It wasn’t meant too…it was meant to show that such things are still going on in Iraq by the Iraqi’s. If you wish a cite for ‘rape, sodomy or murder’ in Abu Ghraib I can probably dig on us. I remember several talking about things done by the Iraqi guards in the prison which the US soldiers kind of looked the other way.
-XT
It seems there are accusations out there in the ether of sodomy and rape ( I still haven’t seen anything about murder), so to speak, but I couldn’t find anything concrete at either Amensty International or on Wikipedia. Maybe better wording might be “Abu Ghraib (a human rights nightmare of torture, including allegations by some of rape and sodomy)”.
Some of the pictures had the inmates pose to simulate sodomy. I suppose anyone who died there could be said to have been “murdered”. I’m not aware of any rapes, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there were allegations.
I’ve seen some really bad letters actually published, and I don’t think HPL’s letter is that bad.
The chances of it getting published are probably higher if he’s in the minority opinion (regionally). Editors seem to have a need to “balance” their letters. In Republican-dominated regions, typically you’ll get 5-6 normal pro-Republican letters, plus one foaming-at-the-mouth letter from the either side. Of course, this makes Democrats look like they’re all foaming at the mouth, but since most of the readers already believe that anyway, it’s not a big deal. Likewise, the opposite thing happens in Democratic areas - the few Republicans who write in are almost always selected, so the Republican letters tend to be more radical.
I thought they were substantiated. Am I wrong?
BTW, it was Iraqi guards doing the raping, not the Americans.
I don’t know. I don’t remember any, but I may have missed it. Not saying you’re wrong.
I thought this was the board where allegations (if properly cited from a web friendly news source, and if against the US) were taken as gospel. 
I recall there were a lot of allegations of prisoner abuse (torture, sodomy/rape, ‘murder’, etc) directed at the Iraqi guards at AG…and a lot of physical evidence of more psychological type torture directly by the US. I thought there were some confirmed examples of the abuse by the Iraqi guards but I cant seem to find any in google atm. Maybe the story is too old now or maybe they never were confirmed…not really sure.
At any rate, I think John’s revisions would be the best bet to get the OP’s message actually read (if not perhaps published) in his/her local paper.
-XT
Bravo, John Mace. Very concise.
Just make sure to run a spell-check before they’re used (particularly “counsel”, not “council”).
In a related vein, here’s an editorial that treads similar ground as the OP’s:
A betrayal of our most precious values
“We do not torture,” says the president. I can remember when that went without saying.
I found this through wikipedia.The Taguba report
It backs up some of the allegations.
True…because they just didn’t talk about it. It was kind of a given. Did you figure that because it wasn’t talked about it didn’t happen? The reason its such a big deal now is that we’ve moved on from our earlier barbaric days (somewhat), that our news media, for all the bitching on both sides, is much more pervasive and much more responsive (and inclined) to getting us such stories. Its not acceptable anymore…thats why its big news. We, as a society (and I’m including Europe here) have raised the bar on what is and isn’t ‘torture’ to the point that you have to define just what you mean…physical torture, torture that can perminently harm, psychological torture, humiliation, sexual abuse, etc.
Judging by stories I hear about prisons in countries like France I’d hazard a guess that we ain’t alone in the enlightened west in doing such things either. What we allowed the Iraqi’s to do though…that pretty much goes beyond the pale IMO. However, your ‘I can remember when that went without saying’ is simply crapola…standard issue for you. As if the US (and Europe :eek: ) had spotless records concerning such abuse, and its only since GW took the reigns that we have become bloodthirsty barbarians. Wake up…we have always been barbarians, but the fact that these things are coming out that have always been with us, and the fact that they shock and disturb us…THAT is progress my friend. Maybe there is hope for our species after all.
YMMV and all that.
-XT
From this article in Rolling Stone (bolding mine). . .
And just a few weeks ago, a judge ordered the release of photos that were said (by an unidentified “Republican Senator”) to depict “rape and murder.” Article.
As of a year ago, there have been as many as 10 U.S. troops who’ve been charged with murder, among them “[f]our soldiers accused of smothering an Iraqi general during an interrogation last fall.” And “[one] soldier was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month after pleading guilty to murder in the death of an Iraqi National Guard member.” CBS News Article.
No exaggerating needed.
Glad you liked it. Speling has nevir bin my strong soot!
I apologize in advance for the (potential) hijack, but this is one reason those photos should be released, image be damned. Lest we once again hear the “fraternity prank” dismissals. (Not implying you, John Mace, but those who would make such dismissals.)
So would this be covered under “compassionate conservatism” or “Christian values”?
And off the top of my head, I don’t remember anyone getting tortured under the Clinton Administration. I suppose you could count the administrations of Reagan and Bush Sr., though, if you count the abuses by the Nicaraguan contras.
(What is it with Republicans and torture anyway? Is it some sort of kinky BDSM by proxy? Does it have anything to do with Scooter Libby’s bestiality porn? What?)
I am never editing this thread again. It bit me. I may have to get rabies shots.
Yeah, none of that blatant left-wing media bias for your paper, no sir. How’s that working out for you, by the way? Your local media still talking about dogs mauling five-year-olds instead of praising our Glorious Leader? You written them any letters about it? Bitched at any technology and internet news services about not covering our Moral and Upstanding Flawless Government lately? Now there’s something worthy of scanning and sending around the office for a laugh. A real fucking hoot.
I’d say it would be under ‘Reality: Take your head out of your ass and try it sometime’.
Does Bosnia ring a bell? Even if NATO didn’t torture anyone directly, you can bet other folks aligned on ‘our side’ in Bosnia did. I’ll let you look it up yourself (though I doubt you would).
How would we know if any direct torture happened under Clinton in any case? There wasn’t a war on, and whatever they were or weren’t doing to fight the growing terrorist threat happened covertly. Not like they were going to advertise torturing folks, especially since it would probably have been the CIA that did it.
You seriously have a partisan problem rjung if you think that torture is restricted to Republican presidents…or restricted to the US for that matter.
Gods know what the fuck you are talking about here…I suppose its part of your tape recorded rant drive by style…rjungs book on posting, volume 2 page 309, When you don’t have anything to say purposely misread a poster who you don’t agree with, then rant on about something totally meaningless with a lot of hand waving. Hows it working out for you?
-XT
Yeah, because the issues his letter refers to are fucking hysterical!
You don’t see the hypocracy in “moral” people saying torture is neccesary?
*hypocrisy