The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #108255   Message #2253674
Posted By: Nickhere
04-Feb-08 - 08:45 PM
Thread Name: BS: Down Syndrome women used as bombers
Subject: RE: BS: Down Syndrome women used as bombers
Keith, if I remember well, the point about Abu Gharib is that the atmosphere and actions were encouraged from the top down. It was not an isolated case of just a few soldiers getting out of hand without their superiors' knowledge. They acted in that manner in the belief that is was the expected thing for them to do. Military people might lose the rag in a moment of panic, in the heat of battle and shoot someone they otherwise wouldn't, but they don't act as they did in Abu Gharib unless they feel scure their actions are approved from the top down.

Hence the guy who exposed Abu Gharib tried to do so anonymously fearful for his carrer at the least and his safety at the most. He wasn't able to remain anonymous for long, but he did try.

Some fall guys took the hit (and they didn't get anything like the treatment they'd meted out to their unfortunate victims) while the bigwigs that encouraged it got off scot-free. Plus the same bigwigs are still trying to re-define torture so they can engage in it qusai-legally (as if that makes it moral also) and don't seem to think waterboarding is torture. This despite the fact that it was a tool of the Inquisition for centuries, and teh admission of a top US military man that if done to him, he would regard it as torture.