Yes, we're supposed to be above all that. We're supposed to be the Good Example, the Right Way, the Caesar's Wife. And yet there we are on film, making fun of prisoners and allegedly tormenting them.
No, it wasn't right, nor proper, nor acceptable. Yes, the wrongdoers should be censured.
But this apology business....
No, we should NOT have apologized. Have any of the Iraqi or Arab world apologized for capering in the streets when US military were killed? Has anyone come forth and apologized for Jessica Lynch? Thomas Hamilll? Pat Tillman?
For 9/11?
I'm sure we were listening, and not one word arrived.
I don't care if we're supposed to be Better Than That.
We shouldn't have apologized.
The majority of the indidents seemed like fraternity hazing more than real atrocities. Jessica Lynch was shot in the back and had multiple bones broken. The prisoners in the news got urinated on and had to stand around naked. Well, that's just humiliation. Urine washes off. But at least they didn't get shot in the face or chopped into pieces while still living.
Posted by: Scooterdeb at May 8, 2004 10:39 AMFraternity type hazing or not, it reinforces the Muslim worlds opinion of Americans as immoral degenerates. The sexual related torture/humiliation is far worse to them then killing or maiming would be.
It showed very poor judgment and incredibly poor supervision. What's worse is that the supervisors and the intelligence community personnel involve won't be punished. Only the troops in the pictures will be. That's the way the military works.
I bet Osama was gonna apologize, but was running low on cassette tapes and has to save them for special Jihads and his audition tapes for Pakistani Idol.
Posted by: Norman at May 9, 2004 06:53 AMDon't ever expect an apology from AFME (angry fanatical muslim extremists). It's all part of the game. The entire cultural group hates us, the groups they influence hate us, and nothing you do can change that.
We will do what we can for other cultural groups in Iraq that are more tolerant of us. Those groups are who I worry about, and who I have compassion for. And as far as I can tell, we've already won them over.
As for AFME, they are enemy targets and nothing more.
Posted by: the_toxic_avenger at May 9, 2004 07:31 AMAll the apologies (and endless news coverage) makes us look sooooo weak...........
Posted by: tallglassofmlik at May 9, 2004 02:48 PMI, for one, absolutely LOVE that this is such a big deal. It proves that -- not only we, but, all the world -- expect a higher standard from the US of A. We tear ourselves apart just figuring out what to do about a 9 year old boy named Elian Gonzales while the rest of the world looks for excuses to tell us we're not who we want to be. That the Secretary of Defense would see fit to acually appologize to the world for chicken-shit like this makes me damn proud to be an American. Chaw on that, Al-Jazeera (or however you spell yer propogandin' name...).
Posted by: Tuning Spork at May 9, 2004 08:00 PMI am saddened that Americans did this. I don't think this helps our cause. BUT: *THIS* is not why the extremists hate us. It is NOT because we haven't done enough 'nice things'. They are opposed to what we stand FOR (not how we go about it). We either need to switch to their mindset our resign to being opposed (cause we aint changing their minds no matter how much we apologize or go about our business differently).
Posted by: matt at May 10, 2004 08:45 AM