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Peanut bitch slaps badly-targeted revenge:
  
Folks, revenge NEVER makes things better. Especially when you take it out on the wrong people. And ESPECIALLY when you record it for posterity. Listen, kids, what was done to these people was absolutely awful and, as Peanut points out, it's quite possible that the administration's desperation to find a smoking gun created an environment where torture was condoned (or encouraged) because the WMD leads had run out. Now, that may not be the case, but consider the arguments.
And yes, I'm quite aware that it looks like I'm using torture to advance my beliefs. Well, if that's what you think, you either don't know me well enough (which means I don't care what you think, because you're wrong) or you just don't get it (which means I don't care what you think, because you're wrong).
No, this isn't funny. It isn't meant to be funny, and in fact I think anyone who did think it was funny is pretty sick. These were meant to encourage people to realize the absolute horror of the fact that we're saying we're sending troops out there to "liberate" the people, all the while knowing full well that when you give a bunch of uneducated pricks (read: the soldiers who did this, not the majority of them. The majority are perfectly fine people, including my cousin) weapons and tell them to "guard" these prisoners, who their commander in chief constantly compares to the 9/11 terrorists, you can't really expect anything less.
No, it shouldn't characterize us as a nation. However, I personally think we shouldn't be there anymore anyway. The only reason I need is Vietnam, but there are plenty more reasons where that came from. While I don't think this should characterize us as a nation, I DO think it characterizes military occupation in general pretty damn well. And, I think the fact that we have people capable of doing this - and a problem with people doing this - we should get the fuck out.
Finally, let me remind you all that not all of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib were convicted of any sort of crimes. Many were only suspected of crimes. Others were imprisoned by Saddam. Don't forget that.
Oh, and this torture stuff... it's not new.When I first went to report the American war against Vietnam, in the 1960s, I visited the Saigon offices of the great American newspapers and TV companies, and the international news agencies.
I was struck by the similarity of displays on many of their office pinboards. "That's where we hang our conscience," said an agency photographer.
There were photographs of dismembered bodies, of soldiers holding up severed ears and testicles and of the actual moments of torture. There were men and women being beaten to death, and drowned, and humiliated in stomach-turning ways. On one photograph was a stick-on balloon above the torturer's head, which said: "That'll teach you to talk to the press." This is EXACTLY why you can't go around occupying, liberating, or generally doing shit in other countries. It's not just the US. It's anyone. That's why this invasion was A REALLY BAD IDEA. I read an article that said the man-like woman pointing at the naked guys with the cigarettes in her mouth was raised in a trailer park and didn't have much schooling. Well, that's not an excuse, but it gives you an idea of what happens when you put uneducated idiots in control of others and give them guns. It can't fucking work. It can't ever fucking work.
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