05-04-2004, 12:02 PM | #81 (permalink) | |
Junk
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Maybe it is time to put the Arabs at the top of the food chain. They have lots of oil that we need. American companies could get billions upon billions in contracts modernizing and developing Arab countries.Seems to me the Arabs have alot more to offer than the Israeli's do.But could we ever get over the incessant whining and complaining of the Israeli's in their never ending desire to monopolize victimhood? Or by that point would we even give a shit.
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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. |
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05-04-2004, 01:47 PM | #82 (permalink) |
Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate
Location: Los Angeles
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Yep going to school....
Tough rhetoric but no action has taught a lot to people in the world. And why do we support Israel and not the Arabs? I'll never understand why we must make everything ideological. Ideological strategy in foreign policy? No thanks. The Arabs have the thing we want, strategic interests, and as thus our policy of pissing them off is against our strategic interests. Thats how i see it - Israel matters little and should never have been supported in the way it has and is. |
05-06-2004, 04:15 AM | #84 (permalink) | |
This vexes me. I am terribly vexed.
Location: Grantville, Pa
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I think everyone here has done a pretty good job of denouncing what happened. So I want to
bring our attention to this Prick: Limbaugh Quote:
Calling it a frat prank, or no worse than a Britney Concert (said in an earlier episode) I wonder how he would like getting phosphoric acid from a chemical light poured on him, or get bit by a dog, raped, or sodomized with a broomhandle or chemical light. After saying something like that, can any of you still support him? Last edited by Superbelt; 05-06-2004 at 04:18 AM.. |
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05-06-2004, 09:50 AM | #85 (permalink) | |
Junk
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But I must say, and I'm sure someone will take issue with this, Rush does have a point however ignorant it is. Military personel (and not just Americans) have taken part in hazing type rituals as an initiation of acceptance by their peers for ages. Happens in sports also. Obviously these adolescent engagements still surface regardless of the severity concerning the situation, case in point. The people who were involved in these actions probably had performed some type of stunts before, in whatever context, and instead of being chastised, were probably cheered on, not only by their peers but also by those in positions of authority. Or for those in a position of authority, maybe a wink,wink, nudge, nudge turn the other cheek attitude prevailed,..you know,..it's just kid's blowing off steam, no harm, no foul. George Bush said the actions of these few involved were "un-American." Interesting choice of words considering many feel his actions regarding his war in Iraq is as equally un-American. I have to wonder when thinking of these soldiers and of George Bush, how far the apple falls from the tree. EDIT; as of 2:30 p.m. today as stated on CNN, George Bush apparently knew nothing of the incidents at the Bagdad jail. According to Bush, Rumsfeld didn't tell him and will not accept Rummy's resignation nor will he fire him.
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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. Last edited by OFKU0; 05-06-2004 at 10:46 AM.. |
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05-06-2004, 10:47 AM | #86 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: South Carolina
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wow, emotional release...
wow rush is on something to be able to honestly believe that, or even conceive it. I can see the t-shirts now: I tortured prisoners for emotional release.... plain and simple, enemy or not, you don't treat people like that and i actaully applaud bush for calling the actions un-american. then again, like ofkuo said, a lot of others feel his actions are just as un-american..
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Live. Chris |
05-06-2004, 11:23 AM | #87 (permalink) |
42, baby!
Location: The Netherlands
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Actually, without proper guidance, prisoner-guard relations can quickly turn into an us vs. them situation, which may result in the actions we saw photographed. I think the US military should have foreseen such abuses, given the large volumes of psychological research that has shown the likelihood of abuse in these instances. Furthermore, I think they should have taken steps to prevent it.
I don't think it's fair to turn the soldiers that did this into inhuman villains, as if we're somehow better than them. Research has shown that we are not. (FYI, a study into prisoner-guard behavior was conducted by a US university; a group of normal, regular-joe students was divided into two groups: guards and prisoners, and they would have to play the part for a week or so. The experiment was halted after 3 days, because the "guards" became too abusive...) Anyway, these were young soldiers, just barely adult. They weren't actively being watched by their commanding officers, and there probably was a lot of peer pressure involved. One way the soldiers might have "justified" their actions: They were in a war zone for months, in fact longer than they had hoped for. These Iraqi insurgents were largely to blame for them *still* being there; they were also to blame for the deaths of their fellow soldiers. If it wasn't for those bastards, the soldiers could have been home already... One can see how such a mind-set, combined with the aforementioned prisoner-guard abusiveness, combined with lack of supervision, combined with peer pressure, combined with sheer stress, can lead to extremes. Calling those extremes "un-American" is pretty silly, seeing that those extremes are just plain human - we are not a nice species to begin with. (Note: I'm not trying to excuse, just trying to understand.) |
05-06-2004, 11:32 AM | #88 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: NJ
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Quote:
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Strive to be more curious than ignorant. |
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05-06-2004, 11:57 AM | #89 (permalink) | |
undead
Location: Duisburg, Germany
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Quote:
It was halted after 6 day (two weeks were planned) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Prison_Experiment
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"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death — Albert Einstein |
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05-06-2004, 12:01 PM | #90 (permalink) | |
undead
Location: Duisburg, Germany
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Quote:
__________________
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death — Albert Einstein |
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05-06-2004, 02:19 PM | #92 (permalink) | ||
Sir, I have a plan...
Location: 38S NC20943324
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Quote:
Quote:
Heads should roll, starting with the CO and the entire chain of command of the prison.
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Fortunato became immured to the sound of the trowel after a while.
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05-06-2004, 03:17 PM | #94 (permalink) |
Sir, I have a plan...
Location: 38S NC20943324
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I loathe Donald Rumsfeld, but I actually think he did the right thing in keeping this hush-hush. The potential fallout from this story is the death of American servicemen, so I think it would have been better handled internaly, as was happening prior to the break of the story (though not neccesarily to the satisfaction of the public).
I am not saying that the above reason even entered into his head, but a careful management of this story could have saved lives...
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Fortunato became immured to the sound of the trowel after a while.
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05-06-2004, 03:31 PM | #95 (permalink) |
This vexes me. I am terribly vexed.
Location: Grantville, Pa
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No, not in trouble for keeping this hush hush.
In trouble for knowing about the abuses and torture in the prison for several months. Reading the army reports on what was going on, and doing nothing about it. |
05-06-2004, 04:01 PM | #96 (permalink) | |
Junk
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I didn't make an excuse, I made a point. But now I am confused Originally posted by debaser [/i] [B]I loathe Donald Rumsfeld, but I actually think he did the right thing in keeping this hush-hush.
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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. Last edited by OFKU0; 05-06-2004 at 04:08 PM.. |
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05-06-2004, 04:54 PM | #97 (permalink) |
Sir, I have a plan...
Location: 38S NC20943324
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What I meant with the Rumsfeld comment is that, IMHO, the good of keeping it quiet (protecting our troops from potential reprisals) outweighs the good of being open with the information...
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Fortunato became immured to the sound of the trowel after a while.
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05-06-2004, 05:37 PM | #98 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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I don't see a lot of discipline happening here. The armed forces can talk all they want, but unless commanders are being removed from command, I don't think the rank and file will get the message that the armed forces disapproves of their actions. |
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05-06-2004, 07:38 PM | #99 (permalink) | |
Junk
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Now the reprisals which may take place will be 10 times worse than if confronted immediately. At this level, I would expect a more logical line of thought.
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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. |
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05-06-2004, 08:18 PM | #100 (permalink) |
Cracking the Whip
Location: Sexymama's arms...
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Amazing...
The same thread in "Politics" is going better (read "more polite") than the thread in "General" (which I had to lock). WTG "Politics"!
__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate! |
05-06-2004, 10:39 PM | #102 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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Found the *very* interesting thread on that missile accident. Whether you're interested in this thread or not, the story is a really good read.
http://jaghunters.blogspot.com/2004_...s_archive.html Quote:
What signal will Bush send about the torture? Interestingly, I saw on Drudge that the woman pictured in two of the pics (including the most recent one where she has a prisoner on a leash) hasn't been charged with anything yet. |
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05-06-2004, 10:48 PM | #103 (permalink) | |
Cracking the Whip
Location: Sexymama's arms...
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Quote:
But she might have a future as a Dom in an SM club...
__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate! |
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05-07-2004, 09:39 AM | #104 (permalink) |
follower of the child's crusade?
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One question... is anyone surprised?
Of course, we had to get rid of Saddam, he committed terrible acts of torture against his own people, the Iraqi people must be glad that now they can be tortured by Western Christian's rather than Ba'arth loyalists and the Iraqi secret police... Let us say once and for all, this has not been, never, a moral war.
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas |
05-07-2004, 09:53 AM | #105 (permalink) |
Patron
Administrator
Location: Tôkyô, Japan
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Oh well, this is getting even worse. It's now public that this wasn't isolated incident:
U.S. Abuses in Iraq `Not Isolated,' Red Cross Says Seems that there is actually a rotten apple(s) in almost every basket...
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br, Sty I route, therefore you exist |
05-07-2004, 10:02 AM | #106 (permalink) | |
Banned
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Superbelt, don't you have anything better to do with your time than use this event to promote your undying hatred for Limbaugh. Absolutely I still support him. I didn't even get to the part in your link where that quote is, but here's the point he was trying to make, from your same link:
Quote:
Now you may disagree and even go so far as to take offense at the above quote, but i don't. So yeah - I support Limbaugh. Last edited by matthew330; 05-07-2004 at 10:36 AM.. |
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05-07-2004, 10:58 AM | #107 (permalink) | |
Cracking the Whip
Location: Sexymama's arms...
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Quote:
__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate! |
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05-07-2004, 03:07 PM | #108 (permalink) |
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Matthew,
I listen to Limbaugh and I'll be honest I am a lefty, liberal but I do agree with him at times. What he has to say about this though is shock for shock value. He knows it'll get into the press and raise his ratings. Does he believe it? No, I'd say he probably doesn't believe it. Limbaugh has a job to do, that is deflect as much as he can the wrongs of the GOP while maintaining a hatred and constant pointing out of the Dem's wrongs. I can guarantee he would be at the top of the list crying for Clinton's head if this torture had been during Clinton's years. Limbaugh no matter how hard he tries to make it look like he is, is not a good political resource. He is entertainment, same as a circus clown or Stern or Barbra Streisand. I have never heard anyone from another country say, (after seeing one of our men dragged through a street or any of Limbaugh's examples) "Yeah the US deserved that". And trust me I know some very very anti war people, but to them torture is torture whether it is Iraqis torturing us or we them. Of course if Limbaugh is so very patriotic where was he during Vietnam, why did he not serve if he is this expert on the military he acts to be? I guess I just took a very long way of saying this................. Limbaugh is entertainment that is all, what he says is neither right nor wrong, good nor bad , it is what it is and it's just entertainment, pure and simple.
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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
05-07-2004, 05:48 PM | #109 (permalink) | |
Junk
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Sorry. Couldn't resist. I'm going to General now for punishment.
__________________
" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard. |
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05-07-2004, 09:24 PM | #110 (permalink) | ||
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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I'll wait for a retraction from either of you. I think in Rush's case I will be waiting a long while. |
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05-07-2004, 11:05 PM | #111 (permalink) | |
Banned
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Like- ever. I'm at a loss to respond appropriately. |
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05-08-2004, 01:16 AM | #112 (permalink) | |
follower of the child's crusade?
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Quote:
Do you deny that these acts of torture took place? How do you imagine they make Iraqi people feel about America and Britain?
__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas |
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05-08-2004, 05:07 AM | #113 (permalink) | |
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Quote:
I laughed I cried I was deeply touched. Very funny site.
__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
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05-08-2004, 08:19 AM | #114 (permalink) | |
Banned
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Quote:
a. A more appropriate subject matter and b. a time when your not so dead fucking wrong. I hadn't heard about those events that took place, and they are outrageous and nothing short of criminal. If that is accurate, everyone involved should be punished, and i'm confident they will be. The first pictures that came out were sickening, and I think we all expect more from our soldiers over there, but at worst they were mental torture, at best humiliating. Go back and reread my post, and rush's quote, and then come back and accuse me of defending the raping of boys. He was referring to those initial pictures, and he was not at all defending them, he was putting them into perspective, which by the way wouldn't even be necessary if it weren't for certain peoples (^^^) almost sadistic glee exploiting this news. I'll be waiting for a retraction and an apology would be a pleasant surprise. |
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05-08-2004, 08:48 AM | #115 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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Quote:
I just checked his web site. Nothing yet. You would think with all the updated news about abuse and torture he would have amended his prior statements. But no, he's busy bragging about how news shows are labeling him the "voice of the conservatives." |
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05-08-2004, 08:48 AM | #116 (permalink) |
Banned
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Pan, sorry i missed your post - that was an absolutely fair assessment. I just can't sit back and let someone make that outragseous claim that Limbaugh sees "torture" in it's tradiational sense as emotional release tantamount to frat hazing. And I think it was done deliberately.
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05-08-2004, 09:21 AM | #118 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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Given the serious nature of the new allegations, I am anxiously awaiting Rush to say anything approaching retraction of his "hazing" comments. Still waiting. |
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05-08-2004, 02:47 PM | #120 (permalink) |
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Harmless, Matthew kindly stop. This was a good thread that is fast going downhill.
Harmless, I like ytou man, I even agree with you sometimes but, man, it's fricking Limbaugh. Who the freak cares? The right wingers that listen and believe him? The Lefties that are wanting to crucify him and nit pick everything? Dude he's a political Stern. All he's doing is trying to get publicity for his show and get us lefties worked up so that we look like fools. I would worry more if Bush or one of his men said it. Matthew, you seem to be a good guy. Why defend Rush? It doesn't matter what you say those who dislike the man are going to twist everything he does. The same way people twist Stern. All I can do is ask that the personal attacks stop. You 2 are passionate guys and name calling and getting riled up solves nothing. Go to Humor talk about a faux paux you have seen from an elected official that made you laugh. release some of that tension..... It's summer hell go golfing
__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
Tags |
american, iraqis’, soldiers, torturing |
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