So you thought Gitmo was bad..

[diamond]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0524072torture1.html

 

[2861U2]

I heard about that a few days ago. Anyone else not surprised the mainstream media has not said a word about this?

 

[BVS]

Why does this suprise us? So since the enemy tortures, we should?

We shouldn't hold ourselves to a higher standard? We need to lower ourselves to the level of the monster?

 

[DrTeeth]

The more information I get about torture, the happier I am that I don't support it.

 

[Bonochick]

That made me feel physically ill. I just can't comprehend how people can be so cruel.

 

[coemgen]

Eye removal.









I'm speechless.

 

[ntalwar]

So they'll publish these photos, but not the ones that implicate themselves in Iraq...

 

[deep]

First,

I think Al Qaeda is capable of that and much worse


But, I think is is ridiculous to think they would create documents and drawings/
or even need a drawing of putting a electric drill into a hand


some of you may remember when this whole thing began

Rumsfeld said he/they would create propaganda/ false documents/ fake reports as a tactic to fight terror

there was a big storm about it
comparing it to Hitler's minister of information creating propaganda

well, Rummy kind of back peddled

So, I am very skeptical

Who created these documents?

What purpose do they serve?

 

[diamond]

So mr deep you think these docs we're created by USA?

dbs

 

[deep]

google.com


go back and see what Rummy said

until they see this drawing
they don't know how to use a drill?

did you need a pamphlet with drawings
to learn how to whack yourself?

 

[diamond]

I think you're projecting and speculating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection

dbs

 

[BVS]

So, I am very skeptical

Who created these documents?

What purpose do they serve?

I agree, and was going to say something similar to the "Anyone else not surprised the mainstream media has not said a word about this?"

Smoking Gun isn't well known for it's fact checking in fact it's been embarassed quite a few times, just this year. The fact that people still rely on it, suprises me.

But it does smell kinda funny.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Well given the great ammount of media attention paid to the documentation of Baathist brutality (e.g. the amputation videos and mass graves) I don't see why this is newsworthy (hell look at the actions of CNN in the 1990's and the blind spots that it had to maintain as a matter of policy - admitted to by Eason Jordan).

 

[Smallville]

Quite discusting!

 

[Diemen]

So is this supposed to make us feel better because our torture doesn't go as far as theirs?

"Look everyone! See, we're not as bad as they are!"

 

[ntalwar]

From cbs.com yesterday:

The United States is treating the globe like one giant battlefield for its war on terror, eroding rights worldwide, a leading human rights group said Wednesday.

In its annual report, Amnesty International said politicians around the world — from Australia to Sudan — are taking advantage of shortsighted U.S. leadership in the war on terror to trample on liberties and stifle dissent.

"One of the biggest blows to human rights has been the attempt of Western democratic states to roll back some fundamental principles of human rights — like the prohibition of torture," Amnesty's Secretary-General Irene Khan told The Associated Press before the launch of her organization's annual report on the global state of human rights.

The smoking gun story timing is peculiar.

 

[deep]

I think you're projecting and speculating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection

dbs

instead of wasting time trying to further your side of argument


why not simply take a couple of minutes and see what I was referring to?

The Office of Strategic Influence. Is Gone, But Are Its Programs In Place?

November 27, 2002

The Federation of American Scientists has pointed to a startling revelation by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that mainstream media have missed: In remarks during a recent press briefing, Rumsfeld suggested that though the controversial Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) no longer exists in name, its programs are still being carried out (FAS Secrecy News, 11/27/02, http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2002/11/112702.html ).

The OSI came under scrutiny last February, when the New York Times reported (2/19/02) that the new Pentagon group was “developing plans to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations.” The news was met with outrage, and within a week the Pentagon had closed down the OSI, saying that negative attention had damaged the office’s reputation so much “that it could not operate effectively" (AP, 2/26/02).

The plan was troubling for many reasons: It was profoundly undemocratic; it would have put journalists’ lives at risk by involving them in Pentagon disinformation; and it’s almost certain that any large-scale disinformation campaign directed at the foreign press would have led, sooner or later, to a falsified story being picked up by U.S. media. (See Extra! Update 4/02, "Behind the Pentagon's Propaganda Plan.")

At the time, Rumsfeld claimed that he had “never even seen the charter for the office,” but Thomas Timmes, the OSI’s assistant for operations, said that Rumsfeld had been briefed on its goals “at least twice” and had “given his general support” (New York Times, 2/25/02).

Now, in remarks made at a November 18 media briefing, Rumsfeld has suggested that though the exposure of OSI's plans forced the Pentagon to close the office, they certainly haven't given up on its work. According to a transcript on the Department of Defense website, Rumsfeld told reporters:

"And then there was the Office of Strategic Influence. You may recall that. And 'oh my goodness gracious isn't that terrible, Henny Penny the sky is going to fall.' I went down that next day and said fine, if you want to savage this thing fine I'll give you the corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have."

A search of the Nexis database indicates that no major U.S. media outlets-- no national broadcast television news shows, no major U.S. newspapers, no wire services or major magazines-- have reported Rumsfeld's remarks.

Rumsfeld's comments seem all the more alarming in light of analysis presented by William Arkin in a recent Los Angeles Times opinion column (11/24/02), in which he argues that Rumsfeld is redesigning the U.S. military to make "information warfare" central to its functions.

This new policy, says Arkin, increasingly "blurs or even erases the boundaries between factual information and news, on the one hand, and public relations, propaganda and psychological warfare, on the other." Arkin adds that "while the policy ostensibly targets foreign enemies, its most likely victim will be the American electorate."

It is essential that media follow up this story, particularly now, as the country faces a possible war with Iraq and reporters rely even more heavily than usual on Pentagon information.

To read the full transcript of Rumsfeld's remarks, see: http://www.dod.gov/news/Nov2002/t11212002_t1118sd2.html

To read William Arkin's Los Angeles Times article: http://www.latimes.com/templates/mi...kin24nov24001455§ion=/news/opinion/commentary

 

[diamond]

instead of wasting time trying to further your side of argument


why not simply take a couple of minutes and see what I was referring to?

So you dig up an article from years ago (2002) and ignore pictures like these, claiming it's all a conspiracy:

 

[Se7en]

most of this stuff happened on this season of 24

 

[A_Wanderer]

So you dig up an article from years ago (2002) and ignore pictures like these, claiming it's all a conspiracy:

Sorry but theres no standard to uphold so for all intensive purposes this sort of torture with the beatings, amputation and gouging doesn't count, now if it was done by Americans or some third party on behalf of Americans you might have a story but otherwise send it down the memory hole.