# Rape at Abu Ghraib **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953 "2009-05-28T18:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/61 "2009-05-29T16:45:12Z")
Those photos look like something straight out of a low budget porn flick. Why the fuck would American troops in Iraq be wearing not only out-dated, obsolete BDUs, but outdated and obsolete BDUs in the Woodland color scheme that would not be used in Iraq in the first place, and not only that but also woodland _face paint?_ The website those photos are on has about a billion radical-anti-Israel links and banners, including a call to boycott Israeli goods and a button for sale that says I (heart) Gaza; not to mention a big headline that says “MUST READ ABOUT THE ISRAELI GAZA GENOCIDE.” This is not a trustworthy source. It obviously has a radical left wing agenda, and it is citing Aztlan as its source, which is, as someone else mentioned earlier, basically a Mexican version of the KKK. Fuck these liars and cheats who feel they need to resort to underhanded trickery and deceit in order to prove their point. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/62 "2009-05-29T16:55:59Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > The website those photos are on has about a billion radical-anti-Israel links and banners, including a call to boycott Israeli goods and a button for sale that says I (heart) Gaza; not to mention a big headline that says “MUST READ ABOUT THE ISRAELI GAZA GENOCIDE.” This is not a trustworthy source. It obviously has a radical left wing agenda, and it is citing Aztlan as its source, which is, as someone else mentioned earlier, basically a Mexican version of the KKK. Radical _right_-wing agenda. ---
**Author:** ![JHE1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JHE1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JHE1967)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/63 "2009-05-29T21:03:23Z")
> [@Chris Moise](#): > > The link below has additional photos from Abu Ghraib that are very disturbing. Suffice to saw NSFW. I should mention that these aren’t the same photos linked to upthread. Far more disturbing and without doubt evidence of very serious crimes. Fuck Rush Limbaugh for stating these photos are akin to frat hazing. > > [Photos Show Rape of Iraqi Women + US soldiers stories | when beeing ANTI means being FOR human rights, coexistence and peace](http://antiisgood.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/photos-show-rape-of-iraqi-women/) I feel like a schmuck for posting that link without checking it out first. It was linked to on another forum and I posted it here without really looking at it. I’d deleted it if I good. If any mods want to delete it feel free to. ---
**Author:** ![Sri\_Theo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/64 "2009-05-30T12:18:19Z")
I dunno why anyone would doubt the Telegraph’s credibility its reporting is generally straight up- even if it is known as the Torygraph (Guardian reader over here). And they have done excellent stuff on the MP scandal. Anyway wouldn’t it be the Major’s credibility we’re questioning here? I assume he would have said something if they had misquoted him. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/65 "2009-05-30T13:14:18Z")
**Argent** is talking about the photos in **Chris Moise** ’s link, yes? I don’t think they are the same as the photos discussed by **elucidator** in the OP. Two different things. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/66 "2009-05-30T13:42:53Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > The White House and Pentagon are denying this is truth: > > [http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jjY6QswNZWFWxRaRdKhoxlNC5ONA](http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jjY6QswNZWFWxRaRdKhoxlNC5ONA) > > [http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN28341544](http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN28341544) I take some comfort in the fact that the White House is denying it. Case closed. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/67 "2009-05-30T17:58:34Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > While it’s true that I do have faith in Obama’s personal integrity and decency, my actual faith is in the politician in him. Here is the thing…if these pictures do clearly show rape by US personnel then they WILL eventually get out. You simply can’t cover stuff like this up. If they do get out then this will com back to bite Obama squarely on the ass for attempting to block them or sweep them under the rug. In fact, I’d say that the backlash against Obama would be 10 times worse than that against Bush…we all KNEW Bush was an evil little shit, after all. The damage to Obama’s reputation, however, would be irretrievably damaged IMHO. > > And he has to know that. He’s too smart and savvy NOT to know that. And he would know that eventually something like this will get leaked by someone…heck, the original AG stuff was leaked despite the lock down Bush et al tried to put on all this…and I don’t think anyone believes that Obama is going to be one to put in harsher methods to ‘protect’ the information from the public than Bush did. > > I guess we’ll see. Personally, if the military has been sitting on clear evidence of rape by US soldiers then it will blow my mind…that’s not the military as it was when I belonged to it. I’ll be even more shocked if this turns out to be true and Obama et al tried to block it, as that will be so far beyond my conception of the man as to render my current opinion of him completely worthless. > > -XT Well it now seems that while pictures of rape do exist they are not the ones Obama is trying to hold back. Well to be more accurate they haven’t been seen by Taguba. He was talking about other pics. > [@](#): > > The paper quoted Taguba as saying, “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.” > > But Taguba says he wasn’t talking about the 44 photographs that are the subject of an ongoing ACLU lawsuit that Obama is fighting. > > “The photographs in that lawsuit, I have not seen,” Taguba told Salon Friday night. The actual quote in the Telegraph was accurate, Taguba said – but he was referring to the hundreds of images he reviewed as an investigator of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq – not the photos of abuse that Obama is seeking to suppress. ["You can't sweep unlawful activities under the table" - Salon.com](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/30/taguba/) So it seems there are other photos. I’m a bit confused though that if they are not the ones the White House is fighting to withhold, why aren’t they already released. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/68 "2009-05-30T18:54:25Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > Personally, I’m ashamed to be an American right now. It doesn’t make me ashamed to be an American. It makes me proud to be an American, because so few other countries’ populi would have a problem with torture in the name of their nation, nor would it even come to light. Being an American isn’t about not having evil within us, it’s about actually having the power as a people to do something about it when it comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/69 "2009-05-30T23:24:04Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Being an American isn’t about not having evil within us, it’s about actually having the power as a people to do something about it when it comes up. Feign outrage and forget about it in a couple of weeks? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/70 "2009-05-31T03:21:13Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > It doesn’t make me ashamed to be an American. It makes me proud to be an American, because so few other countries’ populi would have a problem with torture in the name of their nation, nor would it even come to light. Being an American isn’t about not having evil within us, it’s about actually having the power as a people to do something about it when it comes up. What a ridiculous post. Jesus fucking wept. Land of the free and the home of the torturing rapists but its OK guys we mean well - hey we have a Constitution! And other countries are worse! :rolleyes: For fucking fucks sake the difference in the rhetoric spewed by morons like yourself and the reality of your national actions is nauseating. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/71 "2009-05-31T03:44:03Z")
> [@Struan](#): > > What a ridiculous post. Jesus fucking wept. Land of the free and the home of the torturing rapists but its OK guys we mean well - hey we have a Constitution! And other countries are worse! :rolleyes: > > For fucking fucks sake the difference in the rhetoric spewed by morons like yourself and the reality of your national actions is nauseating. It’s a bit . . . akwardly worded, but I kind of understand what he’s saying. If you buy that basically every superpower in history has done similar things, we probably are one of the few to have a large public and even government outcry about it. The fact that we tortured people does not make me proud to be an American, but I am glad that so many people and politicians have a huge problem with it. I mean, contrast with Scotland who never really had the power to wage wars of aggression . . . \<_sprinting_ for cover :D\> ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/72 "2009-05-31T03:47:22Z")
The argument would hold a bit more water if the perpetrators of the torture and those who ordered it were prosecuted. It’s not enough to say we have the power to do something about it…we actually have to do something about it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/73 "2009-05-31T03:50:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I mean, contrast with Scotland who never really had the power to wage wars of aggression . . . \<_sprinting_ for cover :D\> They are certainly a war like bunch. The Black Watch comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/74 "2009-05-31T03:52:17Z")
They say the Irish gave the Scots the bagpipe a thousand years ago, and the Scots never caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/75 "2009-05-31T03:57:36Z")
> [@C3](#): > > The argument would hold a bit more water if the perpetrators of the torture and those who ordered it were prosecuted. It’s not enough to say we have the power to do something about it…we actually have to do something about it. Yes I strongly agree. I hope something is done. I really feel something needs to be done. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/76 "2009-05-31T07:38:53Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > It doesn’t make me ashamed to be an American. It makes me proud to be an American, because so few other countries’ populi would have a problem with torture in the name of their nation, nor would it even come to light. Being an American isn’t about not having evil within us, it’s about actually having the power as a people to do something about it when it comes up. What a crock of shit. I’m so weary of wanky hypocritical statements about American exceptionalism which by extension damn the rest of the world in the same breath as declaring America’s superiority. Your country’s brutal thugs were in Abu Graib freeing the shit of our Iraqis through rape and torture. You can’t just hand wave it away as “well that’s not a big deal, and if anything it shows how much Amurrika rocks cause the rest of the world would rape and torture and not complain”. Views like yours make me sick. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/77 "2009-05-31T08:45:06Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > It doesn’t make me ashamed to be an American. It makes me proud to be an American, because so few other countries’ populi would have a problem with torture in the name of their nation, nor would it even come to light. Being an American isn’t about not having evil within us, it’s about actually having the power as a people to do something about it when it comes up. Er - I think that’s pretty damn offensive to the rest of the world. I could quite easily sit here and list 30 or 40 countries where I would expect the citizens to be up in arms if they found even renditions being done in their name, let alone rape or torture. Get off your damn moral high horse ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/78 "2009-05-31T09:18:49Z")
Most European democracies would have thrown their government out over any one of these outrages. The US reelected Shrub. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/79 "2009-05-31T10:52:36Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Most European democracies would have thrown their government out over any one of these outrages. The US reelected Shrub. Oh, come now. French Algeria? Belgian Congo? The Mau Mau uprising? The European democracies ought to be the _last_ ones to be tut-tutting, unless their intention is to draw on the wealth of extensive experience to offer helpful hints or something. Need more whitewash for your sepulchre? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953/80 "2009-05-31T11:08:17Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Oh, come now. French Algeria? Belgian Congo? The Mau Mau uprising? The European democracies ought to be the _last_ ones to be tut-tutting, unless their intention is to draw on the wealth of extensive experience to offer helpful hints or something. Need more whitewash for your sepulchre? “Sepulchre” is a good way to put it, since the people involved on both sides are mostly dead or will be soon. What matters is how they would act now, not 50+ years ago. Unless you want to blame Obama for not ending segregation, the Vietnam war and the Korean war while you’re at it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rape-at-abu-ghraib/497953.md?page=5)