Abu Ghraib, part deux

Oh for chrissakes! Here we go again! The "naked dude pyramids" return! Some of the newly broadcast pictures suggest further abuse such as killing, torture and sexual humiliation, Dateline said. Oh good so they just "suggest" torture, but don't actually offer any proof of torture. Well that's comforting. You'd think that would be enough. But no... the mere suggestion of impropreity almost mandates a MSM explosion of accusations and 24/7 coverage. Just look at the White House press corps after Cheney's hunting accident. You'd think he'd gone on a killing spree when the corps questions whether he should resign, why there wasn't an immediate press conference at the scene, and if it would have been worse if Whittington had died. The grainy still photographs and video images, which were swiftly re-broadcast by Arab satellite television stations, show prisoners, some bleeding or hooded, bound to beds and doors, sometimes with a smiling guard beside them. Well that's just fabulous. We won't print cartoons of Mohammed for fear of Muslim rioting, but we've got pictures of naked muslims holding hands naked and wearing silly hats (aka "torture") sure to cause rioting. Warm up the presses! For the record, I don't care if they print or air these new photos, but it doesn't speak highly for the credibility of the MSM. They could care less if there's rioting after these photos, but they care if there's rioting after the dreaded Mohammed cartoons? Please. At least be honest about why you decide whether or not to print/air something, because it's got nothing to do with whether or not any Muslims riot. The pictures stirred up more anger among Arabs, already incensed by the publication on Sunday of images of British soldiers apparently beating Iraqi youths and by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad printed in European papers. Duh. The MSM doesn't care if they riot as long as they don't burn any newspaper buildings. Muslims tell the papers not to publish the Mohammed cartoons, and spineless news agencies across the globe cower in fear. But if the government says don't publish these, they cry "Censorship!" and laud the reporter who defies the government as a hero, a whistleblower. The editor who publishes a Mohammed cartoon is a racist. It's sickening. "This is truly American ugliness that no other country in the world can compete with," Yemeni journalist Saleh al-Humaidi told Reuters. I say we have a contest... which country has done more "ugliness"? Which countries have purposefully targeted more innocent civilians for death? Which countries have tried and accomplished more genocide? Which countries more actively participate in real torture, involving branding, rape, cutting off of fingers, toes, or other appendages, resulting in permanent disability? Which countries do more honor killings? Which countries have more incidences of human rights abuses? I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the US is pretty damn close to the bottom of that list. "The Americans ought to apologize to mankind for their government's lie to the world that it is fighting for freedom and that it came to Iraq to save it from Saddam Hussein's oppression," he said. Hey, I've got an idea. Let's give Saddam Yemen, put him in charge. We'll let him do whatever he wants, and then we'll ask this buffoon what he thinks about abuse and oppression. [...] Some of the video footage apparently shows one prisoner bashing his own head against a wall, while some photographs appear to show corpses, said Carey. So the guy's an idiot. It's our fault he likes to smack his head against the wall? The program said some prisoners at Abu Ghraib had been killed when U.S. soldiers ran out of rubber bullets as they tried to quell a jail riot, and resorted to using live rounds. OK, so next time we'll just let them riot so they can kill and injure each other and not step in. WTF? We ran out of rubber bullets, so we were obviously trying every non-lethal method at our disposal to quell the violence. If we tossed in tear gas we'd hear cries of abuse. If we turned on high powered water hoses we'd hear cries of abuse (not too mention wasting a precious natural resource, so I'm sure environmental weenies would be pissed too. Double trouble.) If we turned off the power, blocking out all light, some prisoner would have tripped in the darkness and bruised his ass, so we'd still hear cries of abuse. Next time let them riot; let them kill each other. One picture showed what looked like cigarette burns on a man's buttocks. That's it! It's big tobacco's fault! I smell a lawsuit... Tell him not to sit on lit cigarettes. That ought to solve the problem. Carey said other images featured prisoners in sexually humiliating acts that were deemed too graphic to broadcast. Sweet... those horrible naked dude pyramids, but perhaps they took it to the next level this time, playing "Hey Mickey" and giving them pompoms to wave around. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been granted access to the images under U.S. Freedom of Information provisions, but the U.S. government is appealing the decision, Dateline said. Of course the ACLU's involved. You can smell them from 100 miles away. Nevermind that we prosecuted and convicted US servicemen for mistreatment at abu Ghraib. Let's just drudge the whole thing back up again. Next thing you know they'll say scheduling prisoners at abu Ghraib for hunting trips with Dick Cheney is torture. Where does the madness stop? UPDATE: BlackFive has some alternate photos of what happens at abu Ghraib the 99.99% of the time when prisoners aren't being forced to talk to women who don't wear burkas, put sheets on their heads, or tortured in other such ways... UPDATE 2: Michelle asks the same question... "Why the Abu Ghraib photos, but not the Mohammed Cartoons?" Again, I'm in favor of printing/airing both. But the media needs to explain themselves as to why they'll do one but not the other. I have my theory (see above), so we'll have to wait and see what MSM says... Waiting... ((Silence...)) (((Crickets chirping...))) ((((more silence...)))) Sigh...