Mulling over LEE LOFASO to GEORGE POPE 22 May 2004

G'day Lee...

>LL>What was done to Iraqi prisoners was clearly wrong.  And there is no
>LL>excuse or justification for soldiers having done so.  However, why did
>LL>those soldiers do what they did?  Clearly, they did not act on their
>LL>own, of their own volition.

GP>They were quite blunt, when first questioned, that their BC(Brigade
GP>Commander ordered both the specific humiliations done, AND the 
GP>photographic documenting of same -- obviously these soldiers were 
GP>being set up as lures to keep Iraqi resentment against Amereca on 
GP>THAT side of the world (too bad whoever came up with this idiotic 
GP>scheme didn't clue in that Moslem extremists are never limited to a 
GP>single kneejerk act of vengeance against their targets!)

 LL> It had nothing to do with the prisoners being Iraqis.  However, it
 LL> had everything to do with the prisoners being Muslim.  That is why
 LL> most, if not all, of the abuse was sexual in nature.  Homosexual
 LL> acts, men taking orders from women, etc., were all part of the
 LL> game.  To Muslims, such forms of humiliation is worse than death. 
 LL> Especially if those photos are shown to their loved ones.

I suspect that whoever masterminded or authorised the abuse, torture
& murder at Abu Ghraib & elsewhere was targetting the credibility of
the US military, as much as anything. Some claim that US soldiers
returning from Vietnam 30 years ago were spat on & ostracised.

I can't see people like Lynndie England returning to a hero's
welcome, & the dirty deeds in Abu Ghraib take people's minds off
the deaths of soldiers that Bush is so reluctant to acknowledge.

The perception of the US military will be that they are evil, a
couple of chops short of a barbecue, and disposable. The images
of prisoners on boxes, packed in ice, smeared in brown stuff,
attacked by dogs, piled nude in heaps etc etc do nothing to
advance the image of the US military, or the US as a nation.

Cheers, Steve..

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