Has it become clear yet that somehow, from somewhere, American soldiers are getting the picture that Iraqi/Afghan/Muslim prisoners are to be treated as dangerous animals?
Did you want to put this one in the pit?
That’s horrible.
I hope that soldier gets full benefits.
This probably should be in the Pit. It’d be nice. 
If you’d only posted excerpts from the story, I would have sworn this was a whoosh.
Wow. Just wow.
I’ve just been reading a book about the Mongol conquest of most of the known world in the 1200’s and the way they treated their enemies in war. It doesn’t look like anything has changed. And as Dr. Phil says, how’s that working for you? In the long run all it engenders is thoughts of revenge and hatred. Personally I believe that (some) soldiers would draw and quarter the enemy, cut his entrails out and feed them to the dogs, rape his babies and male and female family members, steal everything they own, and use every conceivable form of torture, if it could be done in secret. People of this persuasion or those who have been drawn into this kind of behavior do what they can get away with. And the military lies to protect itself and to make sure they get their funding next year. This war has made me realize that our code of civilized behavior is a facade and that we have now lost the right to tell any other nation to stop torturing and killing their citizens. Since this same tired scenario has been played out for thousands of years I guess we are too stupid to figure out it doesn’t work. Duh.
That’s an asinine comparison. From this site:
Are you suggesting the Mongols are more civilized?
Both are unacceptably abusive. 
:eek: Uh… dude…
Never mind. No one thinks like that before a traumatic brain injury, right?
Right?
I saw that, and thought even this poor bastard doesn’t get it. Apparently it would have been ok to happen to a real prisoner.
<unable to :rolleyes: hard enough>
I thought the same thing. Until they realise that such abuse is unacceptable at any time, to anyone, they will continue to lose the struggle for mind and heart.
…and my sympathy.
It’s a leap in logic to assume this poor gentleman was excluding others in his comment. He’s just trying to emphasize that he’s being poorly treated. Give the guy a break.
Having said that, I’m wondering how quickly we’ll hear the usual disclaimers: “This isn’t the America I know… bad apples… President Bush is a saint and knew nothing… not authorized… not the way the Army usually does this…” Actually, this apparently IS typical of the United States Army in detaining prisoners. Torture, beatings, and murder appear to be standard operating procedure.
Makes me wonder if this poor guy wasn’t set up by someone. Come on, go in and pretend to be an unruly prisoner but don’t tell the extraction squad it’s a drill? :dubious:
Now all of you that are jumping on him for saying the “What happened to me is something that should never have happened to any American soldier” bit are taking it completely out of context.
In the article, Baker never addresses the treatment of the detainees. He is simply talking about what happened to him. He feels that he was put in an improper situation, beaten by his fellow troops, and then abandoned by his country. This should never happen to any American soldier.
You are quite right, liirogue. It should not happen to any American soldier.
But what are American troops doing beating someone they believe to be a prisoner in their charge?
I completely agree that it shouldn’t happen to the prisoners. But people in this thread are twisting the quote to make it seem as if Baker feels that it is okay to beat a prisoner but not a soldier. No where in that article does he even hint at that. It is the article author that goes on to discuss the prisoners, not Baker.
I wondered the exact same thing.
Sorry for what happened to the guy (somewhat mitigated by the fact that it happened at what I consider to be an illegal detention facility so he shouldn’t have been there to begin with) but this bit really bugged me:
What military is it that issues orange jump suits as its uniform?