Those Iraqi prison photos are generating a ton of embarrassment and anger. I too think they are awful, and reflect a total command breakdown. But I think there is a broader question involved. How should prisoners like these be treated? My understanding is that most of these prisoners were not Iraqi Army POW's but instead were insurgents, terrorists or suspects who got picked up for one reason or another. I'm not sure they are entitled to Geneva Convention treatment, any more than the detainees at Gitmo. To read the press, you would think they should have been treated liked prisoners arrested in the US. That kind of sentiment may make some here feel good, but I think it is madness under the circumstances. There was another incident a few months ago where an officer got critical information by threatening to shoot a prisoner. The officer is being courtmartialed and his career is ruined. In my view, he did the right thing and should have received a medal. In short, these types of prisoners often have very useful information that will lose value quickly. It is critical for them to be softened up and interrogated in an efficient manner. My question is, where do we draw the line? At genital electrodes? At mock executions? At physical duress? At using drugs?
We should treat them in a civilized manner; in a manner in which we ourselves wish to be treated -give them tennis courts, steak & lobster and HBO... after all they deserve it. :-\
As you know, the Nazis treated captured American GI's with one standard, and captured Red Army soldiers far more brutally. Garbage in, garbage out. When interrogations/information gathering is not an issue, Iraqi and even Al-Qaida scum should be treated the same way we want our POW's treated. When the prisoner may have crucial information...well, then it gets alot more complicated...
yeah, i am sure intel obtained from employing the "naked pyramid", will no doubt be the key to victory.
Well.... Our supreme commander and chief, says this is war. They are POW's aren't they? And isn't mission accomplished as of May 2003? our supreme commander and chief also says so...Why are they still in captivity? "Prisoners like this?" as opposed to prisoners like what? Well, if we are as many claim, down there to liberate them, democratize them and instill our "values and principles".. SHOULDN'T they be treated as they were arrested here? After all, saddam is gone, and we occupy their soil.. The least we could do is to treat them under the Geneva Convention guidelines. "My understanding is that most of these prisoners were not Iraqi Army POW's but instead were insurgents, terrorists or suspects who got picked up for one reason or another" If they are not armed enemy troops, but civilians committing crimes, shouldn't they be arrested put in jail, entitled legal representation and a court hearing? In sharp contrast, remember Lynche's final interview on how well she was treated by the Iraqis. And I'm sure that if any of our soldiers were captured and applied electrodes at their genitals we would have been hearing that for days on six o'clock news... But I hear you.... there are many gray areas....war is truly a very ugly thing. it should be avoided, should have been the last resort not our first objective...
"they entered my home & killed the children & the women" http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1084067.htm "IRAQI: I give my blood to people in Fallujah to help them. And I want with them to fight the enemy, the American, because they entered my home and killed the children and the women and destroyed everything in Fallujah." So this guy is enraged, (who wouldn't be?) grabs a knife and goes after the killers, he gets picked up and thrown into them "jails". How is he supposed to be treated? He would fall under the category of "other" Insurgent? terrorist? criminal?
That was just absolutely ridiculous what those soilder's were doing to them. Sure they were probally insurgents or terrorists but what was one of the reasons the US went into Iraq? WMD of course, but also to stop saddam's rein of terror and torture on his own people. And look what those US soilders do....torture and humiliate them!....And yea, i really think the human pyramid really made them give up very important intel lol...Dont get me wrong, these insurgents and terrorists piss me off more THEN ANYTHING, however i thought it was just shame those pictures were taken, and even released. I just hope when the war is over the world does not look back and remember how US soilders tortured and humiliated POW's. The US soilders deserve more then that!
Has anyone considered that the US military taking all the citizens of Iraq and forcing them at gunpoint into making one BIG pyramid may finally get the world's attention onto the seriousness of this terrorism problem?
LongShot, you have your smiley backwards... You have it like this :-\ It's supposed to be like this :-/ It's cool, dude, you can thank me later.
A Timeline of CIA Atrocities By Steve Kangas ... CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition. First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal: "We'll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us." The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination. These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing dictator. The CIA trains the dictatorâs security apparatus to crack down on the traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder. The victims are said to be "communists," but almost always they are just peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses follow. ... http://mirrors.korpios.org/resurgent/CIAtimeline.html