Abu Gharib - is it possible that lil' Lynddie and her buds did their deeds

[Deja Q]

in a deliberate attempt to make America look bad? Rather than instead of, or (worse) in addition to, getting their rocks off by being vile toward the prisoners?

Just a thought...

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

1. or how about they were just drunk with power

and no one said stop or no?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. no, i doubt it

its easy to defile peopel if you dont think of them as human...

[DrWeird]

3. All an anti-American conspiracy?

Nope.

[On the Road]

4. That's a Possible Motive for Some People

but none of the information I've seen suggests that any of the people charged with abuse had those motives.

[Deja Q]

9. I hadn't read any background info on them, but I did find it very odd that

they would be charged with "conspiracy". And the only way "conspiracy" could even begin to be substantiated is if they intented to be such slimebags in an attempt to discredit the US government on a grand scale.

[prairierose]

16. No the conspiracy was actually on the part of....

their bosses. The secdef and his bosses rove,cheney & *. The soldiers were just dumb schmucks who followed orders (or "suggestions") & are taking the heat when it came to light. The rest of them scuttled back under their rocks when the light shone on them.

[neweurope]

5. I really want to make friends here and no enemies.

But everybody over here I ever spoke to of this matter only replied: "Well - we know how they are"

[leftchick]

6. it is not just Abu Ghraib... It Happened ALL over Iraq....

I just feel there are some VERY fucked up people in the military and I am sure it is by design...

another link: http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=20D43324-...

<snip>

Washington — Marines operating in Iraq over the last two years committed a variety of abuses against Iraqi prisoners, including burning a detainee's hands by igniting alcohol-based cleanser in August 2003, according to internal Defense Department documents released Tuesday.

Several other incidents, most of them previously undisclosed, are described in investigative reports and legal summaries. In Karbala in May 2003, one Marine held a 9 mm pistol to the back of a bound detainee's head while another took a photograph. Two months later, in Adiwaniyah, four Marines ordered teenage Iraqi looters to kneel alongside holes and then fired a pistol “to conduct a mock execution.”

In April of this year, shortly before the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal shook the U.S. military, three Marines in al Mahmudiya shocked a detainee with an electric transformer, forcing him to “dance” as the electricity hit him, according to a witness, one document states. The Washington Post reported that incident in June, after two of the Marines pleaded guilty in the case.

<snip>
The August 2003 burning incident, which occurred at Camp Dogwood, near al Iskandariyah, blistered the Iraqi detainee's hands and resulted in a special court martial in which a Marine was found guilty of assault, confined for 90 days and demoted. Other incidents resulted in similar punishments.

[Zan_of_Texas]

7. Not lil Lyndie -- Rumsfeld and President's legal adviser

Let's be very clear.

This stuff was going on in Guantanamo. It went on at Abu Ghraib. There are ghost prisoners (ones being hidden from the Red Cross and other neutral observers) and no one knows WTF is being done to them -- some apparently are purposely sent to other countries who specialize in torturing them.

It wasn't 7 bad apples at low levels doing the stuff. Ok? Got that?

The press and military specialize in making stuff like this have a woman's face, too, to try to soften criticism.

Rumsfeld and Bush have violated the Geneva conventions.

[Deja Q]

10. I appreciate EVERYONE'S responses, BTW...

I lacked information and had a question half-based on ignorance.

[Robeson]

13. You're exactly right, and this goes way up the ladder...

...and military personnel are trained - or dare I say "brainwashed" - to follow orders and follow the chain of command. The torture was being encouraged by those above them. And as you stated, other "suspects" are sent to other countries so that they can be tortured without the U.S. suffering recrimination. Now, if thats not a government condoned policy, I'd like to know what is.

This government has leaders who could be tried as war criminals. The only reason they are not, is because they have thousands of nuclear warheads at their disposal.

[Solly Mack]

8. No.

They are sick fucks and they are war criminals.

They aren't the only war criminals...but they are still war criminals.

[mogster]

11. Very good point!

I've always wondered.
The Abu Ghraib pictures isn't explained yet, by far. Just as anything else the Bush-administration has done.

Why the insane smiling?

[Deja Q]

14. Well, it's likely that the other DUers are right, but I didn't recall

anyone asking that particular question. And I felt it should be addressed as it is a theoretical possibility. (Even if we knew their backgrounds, there comes a point where their past does not necessarily equate with their present.)

The insane smiling? That pic isn't me, but if you looked up www.blakes7.com and found out more about the character of Avon... :-)

[mogster]

15. AW, I'm sorry, HypnoToad!

I meant the insane smiling on the Abu Ghraib pictures - not your avatar :-)

Isn't it really strange? The smiling and almost joyful expressions are what makes them so horrible, and it doesn't add up to the full picture.

Anyone knows anything about them and how they were taken?

[tx_dem41]

12. Ummm....no...that would take intelligence...or at least cognitive skills.

[haifagirl1]

17. gros

I hope she goes to jail for a long time!!!!!!

[neweurope]

18. Well yes - yes and no...

If nobody explains to her the concept of human rights and human dignity - then what will be gained....

In Germany we have the saying "The small ones get hanged, the big ones are being let go" ("are being let go"? I think the grammar police is going to get me) - aren't called to account.

The war criminals are sitting at the very top. Among the people who find the Geneva Convention "quaint".

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BUSH TO THE HAGUE