Iraqi PoWs being abused

[slimjim]

What the hell is going on? Do Americans ever stop to think why they are hated by so many people? I know it was a tiny minority of their soldiers (and most of them are doing a tough job in very dangerous conditions that I respect them for) but in these situations they should have watertight controls over anything like this happening. Frankly, could you ever imagine a british soldier being caught like this? What makes these soldiers any different from Saddam (torturing people)? How do we explain to some impressionable Palestinian youth that the West believes in equality for Muslims? It makes me so angry.

[andy hughes]

There is no 'water tight' method of controlling abuse of prisoners - its is simply one more aspect of the horror of war. Soliders living on adrenaline and fear for extended periods can behave appalingly towards a tangible representation of 'the enemy' hence the huge numbers or rapes and mutilations that are carried out by invading armies. It is a psychological method of proving the individual's 'superiority' towards the oppressed, that in no way condones this behaviour, merely tries to explain it. The American army's official response is that the images are, quote 'embarassing'. That's an interesting description, I can think of a few others.

[thekraut]

Right, but it doesn't even have to be the superiority thing you were mentioning. might be only: what would you do, if you had the guys who tried to shoot you half an hour ago locked up in your basement.I think the answer to this only depends on what kind of person you are. The problem is that it's difficult to find out in advance what kind of person you are. And if you send 150 000 people somewhere you sure as hell get some who wouldn't give him a cup of tea.

[Greedyfly]

I don't think it just because they are americans that made them do this horrible crime - They could have been british, iraqi, french blah blah .... The fact is that another human being has the ability to do such demeaning things to another and find it amusing that bothers me.

[apricot]

I found it interesting that your question included the phrase 'british soldier being caught like this?' Does that mean that you can imagine british soldiers perptrating such atrocities but not getting caught? I think it naive to think that british soldiers would never behave badly.

[slimjim]

Yes, I'm afraid I have to retract some of what I said. It would appear from this morning's news that some british soldiers may have been up to something similar. As an ex-serviceman myself, I find this very hard to stomach. We were always trained to do a job with the utmost professionalism at all times (on or off duty). My original point still holds. How are we ever going to bring peace when arabs know that deep down many westerners are just as warped as their bad apples?

[Gerry Baby]

OOOOOppppppppps so we have pictures today of Brits urinating on an Iraqi prisoner. Who remembers the outcry during the Falklands war when it was noted that Brit Soldiers kept a "book" on how many Argentinian ears they collected from the dead bodies. I agree wth andy hughes that this is part of the psychological method used by armies to ensure the soldiers are up for the combat, however in there lies the great enigma about human behaviour, individuals do act against the majority and refuse to join in, suppose that is why these stories get back to the public in the first place. Not excusing the behaviour one bit, but what about useage of drugs in warfare,amphetamine etc.......also had to laugh at Bush yesterday, trying his best to condemm the US soldiers behaviour, think he said "this is not the American way" has he never heard of Mi Lie (prob wrong spelling) in Vietnam, to name buta few american atrocities in the 20th cent..........

[Janetex]

Simply a predictable aspect of war. I cannot understand your surprise.

[Tat]

i'm with you Janetex. not suprised at all.

[nedflanders]

I think mr bush actually said he was "disgusted" and the commander in charge of the prison said it was "a despicable act". P.S. If the photos of the brit soldiers are fake the editor the newspaper responsible should be jailed.

[WaldoMcFroog]

NedFlanders said: "If the photos of the brit soldiers are fake the editor the newspaper responsible should be jailed."

Preseumably you mean in the event that it's actually proved that the editor knew they were faked? If he published them in good faith, I can hardly see there's a case - any newspaper worth its salt would print them, assuming they believed them to be real. I'm no fan of Piers Morgan, by the way (the Mirror shares debacle was worthy of a sacking, in my opinion), but even he has the right to have one put over on him without becoming an responsible?

[nedflanders]

Sorry for being vague but I WAS stating this on the assumtion that they had been faked BY said publication in order to create a storm and sell more newspapers. I am not naive enough to think that this doesn't happen or much worse than this but if the pictures are proven to be fake and they were printed without the proper checks being carried out to see if they were genuine then someone has to pay. This will only breed more hatred of our country and could end up with brittish soldiers and civillians being targeted/killed.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Ned: In which case, I wholeheartedly agree.