R/E/P Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: 1 2 3 [All]   Go Down

Author Topic: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.  (Read 4899 times)

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228

‘There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes.'

Retired General Anotnio Taguba is commenting on an independent report by medical doctors regarding prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guatanamo.  He himself was a casualty of his own investigation, being forced out of the Army after presenting an honest report.

CNN has covered the story about General Taguba commenting on the new report.  This is not a left-wing smear or overstatement.

Sy Hersh wrote the original story of Taguba's report and forced retirement.  You can read a transcript here of Hersh speaking with Wolf Blitzer.

    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/17/sy-hersh-on-tagubas -abu-ghraib-investigation/

This obviously goes much higher than the poor low level troops who have already been prosecuted for their role.  This goes VERY high up in the government.

Thank God someone has now officially said it.  The U.S. and the Bush Administration have committed war crimes.

Now, let's get these fuckers to The Hague.
Logged

amorris

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1029
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2008, 06:03:18 PM »

panties on their heads? electric ball shocks? decapitating civilians for building schools? lieing about when they knew about the panties and the balls?
Logged

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2008, 06:51:02 PM »

From the CNN transcript:

CNN reporter, Barbara Starr: ...these physicians say they found evidence that these men had been badly mistreated, tortured, if you will. the report says that there was evidence of “beatings, electrical shock, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation and sodomy.” Dr. Allen Keller was one of the medical evaluators: We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse often causing lasting suffering, whether it was scars from beatings or nightmares, sexual humiliations that they endured.

EDIT: Not one mention of the dreaded "panties on head" method.
Logged

Hallams

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1067
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2008, 09:37:22 PM »

In a few other saloon threads the topic of checks and balances in the political system have been mentioned ( it's a bit of a hobby horse of mine ).I admit my knowledge of USA politics is limited but it seems that these types of independent reports and other investigations play a major role in keeping politicians accountable, mostly as their term of office is drawing to an end, e.g., Watergate.
Administrations of a certain ilk tend to get away with as much as they can in response to appeasing the pressure groups that drive the behind the scene agenda. Given the situation that many Americans do have real concerns for how "democracy" is functioning in their nation I would think that these efforts to bring accountability etc,would be encouraged, supported, and actively driven by public pressure.
 What is alarming to me is the fact that we seem to be revisiting   a dynamic that existed in the 7o's / 80s but now the focus is the Middle East, not South America, a time when the USA showed NO respect for the democratic process of sovereign nations.
 
Logged
Chris Hallam.
Melbourne, Australia.
 

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2008, 09:51:46 PM »

I'm afraid you're right about the repetition of a destructive cycle the U.S. inflicts on the world - and itself.

At this time, unlike Vietnam in the 70s, the general public couldn't care less.  There is no draft so no one is afraid of being called up to fight this war.  The war is in an "unseen" country fought by our "unseen" troops (although we all see these "I support the troops" stickers everywhere) with "unseen" casualties.  In the U.S., if it isn't in your face it doesn't exist.  So the government can do what it wants.  And it does.
Logged

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2008, 09:56:07 PM »

Ah.  Here's the quote of the day:

Torture “is basically subject to perception,” CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong.”
Logged

Jessica A. Engle

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 736
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2008, 10:47:01 PM »

I heard about this recently on the radio.  I know it is long, but it is worth reading.

This is a clip from an article in the New York Times 2005.  It talks about the reverse-engineering of the SERE program (used to train US Soldiers).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snip from: "The Experiment" by Jane Mayer
The New Yorker, July 11, 2005



....SERE, which stands for “Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.” SERE was created by the Air Force, at the end of the Korean War, to teach pilots and other personnel considered at high risk of being captured by enemy forces how to withstand and resist extreme forms of abuse. After the Vietnam War, the program was expanded to the Army and the Navy. Most details of the program’s curriculum are classified.

Each branch of the military now has its own version of SERE training. The flagship program is conducted by the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where Green Berets train. There are several levels of sere courses; one, Level C, includes a gruelling exercise in which trainees endure days of physical and psychological hardship inside a mock prisoner-of-war camp.

