about Americans and/or specific "yo momma" kind of remarks?) Which in turn led the soldiers to give them a taste of their own medicine to keep them in line? Dunno, I wasn't there. But given the circumstances the treatment they received may have in fact been mild compared to what they deserved....
And FYI I do hope you consider me even more of a screwball then the others on this site Landroid. After all I do have a reputation to uphold. [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img]
I had no idea you still needed emotional support in that department. [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img]
Lan does have a point in that, when we hear of our people having such things done to them by the enemy, we throw a hissy. And granted, like I said earlier, even if we treat their POWs wonderfully, they are still going to do all these horrible things to ours. That said, I still say we should take the high road. When it comes to POWs, that is. In terms of war, as far as I'm concerned, there is no way to sanitize it, you just gotta git 'r done.
I am intrigued by the WWII analogy, but I don't know as it's a fair comparison. WWII was the single most defining event (unless you believe it's too simple to treat it as one "event") of the 20th Century, maybe of all time. And the people then recognized its significance, even though they had no idea how much it would change things.
I don't know how history will view the current situation, but it;s hardly on the same scale. At least for now. The Germans and the Japanese more or less had to be fought. I don't know as we had to go into Iraq. Maybe we did, I just don't know at this point.
One thing i'll grant you is that thank God we didn't have the media then that we do now. Honestly, I hate to see our soldiers get killed or taken prisoner, but if the Iraqis would come over here and take some of our pundits....hell, I'd help track them down myself, and I'd start with Star Jones....
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I thought we were supposed to be better than they. I thought we were the ones with the moral upper hand.Quote:
Originally posted by Jumper69:
Actually Lan, what makes you think they don't already get that kind of treatment. I do object to the physical abuse these prisoners received. There is no call for that kind of treatment. I do not object, however, to abusing them psychologically.
The motto of PSYOPS:
"PSYOPS - Because physical wounds heal"
Works for me...
I've not seen all the pictures, and I've not seen anything (yet) to suggest something other than humiliation at the hands of the Americans. I cringe at the thought of possible physical abuse.
Doesn't make us look good. And makes our standing in the Arab world even worse than it is - if that's possible.
<font color="#000002" size="1">[ May 08, 2004 09:52 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
"I've not seen anything (yet) to suggest something other than humiliation at the hands of the Americans. I cringe at the thought of possible physical abuse."
We rant about the media, but don't believe anything until we see the photos? (Maybe Reason wants to see photos of Americans sodomizing prisoners, but I sure don't. [img]wink.gif[/img] ) OK here ya go. From NY Times. The guy at the top right is dead. It doesn't look like the guy below him enjoyed a good death either. But hey, if that doesn't satisfy you, there is more to come including a video!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It looks like our ability to positively influence the Middle East is now over...Quote:
"There are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence towards prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane... It?s going to get a good deal more terrible, I?m afraid.?
-Donald Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld did not describe the photos, but U.S. military officials told NBC News that the unreleased images showed U.S. soldiers severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi female prisoner and ?acting inappropriately with a dead body.? The officials said there was also a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/
<font color="#000002" size="1">[ May 08, 2004 02:38 PM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>
Either way, the outlook has got a lot more grim.
The "abuse" itself I have mixed feelings about it. We are supposed to set a better example, but we also don't know the whole story. The press would never, ever slant a story would they? [img]graemlins/sure.gif[/img] The fact that photos of it were leaked to the press infuriates me. Some things are best kept secret. It serves no purpose other than to make it harder to do what we are trying to do over there by "exposing" it.