US soldiers allegedly trading pictures of dead Iraqis & Afghanis for porn

[Joe Sick]

WARNING: The links in this story are to graphic, gruesome pictures of dead bodies, and some include graphic sexual content as well.

I won't even copy the whole blog post, because the name of the site itself is indecent. Don't say I didn't warn you!

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/us-soldiers-allegedly-trading-pictures.html

"I spent the good part of this weekend following up on a report by the East Bay Express, an alternative paper in San Francisco, alleging that US soldiers are posting gruesome pictures of dead Iraqis and Afghanis online in exchange for access to hard-core amateur porn."

Is this acceptable to you?

[Sarge]

Hey, everybody has to have a hobby:laugh:

[Mad Mike]

I don't know but my BS detector is ringing. If true it's pretty disturbing but those pics look doctored to me. Maybe someone with military combat experience can comment.

[Sarge]

Oh.....I don't know. I've seen a few pics of previously alive arseholes. Ya gotta have proof or no one believes your stories.

Personally, I still want a finger with a ruby ring on it before I punch out:wink:

[SkinsD]

I am speechless, the photo you have posted is nothing compared to what is found on the actual site.

Perhaps the worst were the pictures of the remnants of the suicide bomber. I'm suprised the skin around his face survived.

That being said I think it is very sad to see people posting pictures like that. I couldn't care less about exposing a suicide bomber but I was concerned about how it only took me 3 seconds to get access to death shots and hardcore porn on this site.

[Joe Sick]

I am speechless, the photo you have posted is nothing compared to what is found on the actual site.

Perhaps the worst were the pictures of the remnants of the suicide bomber. I'm suprised the skin around his face survived.

That being said I think it is very sad to see people posting pictures like that. I couldn't care less about exposing a suicide bomber but I was concerned about how it only took me 3 seconds to get access to death shots and hardcore porn on this site.

To be truthful, I never went to the actual site. The blanked out images didn't leave much to the imagination.

Hardcore porn is rather easy to find on the internet. These soldiers pulling the Lynddie England pose on dead people is more disturbing to me.

I just don't see what the point of taking pictures is. Why not post pictures of all the "positive" things going on in Iraq?

[Destino]

Doesn't posting a ton of pictures making a joke of dead Iraqi's send the wrong message? I mean besides the obvious moral issues one has to have with graphic death being paraded out as comedy, isn't this counter productive?

[Fergasun]

Why don't you whiny whiners go whine someplace else. Those soldiers are protecting your right to whine, and my right to call you guys out. They can do whatever they want just as long as I'm not seeing pictures of dead American citizens. I'm sure photos like this have existed for many years, just now that we have the Internet they're transmitted around the globe faster. Are you so shocked? Yes, it is poor judgement... it's a personal picture that for some reason was posted in a very public forum.

Let's think about the context... I'd imagine some of the fellas in these pictures (I didn't look at the site) have seen some of their brothers-in-arms get killed, maybe some of them had to tell their brothers that everything is going to be okay while they know deep down inside that the poor SOB doesn't have a chance. It's war, what do you expect? It brings out the worst in people...

Do you want to live in a sanatized world where people only have happy loving feelings for other people... every nation and peoples linked hand in hand singing kum-ba-ya on a clear night around the campfire? Is that why you have to freaking ***** and complain about how our soldiers are acting? Is that why you'd rather us fight a war with our hands tied behind our back, for fear that some Iraqis might get a little hurt as collateral damage?

If you have a problem with our soldiers, I wish you'd go find another country. You dishonor those who shed blood for you. Do you even care about your fellow American citizens or only yourself and your agenda and power?

People wants to say "No WMD, wah, wah... soldiers are dying, wah... let's do this without getting our hands dirty, wah... people think I'm a whiny fool, wah!" I trust our President's decision to mobilize our armed forces to protect us, he's using the best intelligence there is.

I know this is a ranting post, directed at no one in particular, but pointing out this **** seems to me the exact definition of how not to support our soldiers. If I have a family member who does something stupid... I'm not gonna point out to him how "Gee, maybe it's not the best thing to do to (insert stupid thing here)... get out of the family...". Supporting him would say, "I know that was dumb, but I'm on your side... you learned your lesson, there will be consequences but we'll move on with you as my brother". But I see that people who don't agree with me are saying... "Boy, that was some dumb **** you pulled... before I even understand the context or why you did that or how it got on the Internet... I'm gonna say I hate your guts and don't protect me anymore... I don't appreciate your sacrifice on my behalf because you had a lapse of judgement".

It is a dumb thing to do, post that online... but I'm sure those soldiers can easily be identified and whatever discipline the Army feels is necessary... I'll trust in that.

