Ugh Ive heard this story on the news before but haven't actually sat down and read it. Just makes my head spin by these idiots and their disgrace to the military

http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/index.html

Among the examples of abuse on display in the photos were techniques sanctioned by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for use on "unlawful enemy combatants" in the "war on terror." These include forced nudity, the use of dogs to terrorize prisoners, keeping prisoners in stress positions -- physically uncomfortable poses of various types -- for many hours, and varieties of sleep deprivation. Some of these techniques migrated from Guantánamo and Afghanistan to Iraq in 2003

Military intelligence personnel and civilian contractors employed by the military appear in some of the photographs with the military guards, and entries from a prison logbook captured in the archive show that in some cases military police believed their tough tactics were being approved by -- and in some cases ordered by -- military intelligence officers and civilian contractors

The abuse took place against the backdrop of rising chaos in Iraq. In those months the U.S. military faced a raging insurgency for which it hadn't planned. As mortar attacks rained down on the overcrowded prison -- at one point there were only 450 guards for 7,000 prisoners -- its command structure broke down. At the same time, the pressure from the Pentagon and the White House for "actionable intelligence" was intense, and harsh interrogation techniques were approved to obtain it. Bush administration lawyers, including Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo, had already created a radical post-9/11 legal framework that disregarded the Geneva Conventions and other international laws governing the humane treatment of prisoners in the "war on terror." Intelligence agencies such as the CIA were apparently given the green light to operate by their own set of secret rules.

But while the Pentagon's own probes have acknowledged that military commanders, civilian contractors, the CIA and government policymakers all bear some responsibility for the abuses, to date only nine enlisted soldiers have been prosecuted for their crimes at Abu Ghraib (see sidebar). An additional four soldiers and eight officers, including Brinson, Pappas and Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of military police at Abu Ghraib, have been reprimanded. (Pappas and Karpinski were also relieved of their posts.) To date no high-level U.S. officials have been brought to justice in a court of law for what went on at Abu Ghraib.


This I find sickening. :shock

Totally agree Sonia. Its amazing how many higer ups are getting away with this

i just have this to say
It has happened in every war they were just "dumb" enough to get caught
It is war after all and there are many things that the "average" person should never see in war on either side

and as for the higher ups not getting busted usually the lower guys have to take the fall cause some body has to right!?

i just have this to say
It has happened in every war they were just "dumb" enough to get caught
It is war after all and there are many things that the "average" person should never see in war on either side

True but even though its happened before I never approved of it then and I dont approve of it either. but that's just me though

I never said I agreed or didn't agree with it
BUT We all know they do cap just as bad it just hasn't been plastered all over the internet etc...
It isn't like we are the only ones doing it
And I say you do what you gotta do to get the info
they do!

Yes, this stuff has been happening as long as there has been war but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be upset by it.

Until recently we as Americans have been able to talk about human rights with a straight face. What these people did makes our military look bad AND it makes the country look bad because when we deploy them oversees they represent all of us, like it or not.

Ok so we embarassed them SO WHAT
had they physically beat the living crap out of them that would be one thing.
Have none of us never been embarassed by someone else on purpose? I know I sure as hell have

The prisoners were not just embarrassed. They were abused. The people who abused them and the people who allowed it broke international laws that the United States has agreed to abide by - the same laws that exist to protect United States soldiers, Marines, and sailors in enemy territory.

The prisoners were not just embarrassed. They were abused. The people who abused them and the people who allowed it broke international laws that the United States has agreed to abide by - the same laws that exist to protect United States soldiers, Marines, and sailors in enemy territory.
they don't play by the rules
they do far worse things to our POWs than we did to those people
that is my point this is war and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
I understand we are supposed to be "better" than them BUT when it comes to life or death I say do what you gotta do. we can play the same game that they do

We can play the same game that they do


We can, and we should. After all...it's only fair.

