Aparently, you can’t even read the posts that you are quoting, or did you miss where I said, in the second post you quoted, “Not that they are pranks, or are in any way acceptable, they are uncatagoricly not, but I can see the soldiers involved thinking of them that way” Also, I did not “dismiss” the cites provided by wring, I discussed them thoroughly, and even agreed with them, in post #143.
What the fuck is wrong with all of you? I haven’t denied anything, I have roundly condemed the abuse that did happened, I have flatly stated that if more abuse is brought to light, I will condem that too, I have said that I expect the soldiers involved to be, and that they deserve to be, punished to the fullest extent of the law. The only thing I have refused to do is join an hysterical lynch mob over specific charges that haven’t been proven yet.( and still haven’t. I have seen nothing in this thread that takes the specific charges of rape, murder, etc… beyond the catagory of inuendo and rumor. If I missed a link, please repost it) They are allegations, and I will treat them as such until proof that there is substance behind them emerges, either people being charged with those crimes or more video and photo evidence being brought forth.
That, dude, was fucking WRONG. No, seriously. Not “wrong” in the “ha ha, you sick little monkey scamp” sense, but just WRONG. There really was no need for that. It would be like getting one of the bloodspurt frames from Berg’s murder and linking to it by saying “Weirddave, don’t lose your head over this.”
Even in the Arab world this event has captured disgust and sympathy. Apparently quite a bit of it. In other news, other races/natonalities/religious groups *[still/i] human, Pope is Catholic, bears shit in woods.
Perhaps we could move beyond a few statements like:
You know, for a member of a minority social group that just loves to flash the discrimination card at every possible opportunity, perhaps you should show just a touch more intelligence when saying that some group everywhere all thinks the same way and all wants the same thing. Lest we all start going around thinking that all gay people support the MBLA.
Depends if Zarqawi and Co. knew the kid was Jewish. It wasn’t mentioned in his death speech, so perhaps not. But um, you do know that Arabs, and especially Al Qaeda, hate Jews right? “And on that day, the rock and the tree will say, ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!’”
I’ll assume it had nothing to do with hi being Jewish until shown otherwise. If those nuts didn’t mention it in their little speech, I think that says a lot.
I believe, IIRC, that that particular quote has been proven on the SDMB not to be a part of the Qur’an, but from a hadith - a work purported to be by Muhammad but either fully disputed or later proven not to be. Other than that, I heartily concur with threemae’s concluding statement - tarring an entire section of the population with one brush isn’t any more justified coming from someone who’s been on the receiving end.
The brutal killing of an innocent man is used as a political move. How can anyone ever expect peace if there are people who dedicate their lives to killing those who have a different viewpoint?
Also, how is hating everyone in a region (or those of a particular faith, or those who practice a different brand of politics) going to solve any problems? Did we learn nothing in the 20th century, other than better methods of killing?
Why do we have to keep living the same old story?
Let’s move the violence to where it should be- in sports stadiums, under controlled conditions.
Disingenuous pigfuck – there is more than just allegations, innuendo and rumor, there is testimony. Testimony from witnesses. But I guess testimony is only acceptable if it’s used to condemn Arabs, seeing as how that’s all the more “evidence” you personally got to witness about pre-war Iraqi abuses. But dare we use the testimony of witnesses, like the victims themselves, the Red Cross, the military personnel who reported it and the Secretary of Defense who’s personally seen it take place on video to put forth a charge of abuse that exceeds “pranks” by your Good Old Boys and Girls, well, we’d better just wait for a full trial and conviction or we’re an hysterical lynch mob. Oh but wait, no one here has called for their heads, only pointed out the facts as presented in the news? That shouldn’t matter to you – just go right on denying and shrieking and packpeddaling – you make your point ever so much clearer as the vomit continues to spew.
Now, I’ll tell you how I interpreted what you posted in this thread. To my understanding, your original post that "What we’ve seen so far can be dismissed as “pranks” was a statement regarding the pictures actually released involving the posing of naked Iraqi prisoners, prisoners with hoods, etc. I did not believe that you were referring to threatening naked Iraqi prisoners with dogs, allowing the dogs to attack the prisoners, beating of prisoners, raping a female prisoner, and allowing child rape. I thought that because I refused to believe that you could possibly equate those actions with “pranks” on any level whatsoever. I could see maybe somebody thinking that taking pictures of naked, homophobic men in homosexual positions would be a prank. But trying to call the other allegations pranks would have been beyond belief, so I assumed you were not familiar with those allegations. So I figured you made your comment out of lack of knowledge.
