US Soldiers Trade Iraqi Dead Photos for Porn (This can't be true, can it?)

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

CNN and Wolf Blitzer just discussed this issue on TV. They also talked about the blogs that this story was appearing on. This is awesome. People need to know about all this.

Why is it awesome?

Why do people need to know about this?

In the end, what exactly are you hoping this story will accomplish?

[wendybeth]

Jeff, you're shooting the messenger here. The story exists because certain people feel like they can do this sort of **** and get away with it. They are enraging others and endangering lives, not to mention behaving in a disgusting and (I believe) very un-American way. We're better than that- aren't we?

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

Why is it awesome?

Why do people need to know about this?

In the end, what exactly are you hoping this story will accomplish?

It's awesome that the MSM is picking up on this story that started off as info on a blog. It's awesome that between Katrina and this, someone's teaching CNN reporters how to be journalists again.

People need to know about this so that they will not be so stunned when they realize that people aren't throwing roses at our feet in Iraq because of us doing sh!t like that over there. People need to know that we do things there that we accuse other countries of doing.

I'm hoping this story will accomplish wiping off those smug smiles off of those soldiers faces by having them brought to trial for what they did. Lyndie England isn't smiling so much these days. It's the same type thing in my opinion. This time it's gloating over someone that just died. That's just inhumane and moronic in my opinion.

An ostrich can bury its head and think everything's fine, but being in the dark is being in the dark.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

It's awesome that the MSM is picking up on this story that started off as info on a blog. It's awesome that between Katrina and this, someone's teaching CNN reporters how to be journalists again.

People need to know about this so that they will not be so stunned when they realize that people aren't throwing roses at our feet in Iraq because of us doing sh!t like that over there. People need to know that we do things there that we accuse other countries of doing.

I'm hoping this story will accomplish wiping off those smug smiles off of those soldiers faces by having them brought to trial for what they did. Lyndie England isn't smiling so much these days. It's the same type thing in my opinion. This time it's gloating over someone that just died. That's just inhumane and moronic in my opinion.

An ostrich can bury its head and think everything's fine, but being in the dark is being in the dark.

1- Katrina happened after this was first "investigated"...I doubt if any major shift in the world of journalism has occured here much less an awesome one...but that's just my opinion.

2-Who would be stunned? Every leftist media outlet in the World has been reporting every conceivable little "atrocity" that the Americans have commited since this War began.......how on Earth is this one going to "soften" the blow? Including what these very few individuals did in the pronoun "We" sounds like an indictment of the entire US Armed services( or even our whole nation?)...I am sure this was just a mistake but would like clarification.

3-Putting thousands of US troops in harms way just to wipe off a few smiles(especially when one considers that these smiles can be wiped clean without the danger)??

Chicken little can scream and scream but the sky still ain't fallin---I don't know what that means but just trying to keep the theme flightless

[Scrooge McSam]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

3-Putting thousands of US troops in harms way just to wipe off a few smiles(especially when one considers that these smiles can be wiped clean without the danger)??

Apparantly not.

Did you catch that story about the army cancelling the investigation into this mess?

The Army Criminal Investigation Command in Iraq conducted the preliminary inquiry within the past week but closed it after concluding no felony crime had been committed and failing to determine whether U.S. soldiers were responsible for the photos and whether they showed actual war dead, Army officials said.

LOL Couldn't determine whether U.S. soldiers were responsible for the photos and whether they showed actual war dead?

And we're supposed to trust these idiots? These are the minds that took us into this war. Truly stunning.

Perhaps they could ask the soldiers in the US army uniforms pointing at the dead bodies. THEIR NAMES ARE EMBLAZONED ACROSS THEIR CHESTS IF THAT MAKES IT ANY EASIER TO IDENTIFY THEM.

Oh, and after that, check with Lyndie England to see if people participating in this kind of ghoulish freak show are responsible for their actions.

But this is even more telling...

