Gore-for-Porn swap by US soldiers in Iraq

[Fearless]

War Pornography <br><br>Gore-for-porn swap by US soldiers in Iraq makes Abu Ghraib look like kid stuff.<br><br>By Chris Thompson<br><br>Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2005<br> <br>If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site NowThatsFuckedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for letting him post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography. <br><br>At Wilson's Web site, you can see an Arab man's face sliced off and placed in a bowl filled with blood. Another man's head, his face crusted with dried blood and powder burns, lies on a bed of gravel. A man in a leather coat who apparently tried to run a military checkpoint lies slumped in the driver's seat of a car, his head obliterated by gunfire, the flaps of skin from his neck blooming open like rose petals. Six men in beige fatigues, identified as US Marines, laugh and smile for the camera while pointing at a burned, charcoal-black corpse lying at their feet. <br><br>The captions that accompany these images, which were apparently written by the soldiers who posted them, laugh and gloat over the bodies. The soldier who posted a picture of a corpse lying in a pool of his own brains and entrails wrote, "What every Iraqi should look like." The photograph of a corpse whose jaw has apparently rotted away, leaving a gaping set of upper teeth, bears the caption: "bad day for this dude." One soldier posted three photographs of corpses lying in the street and titled his collection, "die haji die." The soldiers take pride, even joy, in displaying the dead. <br><br>This is a moral catastrophe. The Bush administration claims such sympathy for American war dead that officials have banned the media from photographing flag-draped coffins being carried off cargo planes. Government officials and American media officials have repeatedly denounced the al-Jazeera network for airing grisly footage of Iraqi war casualties and American prisoners of war. The legal fight over whether to release the remaining photographs of atrocities at Abu Ghraib has dragged on for months, with no less a figure than Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers arguing that the release of such images will inflame the Muslim world and drive untold numbers to join al-Qaeda. But none of these can compare to the prospect of American troops casually bartering pictures of suffering and death for porn. <br><br>"Two years ago, if somebody had said our soldiers would do these things to detainees and take pictures of it, I would have said that's a lie," sighed the recently retired General Michael Marchand – who as Assistant Judge Advocate General for the Army was responsible for reforming military training policy to make sure nothing like Abu Ghraib ever happens again. "What soldiers do, I'm not sure I can guess anymore."<br><br>...<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-09-21/news/news.html" target="top">Link</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>(I haven't worked up the courage to look at the pictures) <p></p><i></i>

[dbeach]

poppy o pushes dope<br>jr got the porn industry<br>jeb extortion<br>marvin blackmail<br><br>americas first criminal family <p></p><i></i>

[albion]

the italian press had this last month. blogger nur al-cubicle translated into english:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/08/what-noble-people-what-noble-cause.html">nuralcubicle.blogspot.com...cause.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>i looked at the pix last month and i'm kinda sorry i did. very disturbing. <p></p><i></i>

[Fearless]

as the prison torture. <p></p><i></i>

[albion]

Remember this from late last month?<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Army to better monitor blogs, Web sites</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>        <br>BY Frank Tiboni<br>Published on Aug. 30, 2005<br><br>Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, wants military leaders to better monitor soldiers’ Web sites and blogs for the posting of sensitive information that could aid the enemy.<br><br>Schoomaker said some soldiers, for example, continue to post pictures “depicting weapon system vulnerabilities and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).”<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.fcw.com/article90522-08-30-05-Web">www.fcw.com/article90522-08-30-05-Web</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>So anybody who finds out what kind of "tactics, techniques and procedures" General Schoomaker favors is, by definition, "aiding the enemy." Makes perfect twisted sense, doesn't it? <p></p><i></i>

[Starman]