That’s why I figured your next, somewhat snarky, comment about being provided proof and demanding a retraction, was also done out of lack of knowledge. I never thought you had known about these allegations before you posted those comments. I would be surprised, and a tad dismayed, that you had known about the allegations and still posted those comments. So, I guess I was wondering whether you did or did not know, and if you did, why did you post those comments? That’s what has confused me the most. I can understand if you didn’t know about the newest allegations, but if you did, I find the posts very troubling indeed.
And, as an aside, I know Shayna was rude, obnoxious, and insulting, but your reactions to her, and to wring went too far also. Just my 2 cents. Take it for whatever you wish.
Of course, it’s a hadith*, but you seem to have the wrong definition. From omarfoundation.org (a Muslim Web site):
Adn you and Thgreemae merely demonstrate your ignorance of MENA politics when you post drivel like this:
Antipathy toward Israel and Jews in general are an integral part of political discourse in the MENA region. That’s not smearing with Arabs with groupthink; that noticing the realities of the region’s cultural and political outlook.
And I’m not inclined to take advice from people so ignorant they don’t know the difference between homosexuality and pedophilia.
I do know the difference. That is why I said, “lest.” Respond if anything else is unclear for you.
It is high time that you realize the difference between, “Arabs everywhere,” and the ones who sever the heads of contractors that are in Iraq because they honestly believe that they can make a positive difference for the people of the country by brining technology, infrastructure, and advancement.
–Unrelated to gobear–
Anyone that says that the, “pranks” committed against the prisoners of Abu Gharib are deserved because they are terrorists, murders, rapists or looters (I mean really, why else should they be in prison without trial, representation, or contact with the outside world?) should consider the fact that Mr. Nick is dead because he was detained for 13 days in the country, including a period under Coalition control, simply because he didn’t have his paperwork in order at a checkpoint. This delay caused him to miss his March 30th flight from Iraq and was part of why he was captured on April 9th and beheaded later that month.
First of all, I can see how the word “pranks” may have thrown up a red herring, although I thought I was clear in saying that I did not consider them such-mearly that I could see how a prison guard might consider leading someone around on a leash a “prank”. This was in no whay excusing their actions, or equating the action with an actual “prank”, it was simply saying that I can see some idiot being baffled that he had actually abused someone; “What? I was just joking around”.
Now, as to the more serious( as if the first ones weren’t serious enough, oy vey! ) allegations: I repeat what I have said before. If, as Shayna said in her last screed, there is credible testemony from eyewitnesses to deeper abuses, (and maybe you have a link to a transcript of this testimony? Yes? No? Something other than hearsay “Well, someone else said XXX”)I would expect charges to be brought. The same for photos and videotapes. That’s all that I stated for my standard of proof. ANYTIME there is a high profile case like this one, accusations, alligations and rumor fly around like ticker tape. It’s really easy to get outraged and slip your brain into neutral while you foam at the mouth, I prefer not to do so simply at the mention of something outrageous, otherwise all that results is a giant game of he said/she said-he said she said while she said he said, etc…
From the New Yorker article you cited, this is probobly the most damning paragraph, and the actions described by it are unmitigatedly vile:
These are allegations. If they are true, hell, I would be all for executing the people responsible(after they have been found guilty at a fair trial, of course) for these atrocities, I believe that there are still provisions for firing squad in the UCMJ(I may be wrong there, IANAL). I am not going to jump to condem these men and women just because NBC news reports that someone in the military says they did something vile, however.
Even if it were, and I still don’t believe it is, that’s no reason to attribute anti-Semitism to every action taken by Arabs.
Right, which would explain why I’m knee-deep in helping to build a fucking activist group that wants to really fight for gay marriage in the district. Because I want to give pedophiles the right to marry the toddlers of their choice. :rolleyes: Grow the fuck up.
He gets major points for entrepreneuship, but minus several million points for lacking common sense. What kind of fool travels in a war zone with no security or external support?
I’m horrified at his beheading, but, really, he had no business being there.
I wager that Arab approval support for Al Qaeda’s murder of the unfortunate Mr. Berg is significantly higher than otherwise. I hope I’m wrong, but no man ever lost money by betting on the darker side of human nature. I’m not picking on Arabs in particular–we all have the disease–it’s just that they are the subgroup I’m discussing right now.
You people are such optimistic fools not to realize that hate is by far the strongest motivating force in human affairs.