"We're not blowing this off," Curtin said. "If the Army thinks it's in its interest to investigate something, we will"

It's not in the best interest of the army to investigate. There it is.

Sleepy, your faith in the army to handle this appropriately is misplaced.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

Including what these very few individuals did in the pronoun "We" sounds like an indictment of the entire US Armed services( or even our whole nation?)

They represent us when they are in uniform. They are "we" over there. They, the US soldiers, are torturing people in Abu Ghraib and beyond, yet we were supposed to be there liberating people. We don't have a leg to stand on when we are being hypocritical.

Look at the pictures. These soldiers act like their playing a video game or something.

I agree with that Turkish activist's reamark to Karen Hughes who is trying to improve the US reputation in the Middle East.

There is "no chance for America to make its image better … while the war in Iraq is still going on (and) people are dying every day,"...

She's right, Hughes is out of touch... The 5 week vacation cowboy (Bush) and his supporters are out of touch. Harsh as they may be, stories like these can put things into perspective.

quote source

[Prudence]

Prudence has an opinion!

I'll wait for you to get over your shock and surprise.

If the photos are on the internet, they will eventually be found by someone outside those participating in the posting. The internet is not a particularly good place to hide things. Whether found by our government, insurgent groups, AI, the press, or any other group, they will be found and it will look bad.

Why will it look bad? Because it's awfully hard to take the moral high ground when your actions aren't so moral. We already went through a whole hoo-haw over prisoner photos. I'll conceed that war is an experience that cannot be understood by those who aren't there. However, there is a significant distinction between taking a "war trophy" photo and posting that photo on the internet, just as there is a distinction treatment of live humans who pose a continuing threat or possess valuable information and treatment of an inanimate corpse. (This portion of the opinion was first run by my husband to make sure I didn't have a wholly unrealistic view of the military.) Not only that, but I believe there was a photo on the blog page of a woman injured in an attack (not an insurgent.) I may be wrong, as I didn't linger. If so, I don't even have words to describe that.

Now back the the "eventually found" portion of this argument: Best case scenario is that the military finds it first and shuts it down. Worst case scenario is that the enemy finds it first and immediately starts the propaganda against us. Middle ground is that another party finds it first, the government acts appropriately shocked, and involved parties are punished.

I agree that the existence of these photos puts our troops in danger. However, because I feel that the photos would have been eventually found by someone, whether or not press, I feel that the irresponsiblity lies with the participants for creating a situation that opens troops up to increased risk. The soldiers involved created the product and placed it on the 'net. Not only that, but they did this AFTER the Abu Whatsis prison episode. Have they no sense whatsoever? And do they regularly display this lack of sense in carrying out their assigned duties upon which the lives of others depend?

[Gemini Cricket]

More Photos of Abu Ghraib to be Released

Last year a Republican senator conceded that they contained scenes of "rape and murder" and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said they included acts that were "blatantly sadistic."

Bush Remarks at a Gala

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."
President George Bush - Oct. 8, 2003

This just came out today about the content of the photos. The US may not have killed as many people in the US as Saddam, but these soldiers are possibly guilty of raping prisoners. And then taking pictures. Others are taking pictures of dead bodies and smiling.

I'm sorry. Why am I having to qualify any of this? What kind of proof does a Bushie need?!

[innerSpaceman]

OMG, they could publish pictures of Bush with a knife in hand, slitting the throat of an 8-month fetus that he's <o<k-deep in the ass of, and Bushies would not acknowledge the existence of proof that this man has done anything wrong.

I'm not accusing anyone here of being such a Bushie. To the contrary, the conservatives who post here are not absolutists and can carry on a civil debate without head-in-the-sand.



for the most part.

[Name]

OMG, they could publish pictures of Bush with a knife in hand, slitting the throat of an 8-month fetus that he's <o<k-deep in the ass of, and Bushies would not acknowledge the existence of proof that this man has done anything wrong.

Of course not, the photo would obviously have been photoshopped.