Abu Ghraib: Children Raped by US Soldiers

MarcusGarvey

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/07/15/hersh_children_raped.html

From BoingBoing, and it seems to be getting attention on other sites in the Blog world now as well. If this is true and does come out it's going to really stir emotions and there'll be strong reactions from all sides.

From Daily Kos' partial transcript of a video of Seymour Hersh speaking at an ACLU event. He says the US government has videotapes of children being raped at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

" Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."

uberwolf

perversely I hope this is true.

Gurgle

Run half a million testosteroned up under-educated peasants on a power trip from anywhere into anywhere else, you're going to have rape & murder galore, including paedophilia.

Every single war in history has had its share, some more than others. This invasion seems to have had much fewer than your average war but no way was it going to be avoided.

If this turns into a big story, you'll have the usual suspects looking shocked and horrified, promising to investigate and punish the offenders if it turns out to be true. They aren't that naieve, they knew it would happen before the war started. Yet another reason not to start a war.

Orion

Whether or not this is true other abuses did happen. What gets me is how they could be so damn stupid to videotape it all. Never underestimate the supidity of anyone.

Hobbes

Originally posted by Macros42
Whether or not this is true other abuses did happen. What gets me is how they could be so damn stupid to videotape it all. Never underestimate the supidity of anyone.

The woman that had got caught in the pictures claimed she was doing it for PSYOPS. It is a normal thing they do.

But to do it to children would be extremly bloody stupid, as it would polorise everyone against the US.

uberwolf

Originally posted by Hobbes
as it would polorise everyone against the US.

including, perhaps lost importantly, the Americans themselves. Lose the hearts and minds battle at home as well...

AngelofFire

One must examine the culpability of the US government for this. Rumsfeld ordered the sexual humiliation of Iraqis last year, i suspect that this made it easier for U.S. soldiers to get away with paedophilia.He should be sacked and tried as a war criminal.

Sleipnir

Don't forget that at the moment this is just a report from a website on the interweb thing.
I wouldn't put too much credence in it until actual evidence is forthcoming from other sources.

AngelofFire

I put more credence in it than anything that Bush,Cheeney,Rumsfeld or Blair say about the occupation, and who would blame me

Sinner_Rez

I am no fan of Bush or his cronies, including that Blair chap, but I really do think that information like this should be taken with a grain of salt.

If the Army come out and deny it, people are just going to say its a cover up, and if people ask for proof of it actually happening the people who say its happening can just say that the pentagon has it blah blah. Its a very interesting media stunt but if it had the smallest piece of credence to it then the media would be all over it. Especially the European and world media.

MarcusGarvey

Originally posted by Sinner_Rez
Its a very interesting media stunt but if it had the smallest piece of credence to it then the media would be all over it. Especially the European and world media.

Yeah because that's how the media works...

This story comes from the guy who broke the initial story. I read about the initial stories on blogs first and then it jumped into mainstream media about a week later. So let's see what happens.

Sinner_Rez

Actually that is how the media works. I'm not trying to be funny but I work in PR and I work with the media everyday. If a story like this surfaces and there is any credence to it, any proof then they will jump all over it. Why, cause at the end of the day it sells.

MarcusGarvey

Originally posted by Sinner_Rez
Actually that is how the media works. I'm not trying to be funny but I work in PR and I work with the media everyday. If a story like this surfaces and there is any credence to it, any proof then they will jump all over it. Why, cause at the end of the day it sells.

Sure, if their financial motives were soley based on selling newspaper copies or getting good ratings maybe. So with your PR experience and everyday work in the media you can guarantee fox news would run with this story or CNN ?

Sinner_Rez

Why do you think I singled out the European and world media as opposed to American Media. The American Media is owned by some of the most powerful people in the world. Most of them Bush/Republican supporters. They will not report this kind of stuff until they can't deny it.

They are also not stupid. In a country where only 2% of the genpop hold passports and about 20% believe that its a bad thing that senator Kerry is fluent in french you can't underestimate how proud of the soldiers they are. Anything that sullies their name goes will make their ratings go down the tubes.

But the BBC, Reuters, AP, LeMonde and all those other major news agencies couldn't give a monkies. They think its a credible story they'll run it. newsweek carried a small piece on it a while ago, but no one else picked up on it.

Oh and by the way, all news agencies are interested in making money. Its why ratings wars happen.

shotamoose

Originally posted by Sinner_Rez
Actually that is how the media works. I'm not trying to be funny but I work in PR and I work with the media everyday. If a story like this surfaces and there is any credence to it, any proof then they will jump all over it. Why, cause at the end of the day it sells.

Well, it's not just anyone who's saying it, it's Seymour Hersh, who is a very highly respected journalist. And a US senator who has seen the some of the unpublished photos and videos says :"The worst is yet to come ... we’re talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges”

arcadegame2004

If this is through then Bush should definitely resign.

Sparks

Originally posted by arcadegame2004
If this is through then Bush should definitely resign.

Resign a few months before being voted out of office, with a full pension, a lucrative career doing various odd jobs on the boards of various companies, or at worse making hundreds of thousands giving lectures and writing books?
Yes, that's the perfect punishment for the commander-in-chief of an army with a policy of torture and sexual assault on prisoners.
:rolleyes:

And Sinner_Rez, this has been cropping up in the media more and more in the past few days.
http://www.thismodernworld.com/weblog/mtarchives/week_2004_07_04.html#001637

Hobbes

Originally posted by Sleipnir
Don't forget that at the moment this is just a report from a website on the interweb thing.
I wouldn't put too much credence in it until actual evidence is forthcoming from other sources.

More information on the person breaking the story.

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

Seems to be all part of Project "Copper Green" (OK'ed by Rumsfield). Fuking disgraceful.

Oh and the story is starting to hit mainstream papers. Btw, the pictures that broke over the last few months were taken sometime last year.