This spring, I spoke at length with several people familiar with the SERE programs, including a longtime affiliate. According to these sources, a small number of psychologists and other clinicians oversee the SERE program at Fort Bragg. The supervisors discreetly check on trainees’ progress at frequent intervals, keeping extensive charts and records of their behavior and medical status. Numerous experiments aimed at documenting trainees’ stress levels have been conducted by SERE-affiliated scientists. By analyzing blood and saliva, they have charted fluctuations in trainees’ level of cortisol, a stress hormone, and these data have been used to understand what inspires maximum anxiety in the trainees.

The theory behind the SERE program is that soldiers who are exposed to nightmarish treatment during training will be better equipped to deal with such terrors should they face them in the real world. Accordingly, the program is a storehouse of knowledge about coercive methods of interrogation. One way to stimulate acute anxiety, SERE scientists have learned, is to create an environment of radical uncertainty: trainees are hooded; their sleep patterns are disrupted; they are starved for extended periods; they are stripped of their clothes; they are exposed to extreme temperatures; and they are subjected to harsh interrogations by officials impersonating enemy captors. (Colonel Hans Bush, a spokesman at Fort Bragg, declined to “disclose the details of the specific challenges our students face.”) Research in social psychology has shown that a person’s capacity for “self-regulation”—the ability to moderate or control his own behavior—can be substantially undermined in situations of high anxiety. If, for instance, a prisoner of war is trying to avoid revealing secrets to enemy interrogators, he is much less likely to succeed if he has been deprived of sleep or is struggling to ignore intense pain.

According to the SERE affiliate and two other sources familiar with the program, after September 11th several psychologists versed in SERE techniques began advising interrogators at Guant
Logged

Jessica A. Engle

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 736
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2008, 10:57:52 PM »

Oh, and here's some bonus reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
Excerpt: Third Geneva Convention

(Article 13): "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated."
(Article 13): "...Prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity."
(Article 17): "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind."
(Article 25): "Prisoners of war shall be quartered under conditions as favorable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power who are billeted in the same area."
(Article 27): "Clothing, underwear and footwear shall be supplied to prisoners of war"
Logged

danickstr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3641
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2008, 11:13:30 PM »

panties on  the head seems to comply with article 27
Logged
Nick Dellos - MCPE  

Food for thought for the future:              http://http://www.kurzweilai.net/" target="_blank">http://www.kurzweilai.net/www.physorg.com

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2008, 11:32:32 PM »

Yes, panties on the head do indeed seem to comply with the Geneva Convention.  But you're not including the emotional stress panties on your head can cause.  I know.  I've been there.  And it wasn't pretty.
Logged

PRobb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2057
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2008, 12:02:52 AM »

I saw an interview with Justice Mad  Scalia where he defended torture. When asked if torture violated the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Bill of Rights he said no. Why? Because torture isn't punishment! He actually said that with a straight face.

Keeping the whackos from a solid Supreme Court Majority is the biggest reason to vote for Obama.
Logged
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
-Edmund Burke

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #11 on: June 19, 2008, 12:08:13 AM »

I agree it's a strong reason.  I just don't "get" who these people are.  Where is their humanity, reason, compassion, common sense?

It's hard to imagine such evil so blatantly displayed and so consistent in its performance.
Logged

Hallams

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1067
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #12 on: June 19, 2008, 12:29:13 AM »

Barry Hufker wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 14:08

I agree it's a strong reason.  I just don't "get" who these people are.  Where is their humanity, reason, compassion, common sense?

It's hard to imagine such evil so blatantly displayed and so consistent in its performance.


I know this seems like going back a few years but when the cold war ended it was an opportunity to "give peace a chance"
That opportunity has been missed and the USA has lost a lot of goodwill internationally. It could have/should have displayed its "Leadership" in international affairs in a manner that made her people proud to be American. I feel the need to say i have no problem with the American people and really don't want to be involved in verbal bashing the US etc, but as you stated Barry, "i just don't get who these people are."
Logged
Chris Hallam.
Melbourne, Australia.
 

