Like the Situation wasn't Difficult Enough.

[Skirmisher]

I hope the pathetic individuals responsible for making the lives of other US soldiers so much harder and more dangerous by abusing those prisoners and taking those photographs are given some serious time in jail.

I'm astounded, and even moreso that if I read correctly, some of these photographs were taken in the same jail that Saddam used to beat and torture people.

Way to help win the hearts and minds.

See link below.

Arab anger at 'savage' Iraq abuse (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3674795.stm)

[Myshel]

I agree, it was totally disgusting. The one pic that really turned my stomach was the one of the grinning US woman laying on top of a mass of naked POW's in obvious sexual positions.

[Bobmuhthol]

Edited because I'm dumb.

[Edited on 5-1-2004 by Bobmuhthol]

[Tsa`ah]

No Bob, not even close.

We are there under the guise of liberation, changed from disarming WMDs, we are not supposed to be torturing POWs.

This is a war crime.

[crazymage]

They should have just beaten them within an inch of their lives and videod it.

[Bobmuhthol]

Yeah, uh, I guess I'm not fully awake or something, so I'm going to stfu now because I don't know what anyone is talking about.

[Skirmisher]

Sergey, stick to making poor sexual innuendoes.

[Galleazzo]

Originally posted by crazymage
They should have just beaten them within an inch of their lives and videod it.

STFU already. With this shit going on, you know there's gonna be American soldiers taken captive and frigging assraped to death with gun barrels. You gonna have your dick in your hand watching that?

Sometimes civvies make me sick.

[DeV]

Those soldiers are an embarassment and this situation is only adding more fuel to the fire.

[Nieninque]

Disgust over Iraq torture photos

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3675723.stm




The paper claims British soldiers handed over the photos
Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram has said if pictures of British soldiers torturing an Iraqi prisoner are genuine then they are "appalling".
Military police had to be given time to investigate photos which appear to show a soldier using violence and urinating on a captive, he told the BBC.

"Such wrongdoing if proven besmirches the good name of the... armed forces. We will not tolerate that," he said.

The photographs in the Daily Mirror have also been condemned by Number 10.

Earlier pictures showing American troops humiliating Iraqi prisoners, with a hooded and naked prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his genitals, also generated outrage.

US President George W Bush vowed that those responsible would be "taken care of".

There is no place in our regiment for individuals capable of such appalling and sickening behaviour

Queen's Lancashire Regiment


Military shaken by torture probe
Arab media fury
Mr Ingram said there was no "culture of abuse" in the British Army despite the fact that five separate inquiries into maltreatment are under way.

He admitted: "If these allegations are true, they are appalling, they are despicable and there can be no justification for them at all."

And he said the Royal Military Police's "full intensity" inquiry would "not leave any stone unturned" in the investigation into the latest photos.

Those who are opposed to the coalition's occupation of Iraq would employ "full exploitation of these incidents", Mr Ingram said.

Unnamed captive

The Mirror says the pictures were handed over by British soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who claimed a rogue element in the British army was responsible for abusing prisoners and civilians.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the soldiers told the paper no charges were brought against the unnamed captive.

They allege that during his eight-hour ordeal he was threatened with execution, his jaw broken and his teeth smashed.


The images have already been seen in the Middle East
After being beaten and urinated on, he was driven away and dumped from the back of a moving vehicle, the soldiers claimed, unaware if he was dead.

The reason for making the photos public was, they said, to show why the US-UK coalition was encountering such fierce resistance in Iraq.

One told the paper: "We are not helping ourselves out there. We are never going to get them on our side. We are fighting a losing war."

Army spokesman Roger Goodwin, on behalf of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, said there was "clearly some form of link to the regiment".

"But the precise form of that link, including whether the soldiers involved in the alleged atrocities were members of the QLR, needs to be established.

He added: "There is no place in our regiment for individuals capable of such appalling and sickening behaviour.

"The sooner they are exposed and ejected from the regiment, the better."


The regimental secretary, retired Lt Col John Downham, said: " We are furious that these people, whoever they turn out to be, have already besmirched our hard-earned good name and let down the many hundreds of QLR soldiers whose outstandingly successful tour in Basra was recognised by no fewer than 21 honours and awards."


The British have previously enjoyed a relatively positive image
In a press conference, Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of General Staff, said: "If proven, the perpetrators are not fit to wear the Queen's uniform and they have besmirched the Army's good name and conduct."

