# Reuters' men get thumb up ass, shit popsicle. Ought not alienate the working press.. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003 "2004-05-19T18:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/1 "2004-05-19T18:28:14Z")
[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article\_display.jsp?vnu\_content\_id=1000513625](http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000513625) It is hard to know where to begin. How stupid were the soldiers? Why did Reuters sit on the story? In general, it cannot be good to piss off the press, and Reuters is main-fuckin’stream. I cannot fathom hearing a journalist say “Reuters, Reuters” and then proceeding as described. Query: Did the soldiers (and intel folks) just not KNOW what Reuters means? Did they know and not care? What kind of schmucks fuck with Reuters? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/2 "2004-05-19T18:45:27Z")
I am so glad I am no longer part of the military. I knew some of the people I served with were borderline demented but I could never imagine this. After reading the reporters’ accounts and realizing that, even after all this, these acts could still possibly be taking place just sickens me. To further realize that these actions are being perpetrated by “The Greatest Country In The World”, “The Saviors of Iraq” just makes me want to weep. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/3 "2004-05-19T19:03:47Z")
Damn liberal media! Don’t they know that reporting military abuse is treason? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/4 "2004-05-19T19:34:16Z")
Hey, check it out: if you make your browser window reeeeeeeeally really tiny, you can make alaricthegoth’s posts look like they take up more than one line per paragraph! > [@](#): > > Damn liberal media! Don’t they know that reporting military abuse is treason? It may be treasonousof the press, but remember: _Saddam Hussein did much worse_. So, it’s okay. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/5 "2004-05-19T20:13:34Z")
I’m surprised anyone would do that to a Reuters reporter (or even helper). What a damn fine way to make an entire wire service work against the US. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/6 "2004-05-19T21:01:42Z")
Well as we all know, the only GOOD Iraqi is a detained and humiliated Iraqi… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/7 "2004-05-19T21:47:58Z")
Here’s the military’s response: [U.S. General Defends Probe of Abuse of Reuters Staff](http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5196988&pageNumber=0) > [@](#): > > A summary of the investigation by the 82nd Airborne Division, dated Jan. 28 and provided to Reuters, said “no specific incidents of abuse were found.” It said soldiers responsible for the detainees were interviewed under oath and “none admit or report knowledge of physical abuse or torture.” But wait, there’s more… > [@](#): > > **"The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not tortured," it said.** **WTF??** ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/8 "2004-05-19T22:01:53Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** This thread seems like more of a rant than a debate to me (hint: references to peoples thumbs being up their asses and shitting popsicles are a.) not really in keeping with the lofty tone we strive for in the Great Debates forum and b.) not really in keeping with the “descriptive thread titles” rule). Off to the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/9 "2004-05-19T22:20:22Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > (hint: references to peoples thumbs being up their asses and shitting popsicles are a.) not really in keeping with the lofty tone we strive for in the Great Debates forum and b.) not really in keeping with the “descriptive thread titles” rule). It actually _is_ descriptive – just hard to parse. The reporters got digital insertion and they _got_ a “shit popsicle.” > [@](#): > > Ahmad said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick it. No elimination of icey treats. Just good old-fashioned fecal tongueing. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/10 "2004-05-19T22:25:24Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > I’m surprised anyone would do that to a Reuters reporter (or even helper). > > What a damn fine way to make an entire wire service work against the US. You forget one detail: They were subhuman Non Western cooperatives of Reuters. Why would one US soldier, indoctrinated by the US army to believe the US produces Super Heros and all the brownies - and especially those classified under Muslim- are sub- to nonhumans, believe one second these funny brown species had even the brains to know what Reuters is, let be the skill to apply for being hired by Reuters. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/11 "2004-05-19T22:33:43Z")
I really dislike this shifty, dishonest pretension that stress positions are not a form of torture. The main benefit of the method is that it leaves few telltale signs for others to see as evidence of torture. But it is in fact extremely painful. That military officers are coyly reffering to it as something mild that they do is disgusting precisely because they are almost certainly exploiting the very reason why “stress positions” are apparently so popular in the U.S. military today: because they don’t sound all that bad to the average layman. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/12 "2004-05-20T04:35:15Z")
> [@Aldebaran](#): > > You forget one detail: > They were subhuman Non Western cooperatives of Reuters. > Why would one US soldier, indoctrinated by the US army to believe the US produces Super Heros and all the brownies - and especially those classified under Muslim- are sub- to nonhumans, believe one second these funny brown species had even the brains to know what Reuters is, let be the skill to apply for being hired by Reuters. > > Salaam. A all well and good–but AFTER their boss emailed to say, “yes, strange as it seems, we like our news personnel to speak the local tongue., these are OUR little brown dudes,” you’d think at that point, the fun would be over, but , oh no… it was just beginning. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/13 "2004-05-20T04:37:10Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > It actually _is_ descriptive – just hard to parse. The reporters got digital insertion and they _got_ a "shit popsicle."No elimination of icey treats. Just good old-fashioned fecal tongueing. I certtainly would not want my titles to fall short of the lofty GD standards, but I defy anyone to squeeze an adequate description of the atrocities at issue into the limited space provided, without resort to anlgo saxon shorthand… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/14 "2004-05-20T10:42:37Z")
> [@Frankenstein Monster](#): > > But wait, there’s more… > > > [@](#): > > > > “The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not tortured,” it said. > > **WTF??** Stress induction and sleep deprivation are standard interrogation tactics. Dietary change is another. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/15 "2004-05-20T10:46:42Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Stress induction and sleep deprivation are standard interrogation tactics. My point exactly. This seems to be an accurate statement of fact about occupation policy. Torture is standard interrogation tactics. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/16 "2004-05-20T10:53:08Z")
Seriously, if this kind of shit was happening to Americans _anywhere_ at _anytime_ we would be going absolutely apeshit and wanting vengence. I can’t imagine us not getting attacked again soon and, sadly, if it happens before November, well you know what that means. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/17 "2004-05-20T12:31:32Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I can’t imagine us not getting attacked again soon and, sadly, if it happens before November, well you know what that means. The terrorists will have won? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/18 "2004-05-20T21:29:08Z")
US troops have been [cleared of charges.](http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/8713782.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp) ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/19 "2004-05-20T21:43:39Z")
Where were these Reuters guys arrested? Just out on the street? Or were they near a base perimeter or something like that? Not that that would excuse the soliders’ atrocious conduct, I’m just curious. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003/20 "2004-05-20T21:46:08Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > US troops have been [cleared of charges.](http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/8713782.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp) > [@](#): > > “Our investigation found no abuse of any kind,” Cummings said Thursday. “This is a closed case.” Oh well, that’s OK then. A closed investigation by the same military that is currently in deep shit due to abuse of prisoners found “no abuse of any kind”. Phew. Those bullshitting journalist fucks. Well they were only Arabs. Can’t trust any of them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reuters-men-get-thumb-up-ass-shit-popsicle-ought-not-alienate-the-working-press/246003.md?page=2)