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Re: undefined

#51

Post by stevoski »

dimitar wrote: post #34

I recently read "Kill everything that moves" which is about Vietnam ( http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/0... ). Apparently in Vietnam there was contempt for local life, massacres like My Lan were almost policy, fueled by the need to present bodycounts. But policy and incentives alone wasn't what caused this - courts martial were ineffective, even if they had plenty of evidence and the militar…

I recently read on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ that for every American who died in the Vietnam war, Americans killed roughly 50 Vietnamese soldiers and (mostly) civilians.

Re: undefined

#52

Post by Demagog »

This is a war. Yes it is disgusting, I know, but don't be suprised. Every war looks like that. This is no fking video game or propaganda video from CNN or other TV news station. Well U.S army is no better than USSR army or Nazis. Only difference is that, American fight for money/oil and not philosophy or politics.

Re: undefined

#53

Post by [deleted] »

stevoski wrote: post #44
logn wrote: post #12

Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He later confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in May 2009. The London newspaper further noted “graphic nature of some of th…

> don't get life sentences An accusation and some photos should not automatically be grounds for life imprisonment. But yes, there should be an investigation and a trial.

[deleted]

Re: undefined

#54

Post by s_q_b »

logn wrote: post #12

Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He later confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in May 2009. The London newspaper further noted “graphic nature of some of th…

These photos are the same as those published by the Boston Globe and determined to be fakes from a pornography website. A mod should kill this story.

Re: undefined

#55

Post by twoodfin »

stevoski wrote: post #38

Terrible story; but why is this relevant on Hacker News? Edit: Furthermore, where's the skepticism? Why did this so quickly become the top story? Another comment suggests they are from a porn site, and may actually not really be american soldiers committing rape. Addendum: I really need to find another source for my regular startup news and advice.

Maybe most of the moderators are sleeping in since it's a holiday weekend in the U.S.

But that this isn't getting flagged into the basement is really sad. I hope pg is happy with how letting things off the leash with Snowden stories went.

If this pattern hold up, the anti-Israel posts start up next.

EDIT: Aaand a minute later it's dead. Thanks, mods!

Re: undefined

#56

Post by s_q_b »

rdl wrote: post #50

The last time I saw these specific photos in a story (== propaganda piece), it turned out they were from a Balkan porn movie involving consenting (I guess) actors, with a military theme, taken out of context. This was maybe 8 years ago. I'm certain US forces have committed rape. Generally, against other US forces. There were probably some cases of US vs. Iraqi rape, such as the Tikrit child-rape referenced in the sto…

Just verified that these are in fact the same photos the Boston Globe ran and then retracted because they were fakes from a pornography video.

@mladenkovacevic The story of those horrific events has been told many, many times in news outlets, television programs, and books. I think there's even a whole section in The Shadow Factory about it, which I assume is pretty much required reading on HN these days.

This story wasn't "killed" in any sense, it's simply old. The only ostensibly new information here was the photographs, which were fakes.

Re: undefined

#57

Post by bayesianhorse »

The evidence seems to be rather thin. Those photos don't even prove that the rapists where white Americans (as opposed to lets say Arabs), that the rapes happened in an American installation and that the victim was Iraqi. Let's see if other media can substantiate these claims.

Also "rape as a weapon of war" is a very constructed explanation of whatever happened or did not happen. Soldiers, historically, don't need orders to rape anyone, quite the opposite is actually enforced quite rigorously...

Re: undefined

#58

Post by adwf »

dvanduzer wrote: post #20
riffraff wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the headline as it's now "Rape of Iraqi Women by US Forces as Weapon of War (asiantribune.com)" does not in any way suggest that pictures of said rape are present in the page.

As your sibling poster mentioned, and I hadn't quite realized, a "trigger warning" is a legitimate context for this complaint. The not-safe-for-work crowd has no truck here, regardless of what time or day it is.

NSFW is generally used as a synonym for "potentially inappropriate". And yes, they do have truck here.

I clicked the article expecting some further developments or prosecution over Abu Ghraib, I wasn't expecting to see graphic rape images. A NSFW tag would have been very welcome.

Not what I wanted to see when having breakfast with my family and reading the news...

Re: undefined

#59

Post by mladenkovacevic »

bayesianhorse wrote: post #45
dimitar wrote: post #34

I recently read "Kill everything that moves" which is about Vietnam ( http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/0... ). Apparently in Vietnam there was contempt for local life, massacres like My Lan were almost policy, fueled by the need to present bodycounts. But policy and incentives alone wasn't what caused this - courts martial were ineffective, even if they had plenty of evidence and the militar…

There will always be reasons for war. We can just hope that the reasons appear ever more rarely. Punishing Assad for chemical warfare - without mounting a full scale invasion - is one of the better reasons we've seen yet.

I think you will find that you're in the minority.

Re: undefined

#60

Post by dodyg »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #48
Jach wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment should be upvoted to the top. I think the consensus is that they originally came from a porno. The Boston Globe had to apologize for running with them when the story originally aired: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/arti...

You are absolutely right. The images are not of a real rape but a porno one. The fact that the real images haven't been leaked yet is an indication of how protected the troops are, as in "showing this would endanger the troops by making them targets for retaliation". It makes me wonder though, who is making this site writing about the real rape, murder and torture by US soldiers, then attaching fake porno pictures. I…

No, it's not indication of anything. By default criminal justice system do not publish images of a crime.
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