John Ivan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3028
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #13 on: June 19, 2008, 03:36:06 AM »

To follow Barry and Chris, I would ad that it's not only the folks at the top, Justices, Presidents, CIA heads and so on the I don't "get".. It's the common man too. It almost seems like a genetic disorder or confusion... I heard some things this week from people who I think are otherwise pretty smart and with it people that really made me wonder.. The things that are being said about Obama are really freakin' me out..

"You know, I'm not sure he's really a Christian!".. --"I'm not sure America is ready for a black president"--

"Tax And Spend Liberal"

"Soft on touriststsiststs.." The bush way of saying it..

It's all nonsense and I hope these things are handled differently by the Democratic Party this time. As in, with an absolutely brutal hand. We can not allow things to be said and go un answered this time.. Very swift and powerful responses need to be made in the face of this kind of garbage..
Logged
"Transformation is no easy trick: It's what art promises and usually doesn't deliver." Garrison Keillor

 

Daniel Farris

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2439
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #14 on: June 19, 2008, 05:38:33 AM »

John Ivan wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 00:36

"Tax And Spend Liberal"


As offensive as the rest of those remarks are, this one reflects a kind of stupidity that simply can't be reasoned with.

DF
Logged

mgod

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4020
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #15 on: June 19, 2008, 10:54:02 AM »

Barry Hufker wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 20:32

But you're not including the emotional stress panties on your head can cause.  I know.  I've been there.  And it wasn't pretty.

I suppose that depends on who was wearing them at the time.

Hallams wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 21:29

I know this seems like going back a few years but when the cold war ended it was an opportunity to "give peace a chance"
That opportunity has been missed and the USA has lost a lot of goodwill internationally. It could have/should have displayed its "Leadership" in international affairs in a manner that made her people proud to be American. I feel the need to say i have no problem with the American people and really don't want to be involved in verbal bashing the US etc, but as you stated Barry, "i just don't get who these people are."

In the modern US, the market rules all. And I mean ALL. We who live here are in the largest petri dish in history and a grand experiment is being conducted on us, with our earnings. We are rats in a maze here, but there is no goal in the maze, simply dead-ends where we find ourselves inundated with federally protected toxins at our own expense.

Politics was called the art of compromise, but here it is simply, and in a way purely, about power. The Supreme Court is as corrupted by power as any other institution. The very thing that the last decent republican president warned us about has come to pass, as he predicted it would. Under any reasonably functioning government, Sandra Day O'Connor would be in prison now for betraying her oath and her country. But criminal behavior at the highest levels is an acceptable fact now here, as long as it doesn't interfere with profits.

The ownership society that conservatives like to tout invites us to buy grains-of-sand-sized shares in the con-game, so that we too can benefit from our own evisceration and that of our brothers and sisters.

This not democracy, it not representative government, it is not a republic - it is capitalism run free and in control of everything. Everything.

DS
Logged
"There IS no Coolometer." - Larry Janus

MagnetoSound

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2589
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #16 on: June 19, 2008, 11:07:24 AM »

mgod wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 15:54


In the modern US, the market rules all. And I mean ALL.

(snip)

But criminal behavior at the highest levels is an acceptable fact now here, as long as it doesn't interfere with profits.

The ownership society that conservatives like to tout invites us to buy grains-of-sand-sized shares in the con-game, so that we too can benefit from our own evisceration and that of our brothers and sisters.

This not democracy, it not representative government, it is not a republic - it is capitalism run free and in control of everything. Everything.

DS



Great post, Dan.

You have just articulated my exact feelings about modern Britain too.

Logged

Music can make me get right up out of my chair and start dancing or it can get me so pumped up I have to walk around the block.
It can also knock me back and make me sit there and cry like a little baby. This shit is as powerful as any drug!!!
- Larry DeVivo

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #17 on: June 19, 2008, 11:29:37 AM »

I agree as well Dan.

