Complaint Phone Number for CBS airing of Troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners

CBS Newspath | 4-28-04 | CBS Newspath

[Thanatos]

A REMINDER THAT IF VIEWERS HAVE COMPLAINTS OR COMMENTS ABOUT CBS PROGRAMMING, PLEASE DIRECT THEM TO 212-975-4321

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Call these 5th column SOBs. How dare they denegrate our men in Iraq. These boys probably should be trained to be jailers and interrogators instead of punished for pushing around the enemy. This is not your Grandfather's war!

[Peach]

I didn't watch. What did they show?

[saquin]

I only saw parts of it but basically it looked like naked Iraqi men with bags on their heads piled on top of each other in crude human pyramids, or standing naked, bunched together, with 1 or 2 U.S. MPs (one appeared to be a woman) standing , pointing, giving thumbs up with stupid grins on their faces. They were not flattering pictures, and I hope they disappear into the ether and get pushed aside by bigger news in Fallujah. If they are shown on Al Jazeera, it makes us look bad. They don't show physical abuse, but humiliation.

One other pic was of someone (I assume an Iraqi man) with a bag on his head and covered in what looked like a big shawl, standing on a small box with his arms out slightly from his sides with what looked like wires attached to his hands. The story is that he was told he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box. Again, no actual electrocution or physical abuse... just not pretty pictures.

[Peach]

Gotcha. THanks for the information.

[BossLady]

Who supposedly took these pictures???? Wondering...

[Howlin]

They took them themselves......and shared them with other people, who turned them in.

They were nasty.

[AAABEST]

Let me start by saying as a vet I have very mixed feelings about this war and the "mode" we're assuming in the world at large.

This said, is this the best they can do? Is it some kind of profound scandal that we made them do a "pyramid" and tricked them into thinking they'd get an electric shock?

I'd say that's pretty civil... so what if they're humiliated. Have the rules of war changed to where we can rip a human body to shreds but we can't hurt anyone's feelings?

I honestly don't get it.

[saquin]

They were nasty.

I agree... they were nasty. And they made me angry. Doesn't it just make you want to slap those soldiers around? What an idiotic thing to do. What they did could conceivably lead to more violence against their fellow soldiers. Why on earth would they do something so stupid... and then take pictures?!? If you're gonna do something like that, at least leave no evidence! Sheesh.

[BossLady]

Holy Merde! This can't be good....

[Howlin]

The pictures made me furious, but that guy's lawyer made my head explode.

Evidently they are going to claim that because they are reservists nobody told them not to do that, can you believe that?

Let them forever be exposed to the world as horrible AND stupid people, plus they need the book thrown at them!

[Howlin]

You have a point, AAA; that being said, they gave CBS the amunition.

[saquin]

Yeah, that killed me. "Nobody trained us properly... nobody showed us the Geneva conventions...".

What, you need to be told not to do things like that?

Their stupid, s***-eatin' grins in the pictures just made me want to throw a punch at the screen.

[torchthemummy]

I heard one of the higher ups state that they will be court martialed. This is not acceptable which is easy for me to say here at the computer but the fact is that all of these soldiers were specifically told (and 99.9% have honored) not to create pr disasters such as this may become. It will be short-lived but doesn't help.

[AAABEST]

It's not really that "nasty". It's much nastier when someone is blown apart into chunks of meat and their family is ruined forever.

I'm not trying to start a debate, just offering perspective. Who cares if they were humiliated?

[torchthemummy]

I should clarify that what is not acceptable is that these soldiers conduct themselves in such a manner as to create pr for al jazeera. I don't like saying it because I can imagine the strain of the situation but at the same time we have no choice but to discipline yhese particular troops.

[AAABEST]

Although I will say I do like the ideal of being kind to one's enemy. It makes you better than them.

[Bommer]

Their stupid, s***-eatin' grins in the pictures just made me want to throw a punch at the screen.

I agree! We should treat people who want to murder soldiers and our familys in our homeland with the respect they deserve. Personally, they should had been used as prison punks in the show OZ!

[saquin]

I think we're not as upset by what was done to the prisoners (let's face it, it's not as if they tore out fingernails one by one) as by the fact that the pictures (why on earth would you take pictures?!?) are very unflattering to our soldiers, and creates a PR bonanza for Al Jazeera, etc. That's unforgiveable. It's a betrayal of their fellow soldiers, and the sacrifices their fellow soldiers have made. That's my opinion.

[saquin]

I'm guessing you didn't see the pictures.
You would have been ashamed.
We're better than that.