Apology to Arabs

[Lindaloo]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Whatever the media says or doesn't say, the pictures are there to see.

Funny it was the Communist Broadcasting System(CBS) that aired the pics!!

[Stephanie]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Whatever the media says or doesn't say, the pictures are there to see.

Amazing what the media chooses to show us and what they choose not too. Don't be blinded too much by the liberal media!! *omg* did I just say that

The pictures are available for everyone to see, print, etc. They were not made up, the pictures are real - no Democratic fairy dust created them. Actually, they were broadcast world wide, so does that mean that the world's media is communist?? I know that Fox News, my local station, showed the pictures - heaven forbid! The favorite conservative network did something liberal!!!!

I saw the pictures you're talking about Sunnyday. There was a group of prisoners that were naked and kind of laying on top of each other in different positions.

[sunnyday]

Actually, I logged into foxnews.com and saw the only pictures I've seen of this situation. I truly wish I hadn't seen the pictures, though.

[Lindaloo]

The way sunnday talked I thought I was going to see naked men hanging from a bridge while our troops watched.

[sunnyday]

The naked men were not hanging from a bridge, and I never referrred to a bridge at all. They were piled on each other or standing separately, being forced to degrade themselves sexually. Soldiers, including a couple of women in different shots, were laughing and pointing at the men and mugging for the camera. It was plainly disgusting behavior.

[Lindaloo]

The naked men were not hanging from a bridge, and I never referrred to a bridge at all. They were piled on each other or standing separately, being forced to degrade themselves sexually. Soldiers, including a couple of women in different shots, were laughing and pointing at the men and mugging for the camera. It was plainly disgusting behavior.

Yeah I know.

[j]

again...lets not lose sight of what we have here. Humiliation, some disgraceful behavior....certainly punishable offenses and they will be punished. When I look at that pic with the girl standing behind the heap of naked Iraqi's and the male MP behind her with the big smile on his face, I see a couple of very alchohol impaired people. Not making excuses, but I can remember doing things like this back in college at the dorms...you would not believe some of the stunts we pulled. I mean it would be nothing to strip a passed out roomate down and put panties on his head, or put a bra on him and take pictures. There was no telling where those pictures might end up...guys can be pretty cruel. Simulated sex poses??? yeah..it wouldn't be out of the question.

I think what many of us are trying to say is lets not make this out to be the most horrific, human rights violation this world has ever seen and put things in perspective.

It sickens me that the world did not show the same outrage when our burnt dead soldiers are displayed proudly in the streets...hanging from bridges, and yet these stacked up naked men pictures are considered horrific.

[streetsoldier]

For the same reason Al Jazeera didn't show the determination and grit of the Italian hostage they were "invited" to videotape being executed.

This man stood proudly, tried to take off the hood the terrorists put on his head, and declared, "I'll show you how an Italian dies"...NOT the message of Arab domination Al Jazeera wanted, but Western resolve. Their claim that the death was "too brutal" doesn't play...witness all of the previous outrages perpetrated on US, Iraqi and coalition forces that were ever so gleefully filmed by Al Jazeera, and the story line failed.

They will show the very worst that the terrorists can give them...and, the worst possible face they can place on the US and UK in Iraq. And, sadly, the rabid liberal media, right here and abroad, wants to shove anything they can down the Administration's throat, in hopes that they will garner enough outrage that their "darling", John Kerry, will end up sitting in the Oval Office.

That this WAS an isolated incicent, and that the seven enlisted/NCO perpetrators (and their supervisory officers, 19 so far) WILL face certain and swift justice, seems to be lost on such "news" outlets; just as the GOOD things we have done in Iraq and Afghanistan..schools opened and supplied, roads repaired, electricity restored, etc., goes unreported and unnoticed.

[azskyman]

I will remind you once again...those who are at war, in war, and are part of the war experience can become something that would otherwise never be.

For my first 23 years I was taught "Thow shalt not kill" as part of my upbringing and Methodist church education. It was ingrained in me.

During preparations and training for me going to Vietnam our entire company was taught to not only kill, but do it with conviction. It is a survival skill. You are trained to scream the word "kill" during your practices with the bayonnet. The purpose is not to demoralize, but to help you mentally defend yourself. Those who hesitate in a battlefield situation can die.

That challenge to all that is good and decent in you becomes your new way of life while you are in a combat zone. The old you is driven deep into your soul, and the new you becomes driven by hate and anger and distrust. And it is out of those traits, because of those traits, that you survive.

It is out of that mental toughness, and that attitude that surrounds you, that you carry out your duties...and can lose sight of the old standards and old realities from your days in civilian life. Sometimes you can make decisions that aren't really you when that happens.

Rumsfeld and the others have done the right thing in saying that we do not condone crossing that line in the name of the United States, but none of us should ever forget that those same prisoners, given the chance to grab your weapon and turn it on you, would do so in a heartbeat with no remorse whatsoever and cheers and smiles to boot.

We can regret that war is ugly...but should never try to explain the actions of those few without understanding the mental preparedness that took them to that edge. That same preparedness is essential for our own survival.

Put this behind us, and get on with the job we are called upon to do.

[JQ Public]

I saw lets apologize. Afterall aren't we the one that are supposed to be the bigger ones and stop this bull. This retaliation back and forth isnt' going to help anyone...they'll only now do smthg worse against us. For our best interests stop the ego's and just apologize.

[Rainband]

Nothing to do with egos

[streetsoldier]

To the Arab mind, utterance of apologies is indicative of weakness, JQ...it shows that we can be placed in a position of "losing face", backing down...and THAT is what the terrorists WANT the Arab world to see...and gloat over.

And they, along with hostile media, have succeeded admirably in this.

[coriolis]

Apologize? No.
Acknowledge that it was incorrect? yes.

I heard a report that the woman in the photo didn't belong to the unit guarding the prisoners, but was making a "social" visit to one of the guards. If that's true, disipline them, and move on.

We shouldn't beat ourselves up over this. We should get over it and get back to the business at hand.

The media are travel agents for guilt trips.