The funny thing about "tax and spend" liberals is that this Republican administration has created *more* government instead of less, which is the Republican philosophy.  And although they aren't "taxing" (but are in fact giving tax rebates), the are spending trillions of borrowed money we will have to repay with interest, just to fund this war.

If tax and spend liberalism is a danger, don't tax and do spend is a worse combination, especially when mixed with cronyism and suppression of civil rights.

BTW, Obama does indeed have a website for squashing all of these stupid rumors.  It is: ttp://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

or: http://www.fightthesmears.com
which will lead you to the link above.
Logged

Edvaard

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1334
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2008, 03:46:44 PM »

Barry Hufker wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 21:56

Ah.  Here's the quote of the day:

  ... terterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials ...  “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong.”






They just don't make detainees like they used to.




Logged

rankus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5560
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2008, 03:55:39 PM »



The problem is that it is the losers that get tried for war crimes... Probably the best (only?) reason for staying in the war from the admins perspective.

As long as they don't lose the war.....


Logged
Rick Welin - Clark Drive Studios http://www.myspace.com/clarkdrivestudios

Ive done stuff I'm not proud of.. and the stuff I am proud of is disgusting ~ Moe Sizlack

"There is no crisis in energy, the crisis is in imagination" ~ Buckminster Fuller

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #20 on: June 19, 2008, 04:14:33 PM »

Well I knew this when I posted but I can dream.  I just checked to make sure, the U.S. and China (now there's a pair)are not members of the International Criminal Court.  That's because they both promote freedom and peace so well.
Logged

RSettee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6796
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #21 on: June 19, 2008, 06:56:36 PM »

Barry Hufker wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 20:51

I'm afraid you're right about the repetition of a destructive cycle the U.S. inflicts on the world - and itself.

At this time, unlike Vietnam in the 70s, the general public couldn't care less.  There is no draft so no one is afraid of being called up to fight this war.  The war is in an "unseen" country fought by our "unseen" troops (although we all see these "I support the troops" stickers everywhere) with "unseen" casualties.  In the U.S., if it isn't in your face it doesn't exist.  So the government can do what it wants.  And it does.


If I was American, I would have quit the army. Or found any way possible to get out of it. What a waste of time and money. Think of all the soldiers that are still over there, that want to go home. Lenny Kravitz addressed this best on his new one--with "Back In Vietnam" and "I Wanna Go Home".

As i've said before, in 10-20 years, we'll be seeing a large portion of children that will have a thorough hatred for George W. Bush for not having a father when growing up...because they were serving in the army. Bookmark this message and check back in 10-20 years....I guarantee this will happen.

Thanks for ruining thousands of childrens' lives, Bush. Those with deceased dads, or those that have never got back to see their children since 2001--other than postcards and phone calls and videos maybe. What Bush has done is essentially forced thousands (tens of thousands?) of children to grow up in a one parent family.

That's GOTTA have some long term percussions.
Logged

RSettee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6796
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2008, 07:10:41 PM »

mgod wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 15:54


In the modern US, the market rules all. And I mean ALL.

(snip)

But criminal behavior at the highest levels is an acceptable fact now here, as long as it doesn't interfere with profits.

DS


NFK, man. I totally agree. What i've always had a problem with is how illegality can slip through the cracks or be ignored or willfully and purposely be covered up. It's all to do with power. Think of it, if you're complicit in knowledge that you know is wrong, and you're high up the ladder, what are you gonna do? Rat out? Probably not. At best, you'd probably plead ignorance.

The ones that are in power are greedy, and the ones that stand to be next in line for that power--or are a major part in the power scheme towards or near the top--are just as greedy. The last thing they're gonna do is ruffle feathers and do what's "proper". I've seen companies let workers get away with tons of shit that's wrong on a smaller level. And that's just your run of the mill, basic company that has nothing to do with government politics! Transpose that to the government and multiply it by numerous times the money, powerm prestige and control, and you've got a serious problem.