Ahmed al-Sheik, editor-in-chief of Arab TV news channel, said the photographs would outrage Arabs around the world.

"These scenes are humiliating not only to the Iraqis, but to every Arab citizen around the world," he told BBC Two's Newsnight.

Meanwhile former foreign secretary Lord Hurd said the situation in Iraq was in danger of spiralling out of control.

"In Iraq we're in a nosedive. Things are happening which were entirely predictable and predicted.

"An army of liberation, particularly a British/American one, turns within hours into an army of occupation."

[Jazuela]

You do realize that the Daily Mirror is Great Britain's version of the National Enquirer don't you? You know the rag - the one that features front page news about how aliens impregnated a 60-year-old man who gave birth to a dog with a monkey's head? And the one that claims Michael Jackson is really Elvis Presley and Satan's love child?

[GSLeloo]

If you want legit stories from England I'm pretty sure BBC and the London Times are the best. Any englanders ~grins~ want to tell us the best ones?

Actually my friend and I had this question earlier, do the newspapers in England have a slant like ours do?

[TheEschaton]

Well, the story about the Americans torturing IRaqis are true, at the very least. They're all over the mainstream media. Hell, President Bush even addressed it yesterday.


-TheE-

[i remember halloween]

Actually my friend and I had this question earlier, do the newspapers in England have a slant like ours do?

what do you think?

[Tsa`ah]

I'm willing to lay down odds that these men are never charged with a war crime.

[Tendarian]

How about being charged with a crime? Any odds for that?

[GSLeloo]

Of course it is BUT someone said that BBC is without a political slant. I doubt it but obviously I don't really know either way, where does BBC lean towards?


Heh, right thread... shut up it's early in the morning.

[Edited on 5-1-2004 by GSLeloo]

[Tsa`ah]

Nope, this is a war crime and I'm pretty comfortable in saying these men will never be charged with a war crime.

I doubt they stand trial before the Iraqi people, I doubt the UN will be allowed to touch them, and I doubt they will receive a harsh sentence from their prospective branch of service.


PS .... Threads merged.

[GSLeloo]

~hisses at Tsa'ah~ I KNEW something wasn't the same! Tried to confuse me early in the morning....

[Tendarian]

Nope, this is a war crime and I'm pretty comfortable in saying these men will never be charged with a war crime.

I agree with you here. Its too bad really but americans dont like other countries "punishing" their people. Remember a bunch of years back some american was gonna get whipped with reeds or something for vandilism i think it was? Lots of hub bub about it at the time.


Of course it is BUT someone said that BBC is without a political slant. I doubt it but obviously I don't really know either way, where does BBC lean towards?

They lean left,you could say they are the liberal version of Fox News. Of course they are European so probably over there they are considered nuetral heh.

[Miss X]

I am totally disgusted by this, my respect for the US/UK Armed forces has reached an all time low, torture was one of the things they were trying to stop, by invading Iraq, its so sad to think some of those people are just as bad themselves. :(

To answer Leloo's question, yes in general the BBC are without political bias, occasionally a situation will arise where they are involved in a government related dispute but I tend to see them as politically neutral.

As for the daily mirror, its not too bad, the Sun and the Star are both much worse. Most of our papers align themselves with a politcal slant, its pretty obvious which ones favor left/right wing. I would never buy a copy of the Daily Mail because its disgustingly right wing and its readers generally are the same. The Guardian is pretty left wing, but its a broadsheet so its a hard read although it is one of my faves. I read the Express usually because its more left than right but not to extreme however if the Socialist Worker happens to be in my news agent, of course I buy it!

[Weedmage Princess]

Well...any American/British POWs can kiss their asses goodbye now, cause of these idiots.

[Nieninque]

Originally posted by Jazuela
You do realize that the Daily Mirror is Great Britain's version of the National Enquirer don't you? You know the rag - the one that features front page news about how aliens impregnated a 60-year-old man who gave birth to a dog with a monkey's head? And the one that claims Michael Jackson is really Elvis Presley and Satan's love child?

Actually you are thinking of the Sport...The Daily Mirror is a tabloid newspaper so like the sun, it is published with a reading age of about 12. However, the story has been widely publicised - by respected organisations like the BBC - and, while people are being cautious about saying this definitely happened, most people from the PM down are expressing disgust for something that is looking pretty true.