Stop publishing torture photos; we get the picture

I'm really so torn over this issue and it is out of character of me to wish no further publishing of new photos. I'm trying to weigh the harm against any good that might come of it.

One point in favor of continued publishing is that the same general Miller who ran Guantanamo and who instituted the same offending policies there is the same general Miller sent to Iraq to clean up the mess that the media exposed.

I commend the media for finally doing it's job. It was way over due. But now I think some restraint is in order. If the media detects that the Bush administration is not taking full responsibility and taking all appropriate legal steps, then I would probably change my mind about continued publishing of photos.

BBB

Hobit, you could almost persuade me that I'm wrong if it were not for one thing.

You wrote "Yes, this tars Americans with the brush of the war-lovers, but we must swallow our pride and the loss of dignity that comes with it, and allow all the info to be released. Anything less is somplicity with these actions."

I agree with that position except that the "we" you site are those of us safe in our homes and not on the battlefield. I fear the increased danger to our troops and other US non-combatants abroad. My loss of dignity and pride doesn't mean squat if it increases the number of dead and wounded troops.

BBB

Combatants have learned to treat their enemies as sub-human from the beginning of time.

But Gardesani says her ordeal wasn't as swift or painless as the investigation it produced. A native of Brazil who speaks four languages but is less than fluent in English, she admits she was reluctant to come forward at first. She was too shocked, she says -- and then too afraid of what the officer could do to her.

"Sergeant Anderson was such a cop -- go by the book and everything," she says. "People were kind of scared of him because he was mean with inmates. He write you up for anything. I was real surprised this happened, because he was the last person I expect it from."

According to Gardesani, she was reading in her cell one day when Anderson came in and "started running his hands all over me. I couldn't believe what was going on." He then left as abruptly as he'd arrived, she says.

On three subsequent visits over the next few weeks, Gardesani says, Anderson took her to the one area of the room not visible from the cell door, bent her over a chair, and had intercourse with her. "I didn't say a word," she says. "I was thinking, 'If I scream, he's going to tell them I'm crazy, and they're going to put me in the hole, put me in special needs, like happen with other inmates.' So I let him do it. I was almost paralyzed. He didn't say too much. He just pulled me to the chair. Then he had sex with me without no protection at all."

Anderson also summoned her to the shift office for private talks, she says: "He said I have a beautiful body, that I am sexy, he wants to **** me, things like that." On one occasion, she adds, he unzipped his pants and exposed himself to her, but the arrival of a female lieutenant prompted a hasty zip-up. ("I got up and said, 'Excuse me, thank you very much,' and I just left. She saved me.")

Throughout it all, Gardesani says, she believed any complaint she might make would lead to retaliation. "He told me several times, 'I can't lose my job, so you don't say nothing,'" she says. "But he has the power, right? He can tell things that I done, and I didn't do it, you know what I mean?"

Dys, I remember those photos and the effect it had on me. But I already was opposed to the US continuation of the French's colonial war in Viet Nam so they only reinforced my opposition.

How many pictures are enough for the world's attention. I've seen all I need to see. Any more won't change my mind. I doubt that any more will change the minds of those supporting Bush's war.

I would rather find a different way to expose Bush's betrayal of his country than through inflaming hatred that will cost more troop lives. Too many have died already.

BBB

Quote:

Combatants have learned to treat their enemies as sub-human from the beginning of time.

Well, that's what I've learnt now by the media. I wasn't aware of that before - leaving out the time centuries back - , especially not from my time serving and knowing a bit of foreign armed forces as well.