I weep for the unspeakable horror and foul sickness of war, and the horrific maiming of spirit and morality it inflicts -- as so evident in the mocking insults of soldiers who captain their grisly photographic 'trophies', symptom of a contemptuous trivialization of death, suffering and violence, one step from 'it don't mean nuthin!'<br><br>Such sweeping, inclusive mental-conditioning, equating porn with gore, desensitizing our inherant compassion for other people and by-passing reason entirely -- Soldiers become blithe and indifferent to the death of 'others', many to a significant extent not even analyzing the idiocy of the Iraq war.<br><br>I have absolutely NO interest in checking-out these photos -- I have a pretty good idea what they're like and would probably regret it anyway. It's a helluva indictment of America's moral collapse, a symptom of failed leadership and institutionalized hypocrisy.<br>Pathetic.<br>Starman<br><br>More from the article by Chris Thompson:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-09-21/news/news.html">www.eastbayexpress.com/Is.../news.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>--excerpt--<br>Wilson's Web site has made the news before – but not for posting pictures of murdered human beings. Last October, the New York Post reported that the Pentagon was investigating Wilson for posting naked pictures of female soldiers in Iraq. After a few months, the Post reported that the Pentagon had blocked soldiers in Iraq from accessing the Web site, which had posted five more pictures of nude female soldiers, some of whom had posed with machine guns and grenades. After the Post's stories, Wilson says, he was bombarded with requests for interviews from newspapers and radio stations. Even after he started posting photographs of corpses late last year, media inquiries focused exclusively on his nudie pics. It wasn't until reporters from the European press contacted him last week that anyone took notice of Wilson's snuff-for-porn arrangement with American troops. <br><br>"The soldiers thing, I think the Italians picked it up first," Wilson says. "I've done interviews with the Italians, the French, Amsterdam. ... They were very critical, saying the US wouldn't pick it up, because it's such a sore spot. ... It raises too many ethical questions. ... I started to laugh, because it's true." <br><br>According to Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Conway, Pentagon policy may be ambivalent when it comes to soldiers posting pictures of mutilated war victims. "There are policies in place that, on the one hand, safeguard sensitive and classified information, and on the other hand protects the First Amendment rights of servicemembers," he says, adding that field commanders may issue additional directives. "In plain English, if you're on the job working for the Department of Defense, you shouldn't be freelancing. You should be doing your duty." <br><br>If American soldiers are always considered representatives of their government while in the field, international law clearly prohibits publishing and ridiculing images of war dead. The First Protocol of the Geneva Conventions states that "the remains of persons who have died for reasons related to occupation or in detention resulting from occupation or hostilities ... shall be respected, and the gravesites of all such persons shall be respected, maintained, and marked." The first Geneva Convention also requires that military personnel "shall further ensure that the dead are honorably interred, if possible according to the rites off the religion to which they belonged." <br><br>Nothing about this appalling trade could begin to be called "honorable." This latest scandal doesn't just demean the bodies of the dead – it demeans us all, in ways we won't begin to understand for years. One of the pictures on Wilson's site depicts a woman whose right leg has been torn off by a land mine, and a medical worker is holding the mangled stump up to the camera. The woman's vagina is visible under the hem of her skirt. The caption for this picture reads: "Nice puss – bad foot."<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[maggrwaggr]

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.undermars.com/">www.undermars.com/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>This is a real mix of photos from soldiers in Iraq. Everything from sunsets, to shots of inside Saddam's palaces, to pictures of body parts and gore mashed in tank treads. The captions under the gory ones are very derogatory, much like the above article mentions.<br><br>I can only imagine that in wartime, one must necessarily take such an approach to deal with the horrors of what you're seeing and doing. I really don't blame the soldiers for it, at least not all of them. They're the victims along with everybody else. This war was a war-crime from the time the bombs first fell, and it continues to be one.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Inanna]

are going to be coming home one day and when our city is under martial law dealing with us. You sure you cannot really blame them?<br><br>I don't know what to say. I have always been in support of our troops and held them in the highest esteem. I think I watched too many shows like A Few Good Men. This really scares me and if this is what it's come to, they'll have no compunction against doing the same to us. <br><br>This is just a horror. <p></p><i></i>

[thumper]

does anyone have an resources about gang members or convicted felons being forced to join the army like Alex Jones always talks about? <p></p><i></i>

[maggrwaggr]

It is horrible, it's ghastly, and the people involved will be scarred forever, and they will scar others, especially after they come back.<br><br>I know this, yet when I imagine myself in their place, I can easily see how I could develop the most black sense of humor toward the horrors going on around me. How else would you deal with it other than killing yourself?<br><br>But they're all gonna be seriously fucked up. They already are, and now others are going to have to pay the price for generations to come. <p></p><i></i>

[dbeach]

PTSD affects many but not all combat Vets..there is help available at the VA and the over 210 Vet Center counseling programs..Iraq Vets are encouraged to go to the VA and the Vet reps attend the military discharge meetings.<br><br>Many of them are in counseling now BUT Many more are expected..I think that politically many will see through the bush lies..lots of them are Reserves and NGs ..much diffferent than the regular forces..I see more that the black-ops and the more specilaized units have taken the poisoin pill and will turn on the US CItizens . NO WAY for most OF THE rest..<br><br>they wanna come home get their lives back on track..THEY ARE much better informed than the VN Vets and are really treated well . Thier big issues are health care and benefits <p></p><i></i>

[jenz]

no excuse <p></p><i></i>

[Martha]

After seeing and hearing about the sickening things such as this (no, I didn't look at this link, but I've seen a couple of others) coming from Iraq, I really have a hard time "supporting our troops". I know, logically, it's not all of them doing this but after hearing about all the things going on, it just makes me sick.<br><br>A thought just occured though, is it possible that this is some kind of thing, to turn people against the troops? But why would "they" for lack of a better word want that? I'm not trying to excuse anyone for this, there is no excuse for this, just wondering.<br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=martha@rigorousintuition>Martha</A> at: 9/24/05 8:14 am<br></i>