Politics and politicians make me ashamed to be a part of the human race. So many of them use and abuse it to facilitate their needs and what benefits them the most. And I don't trust any of 'em....their smokestacks, their nuclear energy, their promises, their genetically modified seeds and growth hormones in meats. The ironic part is that they're only leaving that mess for their children, and their children's progeny.

THAT is a scary thought. They don't even care enough to leave a world for their kids that can sustain itself. They only care about what they see, what they do, what they know. They're not the ones that have to stick around long enough to care or fix the long term problems to their short term high yields, record profits and mass automation at any cost, by polluting and putting skilled workers out of jobs for automation and assembly line robots. Just like Bush, he's not the one that has to clean up his own shit....it's left for the next generation, the next administration, the next person.
Logged

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2008, 11:45:17 PM »

Staying in the army.  The number of self-inflicted wounds is soaring as soldiers don't want to return to Iraq for another tour of duty.  The rate of suicides is high...

Logged

Daniel Farris

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2439
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2008, 11:45:05 AM »

rankus wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 12:55

The problem is that it is the losers that get tried for war crimes... Probably the best (only?) reason for staying in the war from the admins perspective.

As long as they don't lose the war.....


In *this* war, finding a definition for victory is hard enough. I can't imagine having to come up with a definition for defeat.

DF
Logged

rankus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5560
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #25 on: June 20, 2008, 01:54:09 PM »

Daniel Farris wrote on Fri, 20 June 2008 08:45

rankus wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 12:55

The problem is that it is the losers that get tried for war crimes... Probably the best (only?) reason for staying in the war from the admins perspective.

As long as they don't lose the war.....


In *this* war, finding a definition for victory is hard enough. I can't imagine having to come up with a definition for defeat.

DF



I was thinking about that myself as I posted that comment.  How would we define a "loss" and if so who would actually be the "winners"  (other than the soldiers that get to come home as noted above... sad)

I can't believe the Supreme Court hasn't brought charges against the admin.  Hopefully they will after the election?

Is there any US body that has enough clout to "get these guys"?

Logged
Rick Welin - Clark Drive Studios http://www.myspace.com/clarkdrivestudios

Ive done stuff I'm not proud of.. and the stuff I am proud of is disgusting ~ Moe Sizlack

"There is no crisis in energy, the crisis is in imagination" ~ Buckminster Fuller

mgod

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4020
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #26 on: June 20, 2008, 02:04:06 PM »

rankus wrote on Fri, 20 June 2008 10:54

I can't believe the Supreme Court hasn't brought charges against the admin.  Hopefully they will after the election?

Laughing Laughing  Laughing Laughing  Laughing  Laughing  Laughing  Laughing  Laughing

Funny guy. Of course, you can laugh at us - you're in Canada. But just you wait. You're next. The dominos of indepedent government are falling.

rankus wrote on Fri, 20 June 2008 10:54


Is there any US body that has enough clout to "get these guys"?

Yes - Halliburton, Exxon/Mobil and Merck. But why would they?

DS


Logged
"There IS no Coolometer." - Larry Janus

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #27 on: June 20, 2008, 03:20:47 PM »

Bush will find a way to declare some sort of victory in Iraq before he leaves office.  There is no "winning" as the situation is too complex.  There is no "losing" as their is nothing to win.  We have the government.  Traditionally that's "winning" but this is indeed like Vietnam.  The most you can do is stay even with the enemy.  It is a civil war now.  Various Iraqi factions can win amongst themselves by grabbing power but we can't.  Iraqis don't want us there.  Once we leave, all hell will break loose.  Al Qaida will be defeated and some warlord will grab the government.

Logged

RSettee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6796
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #28 on: June 22, 2008, 03:42:24 AM »

Barry Hufker wrote on Fri, 20 June 2008 14:20

Bush will find a way to declare some sort of victory in Iraq before he leaves office.  There is no "winning" as the situation is too complex.  There is no "losing" as their is nothing to win.  We have the government.  Traditionally that's "winning" but this is indeed like Vietnam.  The most you can do is stay even with the enemy.  It is a civil war now.  Various Iraqi factions can win amongst themselves by grabbing power but we can't.  Iraqis don't want us there.  Once we leave, all hell will break loose.  Al Qaida will be defeated and some warlord will grab the government.