[Larry]

But don't worry folks.

This is actually part of our government's new War on Porn, Bush's second-term program to appeal to his base, encourage soft money contributions, and increase government power.

Aparantly, Bush has been convinced that US soldiers have far more abilities to find porn than those necktie-wearing FBI guys do, and Alberto Gonzales has written a legal paper saying that since the soldiers are overseas, then laws that prohibit using the military for domestic law enforcement don't apply. This paper also concludes that since the operation is a military one, the words "commander in chief" in the Constitution give the administration authority to (continue to) ignore the rest of the Constitution.

Rumors that the same legal paper also agrees that the Commander in Chief's verbal comment that Farenheit 911 was "obscene" did, in fact, constitute a (deniable) order to have Michael Moore kidnapped and tortured have not been denied by the Administration, unless "I wouldn't print that", can be interpreted as a denial.

[\sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell]

[herrmag]

You mean people react "out of character" during a time of war? Are you telling me that getting shot at and risking your @ss everyday doesn't play into strange behavior? The hell you say! As for the suicide bombers, f' them. Good. Let them be ridiculed. It sure as hell beats them being held up as martyrs and heroes.

[Larry]

You mean people react "out of character" during a time of war? Are you telling me that getting shot at and risking your @ss everyday doesn't play into strange behavior? The hell you say! As for the suicide bombers, f' them. Good. Let them be ridiculed. It sure as hell beats them being held up as martyrs and heroes.

Of course, anybody so much as fails to bow at an American body, we should just MOAB their whole city.

Teach those bleepin savages about the proper way to conduct a civilised, decent, war.

[Thiebear]

Go to newsfilter and you can see both... been checking it out for years..

You got to see it here also... a10's blowing people apart next to a truck

Plane video hitting a crowd.

Sniper shots from both sides...

Again, with 150 thousand different people you are going to get a couple of "everything". Murders/Rapes/Robberies/Pedophiles/Abu Graib/Michael Moore movie lovers etc... You cant have a cities worth of people without having the weirdness that goes with it....

Posing after a kill is not that big of deal.. I know a Marine that has a friend with a knife kill... He's the only one in the group and everyone knows it... They kill for us and do it well.. For you it gruesome, for them it's their lives and adrenaline is hard core...

[jpillian]

That is disgusting stuff. As a soldier, there should be no rejoicing in the killing of your enemy -- except in the fact that you are still alive.

War does funny things to a man psychologically. Certainly, the macabre "humor" which is evident in the casual sharing of these pictures has been noted by psychologists in the past. Most people are not wired to deal with the guilt of killing; even when the person they killed meant them harm. After a while, this sort of humor (posing with corpses and the like) helps the killer deal with the internal anguish. From the studies I've read, approx. 98% of the population, when forced to kill (either by circumstances or conditioning) feel near debilitating remorse; while only about 2% have the sociopathic wiring to kill and feel no guilt.

In the end, this stuff is pretty despicable; but it is certainly not new, and given the circumstances, predictable -- even understandable.

The only thing new is the availability of the Internet in a combat environment -- which makes casual access to such images more easily available.

[jpillian]

By the way, I believe this picture may be from Desert Storm. I was not aware of any American soldiers or Marines wearing the "chocolate chip" Desert Camoflauge Uniforms in Iraq. In addition, the glasses on two of the soldiers are the old school "TEDs" (Tactical Eye Devices), which have been out of issue for awhile.

Just goes to show, this is a fairly common occurence in every war (not that it excuses it).

[PlayAction]

Gives you a new perspective when you hear/see the enemy holding up a charred leg of an American pilot (Iran hostage rescue); pulling a dead American soldier through the streets (Mogadishu); or hanging the charred remains of an American security contractor up (Iraq). Is that stuff really "over the line" compared to these pictures or just more of the the same stuff?

[webnarc]

Gives you a new perspective when you hear/see the enemy holding up a charred leg of an American pilot (Iran hostage rescue); pulling a dead American soldier through the streets (Mogadishu); or hanging the charred remains of an American security contractor up (Iraq). Is that stuff really "over the line" compared to these pictures or just more of the the same stuff?

Good point, and welcome to the firing line.

[Raub]

That picture is BS. We don't wear those uniforms anymore. Those are the old chocolate chips from the Gulf War (Desert Storm).

[MoeRedskins]

People wants to say "No WMD, wah, wah... soldiers are dying, wah... let's do this without getting our hands dirty, wah... people think I'm a whiny fool, wah!" I trust our President's decision to mobilize our armed forces to protect us, he's using the best intelligence there is.

:laugh: :laugh: