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May 13, 2004
What Were They Thinking?
Brian wrote a great post yesterday about america's misguided priorities when it comes sex and violence in the media. one of my favorite quotes from him: The number one movie so far this year is a two hour murder scene. The number one scandal this year was a one second shot of a nipple on prime time TV. What the hell is wrong with people? go read it if you've got a minute.
he hits on an interesting point though. a crime doesn't seem quite as bad to the american people and the media if there aren't any pictures to back it up. the Red Cross reported four months ago on the atrocities being committed in Iraqi prisons, but it wasn't until pictures of naked inmates being forced into humiliating acts while their american guards stood around smiling hit the airwaves that we took notice.
now this may sound a little odd and don't get me wrong here -- the Iraqi prison debacle we're seeing on the news each night is horrible. the way these people were (are) being treated is a travesty of basic human rights. but every time i hear about yet another batch of pictures surfacing showing american G.I.'s abusing prisoners i can't help but think, what the F%$@ were they doing taking pictures?!
i would think that rule number one when committing a crime or heinous act (not that i'd know anything about that) would be that you leave no evidence behind. seriously -- what were these guards planning on doing with the pictures? were they gonna take them home to show their friends? hey Bob, check out this picture of me giving a thumbs-up in front of a guy in handcuffs! look -- his wee-wee's hanging out! ain't it hilarious?!
uhh, no. no it isn't.
Posted by P at May 13, 2004 05:57 AM
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Comments
Yeah dude! I thought the same thing. Why the hell would you take pictures? Thats like a shoplifter waving to the camera or something ... jeesh!
Dew
Posted by: dewnut at May 13, 2004 06:30 AM
Honestly I'm not convinced that the people thought that what they were doing was actually wrong (and yes that's terrifying) nor did they think that they would be prosecuted for it even if it perhaps WAS wrong (again, terrifying). I do believe that there was probably a LOT of upper eschelon "turning a blind eye" for reasons that I can't even begin to imagine but are most likely political. I read an article that compare the photos and the American soldiers in them to photos of lynchings, where people were often seen laughing and partying while killing a black person. The obscenity of that is almost incomprehensable.
Posted by: Miss Bliss at May 13, 2004 10:56 AM
I don't understand the photos either. How stupid! There is another question in my mind on this issue.
Each year the military requires all personnel to take training in the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC). Essentially it defines Geneva Convention rules, defines who is a combatant and under what circumstances civilians are considered combatants, acceptable treatment of prisoners, etc. If you have ever taken this training (and I have had it a bunch of times) then it is very obvious that the treatment of these prisoners is a violation of what the military demands of its members.
The military members involved should be subject to punishment under the UCMJ (which is a lot tougher than civilian criminal law). What I find interesting is that a lot of the abusers in these pictures might not be in the military (you can tell by the uniforms, lack of identified units, their weight, etc.). Who the heck are they? Some of them are obviously Middle Eastern (possibly hired "contractors" ?). I have heard no one comment on this. The media and government have to be aware of it. I get the feeling that, unfortunately, we are getting the smoke and mirrors treatment from the government and the media.
I don't even want to think about the things that probably go on in the prisons that we have happily built all across California!
Posted by: Erik at May 14, 2004 09:12 AM