Lindy Englund trial in the news.

[opebo]

I say not guilty, as the 'abuse' should be acceptable for softening up prisoners.  What do you think?

[David S]

I think it needs to be decided by the court. But if the Iraqis had used similar tactics to "soften up" American prisoners you might be more outraged.

[John Dibble]

Another question that has to be raised - how many American soldiers were killed because of that incident?

I know that comparable to other wars, our casualties in Iraq have been very minute, but still, would some of those killed not have been if this incident had not happened or been released?

[opebo]

I think it needs to be decided by the court. But if the Iraqis had used similar tactics to "soften up" American prisoners you might be more outraged.

Iraqis use much worse methods than these.. and will only interpret our lack of ruthlessness for what it is - a weakness.

[opebo]

Another question that has to be raised - how many American soldiers were killed because of that incident?

I know that comparable to other wars, our casualties in Iraq have been very minute, but still, would some of those killed not have been if this incident had not happened or been released?

Our casualties would be lower the more ruthless we are.  Its a mistake to worry about angering the enemy - after all, they're the emeny.

[TexArcana]

I have to say guilty.

Niether the US Congress nor the President are empowered by our constitution to allow "cruel and unusual punishment" and, in fact, they are specifically required not to inflict such on anyone.


finally, torture just doesn't work.



Ok, this last one is untrue


The reason we ARE better than Saddam is that when our prison guards do something like this, they go to jail.  In Iraq, if a prison guard did something like this, he'd get a promotion.

[David S]

I think it needs to be decided by the court. But if the Iraqis had used similar tactics to "soften up" American prisoners you might be more outraged.

Iraqis use much worse methods than these.. and will only interpret our lack of ruthlessness for what it is - a weakness.

Worse tactics such as what? A few weeks ago two Americans who had been POWs in Iraq were interviewed on TV. Both said they were treated better than Iraqis were treated in this incident. Of course this happened when the Iraqi government still existed. I think Saddam wanted to show the world that he was treating prisoners humanely. Otherwise American public opinion might have favored nukeing IRAQ. Now however, we aren't dealing with a government, just armed gangs.

[??????????]

Not Guilty. You can't be convicted of a non-crime.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not Guilty. You can't be convicted of a non-crime.

but it is a crime. It's against military regulations.

Anyone who thinks this was done to extract information or whatever is an idiot. If you were to torture someone to extract information, would you do it in that manner? Furthermore would you take pictures of yourself in them as well in insulting poses? Give me a break. Yet once I got in argument with Mark with Mark arguing that this abuse could've saved American soldiers' lives, wouldn't they point that out if that was the case? Sheesh.

[David S]

Whoa! I'm agreeing with Democrats again! Must be nap time.

[gumbiegirl007]

what happened was inappropriate and there should be reperussions for what happened.  soldiers that participated in this should be held accountable for their actions.  isn't freewill a pain sometimes......

[The Dowager Mod]

Guilty.

[angus]

Opebo,
I didn't vote, because I'm not sure.  I share David's thought that it should be decided by a jury.  I just wanted to chime and point out that in US military law, unlike US civil law, the burden of proof lies with the defense, not with the prosecution.  Isn't that right?  So that, whereas in civilian courts, you're innocent unless proven otherwise, in military trials, you're guilty unless proven otherwise.  I believe this is part of the uniform code of military justice.  Given that, and the videos, I think the defense will have some serious hard work cut out for them.