ABU GHRAIB PART II

[TheDaliLama]

People who hunt deer kill them because they "hate" them right COG?

[JD Barleycorn]

Yeah, you're right. They're trained to hate the enemy.

[Laz]

Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

Yeah, you're right. They're trained to hate the enemy.

This is the common occurance that gets ignored. Our military personal are good people that want to help others. Portraying them as anything else over infrequent things that are not that big a deal is offensive to anyone that knows and respects what they do and risk.

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by Laz

This is the common occurance that gets ignored. Our military personal are good people that want to help others. Portraying them as anything else over infrequent things that are not that big a deal is offensive to anyone that knows and respects what they do and risk.

+1

[Jackie S]

This shows a distinct lack of training on behalf of our Troops.

You don't piss on a dead Muslim, you pour bacon grease on his corpse.

[CuteOldGuy]

I think overall that our military includes some of the finest men and women in our society. I just think that when atrocities occur, such as this one, Abu Ghraib, My Lai, etc., we ought to show at least a little deference to them considering what we ask them to endure. Yes, these people need to be reprimanded, maybe even court-martialed, but that does not negate their underlying humanity. We ask them to do horrible things, it is only natural that some of them will react in a horrible manner.

There are many, who after having to increase their capacity to hate in order to participate in war, compensate by increasing their capacity to love, as is evidenced by the terrific pictures posted here. Would that they all could react that way. And while we honor every soldier, the ones who can exhibit love in an atmosphere of intense hate are deserving of extra honor and respect. May they all come home soon to a country that loves them.

[CuteOldGuy]

Allen West makes a good point. Kinda my same point, only he says much better and more succinctly.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ll_616699.html

[Laz]

Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

I think overall that our military includes some of the finest men and women in our society. I just think that when atrocities occur, such as this one, Abu Ghraib, My Lai, etc.,

Equating Abu Ghraib or pissing on dead people to My Lai where civilians were murdered is an atrocity. People are blowing things way out of proportion here. Pissing on the bodies was a bad decision and disrespectful but it was NOT an atrocity. Strapping a bomb to people and sending them into a group of civilians to kill as many people as possible is an atrocity.

[TexTushHog]

COG, the experience of American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War belies your point. There were few atrocities in that conflict and the soldiers fighting treated each other with respect to the degree possible given the circumstances.

Likewise, in both World Wars, there are only a small handful of examples of the U.S. or other allied soldiers committing atrocities or (to my knowledge) desecrating corpses. Prisoners taken by allied soldiers were overwhelmingly well treated and not dehumanized. Had they been, we would have no right to be outraged at the shameful treatment of our prisoners at the hands of the Japanese in situations such as the Bataan death march.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Allen West makes a good point. Kinda my same point, only he says much better and more succinctly.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ll_616699.html

looks like you beat me to posting Mr. West comments. was gonna post that.

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

COG, the experience of American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War belies your point. There were few atrocities in that conflict and the soldiers fighting treated each other with respect to the degree possible given the circumstances.

For the most part, you are correct.

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Likewise, in both World Wars, there are only a small handful of examples of the U.S. or other allied soldiers committing atrocities or (to my knowledge) desecrating corpses. Prisoners taken by allied soldiers were overwhelmingly well treated and not dehumanized.

If you include the U.S.S.R, this is not true. The war on the Eastern Front was vicious, but the Soviets were no worse than the Nazis. The real, unprovoked crimes by the Soviets were perpetrated against the Poles.

Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Had they been, we would have no right to be outraged at the shameful treatment of our prisoners at the hands of the Japanese in situations such as the Bataan death march.

Marines notoriously did not take Japanese as POWs. Read Eugene Sledge's book, "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa."

[CuteOldGuy]

Yeah, the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggression was different. Brothers against brothers. We all looked the same, and spoke the same. That must have been a godawful war, not that any of them are good, but that one must have been particularly horrible.

[JD Barleycorn]

Most of the Japanese soldiers didn't want to be taken prisoner. So what is a marine to do. Good book by the way. I would also check out "Letters from Iwo Jima" with an open mind.