I have to say Barry, that in the Saloon, you're definetely the most level headed guy in here. It's too bad that guys like you don't run for office....but then again, the good guys never run, anyways....those that did have good intentions realize quickly that they either have to erode and shave away morals and ideals to win and appease those that helped you win (ie: sponsors, backers and donors for political campaigns likely have their "concerns" seen to....), or their support and shot at winning the office is done. And/ or their shot at being re-elected is done. I could never live with myself, making decisions based on that, rather than doing the proper and ethical thing.

But if you think of it, for every "right", there's a "wrong".....if you put more cops on the streets, the public likes you but the criminals hate you. If you lower gas prices, the consumers like you but OPEC and the oil companies hate you. If you lean to the left, the left side likes you but the right side hates you and vice versa. I wouldn't want to be in office or control, just based on the fact that you have to smooth out the differences and problems between two sides, and you can't really please both sides, you have to basically pick one, anyways.
Logged

Barry Hufker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8228
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #29 on: June 22, 2008, 01:49:22 PM »

Ryan, you have given me much too nice a compliment.  But I thank you for it.  I realize I would be so bad at handling power (alternating manically between not managing at all to starting my own torture camps).  I'm so bad at power that I've never even nominated myself for department chair at my school.  I know it would be utter chaos.  But at least I see that and George Bush never did about himself, so I can at least feel superior even if I wouldn't be superior.

Logged

stevieeastend

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1297
Re: "Bush Administration Committed War Crimes"- Gen. Taguba, U.S.
« Reply #30 on: June 25, 2008, 12:39:38 PM »

mgod wrote on Thu, 19 June 2008 15:54

Barry Hufker wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 20:32

But you're not including the emotional stress panties on your head can cause.  I know.  I've been there.  And it wasn't pretty.

I suppose that depends on who was wearing them at the time.

Hallams wrote on Wed, 18 June 2008 21:29

I know this seems like going back a few years but when the cold war ended it was an opportunity to "give peace a chance"
That opportunity has been missed and the USA has lost a lot of goodwill internationally. It could have/should have displayed its "Leadership" in international affairs in a manner that made her people proud to be American. I feel the need to say i have no problem with the American people and really don't want to be involved in verbal bashing the US etc, but as you stated Barry, "i just don't get who these people are."

In the modern US, the market rules all. And I mean ALL. We who live here are in the largest petri dish in history and a grand experiment is being conducted on us, with our earnings. We are rats in a maze here, but there is no goal in the maze, simply dead-ends where we find ourselves inundated with federally protected toxins at our own expense.

Politics was called the art of compromise, but here it is simply, and in a way purely, about power. The Supreme Court is as corrupted by power as any other institution. The very thing that the last decent republican president warned us about has come to pass, as he predicted it would. Under any reasonably functioning government, Sandra Day O'Connor would be in prison now for betraying her oath and her country. But criminal behavior at the highest levels is an acceptable fact now here, as long as it doesn't interfere with profits.

The ownership society that conservatives like to tout invites us to buy grains-of-sand-sized shares in the con-game, so that we too can benefit from our own evisceration and that of our brothers and sisters.

This not democracy, it not representative government, it is not a republic - it is capitalism run free and in control of everything. Everything.

DS



Dan,

thanks for this interesting post from an american on America. As a european I can tell you that we are on the same track. Where not there yet but the administration of the european union does everything to get us there: capitalism run free.

So who are these people?
In an enviroment like that it´s easy for people like the bush administration to act without control. They are just criminals doing their thing. Verbrecher as we call it here. The ones who are responsible for war, the most painful and destroying power in the world.

Pages: 1 2 3 [All]   Go Up
 

Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.066 seconds with 16 queries.