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2004-05-06 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by Steven Zak 2004-05-06 12:41:47 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 There's a lieutenant and some sergeants who weren't doing their jobs keeping control of their troops, maybe at the highest level a captain and a first sergeant who wasn't paying attention. And because of that, the entire Army's damaged.

Two things:

1.) All troops sent to Iraq must have gone through orientation of some sort that made explicit mention of how their actions would be under intense global, and especially Arab, scrutiny. This sort of misconduct was more than likely in flagrant opposition to direct orders.

2.) A report mentioned how one of the accused wrongdoers is a "wheeled vehicle specialist." With the vast amount of money being spent on this conflict, I do not care if it cost us TRIPLE, but trained MPs should have been imported regardless of expense.

What appears to have happened is essentially treason against America's stated aims in Iraq. If there is proof of willful abuse on the part of our troops, those found guilty should be busted back to Private, thrown in the stockade, sentenced to hard labor and dishonorably discharged upon release. Nothing else will suffice. The damage done by this is incalculable.

Posted by Zenster 2004-05-06 1:48:11 PM|| 2004-05-06 1:48:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Should have seen the crap on '~~Good Morning~~We Hate America' this morning.

Posted by CrazyFool 2004-05-06 1:51:45 PM|| 2004-05-06 1:51:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 I concur with Zak's article: the hysterical hand-wringing over this matter has gone beyond absurd, in my opinion.

Posted by Dave D. 2004-05-06 2:13:28 PM|| 2004-05-06 2:13:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 What we have to realize is that this incident has drawn so much attention because it offers an excuse for airing the truly satanic view the left and the Arabs have of the US. But it's an excuse, no more; without this one they've fabricated other excuses in the past and will more in the future. Those open to reason aren't buying the hysteria, and for them we needn't buy in either.

What we do have to do is undermine the insane satanic fantasy of the US. That means going through procedures, giving the soldiers the proper punishment for their screw-up, etc., as Bush has made quite clear he'll do. It does not mean hand-wringing, the rhetorical excess Zak decries above, calling for a Pentagon purge, or any other sort of pandering to anti-Americanism. We have to make clear not that we respect the irrational outpourings of the Arab world -- something that would only strengthen the grip nonsense has on them, if only for its evident efficacy -- but, on the contrary, that these have simply nothing to do with our reality, where justice punishes the guards not as appeasement, atonement, or cover-up, but because our system recognizes the legitimate claims against them, and only to that extent.

Posted by someone 2004-05-06 2:23:04 PM|| 2004-05-06 2:23:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 someone, Thanks a million for that link to Omar at Iraq the Model!
That was the most awesome thing I've read in days.

Posted by Jen 2004-05-06 2:57:53 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com] 2004-05-06 2:57:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 What appears to have happened is essentially treason against America's stated aims in Iraq. If there is proof of willful abuse on the part of our troops, those found guilty should be busted back to Private, thrown in the stockade, sentenced to hard labor and dishonorably discharged upon release. Nothing else will suffice.

BS posturing, Zenster.

The core of our judicial system, military or civilian, is fairness. What will SUFFICE and is NECESSARY is for a careful investigation, to be followed by PROPORTIONATE punishment.

I'll be damned if I'll let poseurs turn this into a witchhunt.

Posted by Thinking this through amid uniformed troops all around me 2004-05-06 4:28:45 PM|| 2004-05-06 4:28:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A bipartisan group of senators is urging the Pentagon to demolish the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in order to exorcise a symbol of both Saddam Hussein's torture chambers and an embarrassing episode for the U.S. military.

Couldn't hurt.

Posted by Atropanthe 2004-05-06 4:53:45 PM|| 2004-05-06 4:53:45 PM|| Front Page Top