Then the violence will never end, will it? Everyone will continue to justify their actions based on the actions of others, so it will continue on. When is someone going to do the right thing and refuse to denegrate and abuse another person in the name of "fairness"?

Ok Matty. You're absolutely right. We need to be the bigger people, be the civilized nation here and start treating these prisoners the way we wish to be treated. Lord knows they'll follow in our footsteps - I'm sure that as soon as we start playing nice, so will they. Ya think?

:rolleyes

And no, the violence will never end. Do you HONESTLY THINK that they would stop blowing themselves up if we suddenly find GOD and treat them all in a 'civilized' way? Perhaps they'd begin to tell themselves "those Americans...they're not so bad afterall." Terrorists are not rational people, incase you hadn't noticed.

I get fired up over this, as we all do for one reason or another.

What gets me is that those terrorists would not hesitate to kill my child. As a matter of fact, they are ready, willing, able, and even EAGER to kill my entire family - not only are they ready willing and able to, but they would take IMMENSE PLEASURE in doing so. IMO, THAT is why it's ok with me if we embarrass them and hurt their poor widdle feewings. I have absolutely no sympathy for them, and I don't understand why anyone else does.

I get fired up over this, as we all do for one reason or another.

What gets me is that those terrorists would not hesitate to kill my child. As a matter of fact, they are ready, willing, able, and even EAGER to kill my entire family - not only are they ready willing and able to, but they would take IMMENSE PLEASURE in doing so. IMO, THAT is why it's ok with me if we embarrass them and hurt their poor widdle feewings. I have absolutely no sympathy for them, and I don't understand why anyone else does.

That is exactly what they must say about members of the United States military.

I am not proud that my husband, by being associated with the military, is lumped in with people who are violating international law and abusing people. I am not happy that people in other countries think that my husband, a member of the United States military, wouldn't hesitate to abuse people under his control. Maybe you are proud to be associated with that, and maybe you're content to make it sound better by calling it "embarrassment" instead of "abuse", but I am not.

I will always be proud of my husband for serving in the United States armed forces. Apparently you and I simply have differing opinions on the definition of abuse.

By this logic it would have been ok for our forces and the allies to build concentration camps and kill german civilians in gas chambers during WWII. After all, that is what they did to "us" (the allies).
The nazis would have been eager to kill me and you and your entire family too.

If we treat prisoners of war this way then we have absolutely no business being outraged at the way our pows were treated in vietnam. Strangely john mccain has completely against what went on in abu ghraib.

Eye for an eye while fighting (in war) is one thing (and I don't object to it) but the way we treat people in a jail where they cannot hurt us is another.

I will always be proud of my husband for serving in the United States armed forces. Apparently you and I simply have differing opinions on the definition of abuse.

I consider the following to be abuse. Do you?
---------
The New York Times, in a report on January 12, 2005 reported testimony suggesting that the following events had taken place at Abu Ghraib:

Urinating on detainees
Jumping on detainee's leg (a limb already wounded by gunfire) with such force that it could not thereafter heal properly
Continuing by pounding detainee's wounded leg with collapsible metal baton
Pouring phosphoric acid on detainees
Sodomization of detainees with a baton

Also, Sergeant Samuel Provance from Alpha Company 302nd Military Intelligence battalion, in interviews with several news agencies, reported the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl by two interrogators
It was discovered that one prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, died as a result of abuse, a death that was ruled a homicide.
------------

We can sit and argue this until the cows come home. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm not trying to change your mind, just as you can't possibly change mine. I have no sympathy for terrorists. Period. None. Notta. Zilch. I cannot fathom terrorist sympathizers. I just don't get it.

Having a baton shoved up your ass is probably a little less painful than seeing your daughter or sons head hacked off live on Al-Jazeera.

That's it ladies and gents, I'm out.

This isn't about sympathy for terrorists. This is about United States military members breaking international law and abusing prisoners.

Becca you and I are on the same page :DMy mind will never change either