Helicopter shot down north of Baghdad

[Busyman]

[QUOTE=Skizo]

So when allied soldiers are caught on camera/film striking poses next to combatant prisoners etc... ISo when allied soldiers are caught on camera/film striking poses next to combatant prisoners etc... I don't really give a shit.QUOTE]

All we did was humiliate our prisoners a bit. Making them do naked pyramids and stuff. Big deal. They're prisoners at least. If an American is caught, even a civilian, we see footage of his head being sawed off with a machete (spelling?) or stuff like in that video. You can't even think that the two things are equally bad and say, "I don't really give a shit." as if the two things are equal and offset each other.

Yup imo they are opposite ends of the spectrum. However they both violate the Geneva Convention.

Not to give Bush any credit but there is some shit in Geneva Convention that is rather outdated and soft.

It almost makes being a POW like a guest at a hotel (besides the fact you can't leave).

[GepperRankins]

All we did was humiliate our prisoners a bit. Making them do naked pyramids and stuff. Big deal. They're prisoners at least. If an American is caught, even a civilian, we see footage of his head being sawed off with a machete (spelling?) or stuff like in that video. You can't even think that the two things are equally bad and say, "I don't really give a shit."

the civilian thing is wrong, no question. i don't understand why they do it, they get no support from anyone. i'd go so far as to say it wasn't saddam loyalists or religious extremists that killed margaret hassan, because it does nothing for their cause.

what can they realistically do about american soldiers though? handing them straight back would be, well... imagine if we let theres go. keeping them prisoner would be impossible in a country where they can't stay still. all they can do is execute them and hope americans decide the war is costing too much human life

[hobbes]

In response to Gepper Rankins, who thinks we should be nice while they chop heads off.

The Geneva Convention is not a code of ethics, but a way to give the families of a loved one captured a sense of comfort.

If you are engaged with a foe who will obey the rules it is your penultimate goal to make sure the POW's you possess are treated properly. In such as case, any confirmation of abuse would be mean that your soldiers would be abused.

When you face an enemy who has no regard for this convention and will torture all of your soldier regardless that you hold theirs in the highest regard, then the gloves are off.

The sky is the limit, do want you want.

[Samurai]

skizo -i did include the word 'etc'...

i didn't want to start upsetting certain people on the forums, as i'm sure some have lost loved ones in this war.

[GepperRankins]

In response to Gepper Rankins, who thinks we should be nice while they chop heads off.

The Geneva Convention is not a code of ethics, but a way to give the families of a loved one captured a sense of comfort.

If you are engaged with a foe who will obey the rules it is your penultimate goal to make sure the POW's you possess are treated properly. In such as case, any confirmation of abuse would be mean that your soldiers would be abused.

When you face an enemy who has no regard for this convention and will torture all of your soldier regardless that you hold theirs in the highest regard, then the gloves are off.

The sky is the limit, do want you want.

like i said they can't stick to the geneva convention. killing US soldiers is the only chance of winning power back. america has the means to stick by the geneva convention, and what does humiliating prisoners achieve?

sorry but i don't follow this eye for an eye thing.

[Money Fist]

i would much rather be humailiated and be alive at the end of the day than be killed

these pricks are animals
hope they die in some kind of agonizing way

[GepperRankins]

maybe not the best choice of avatar

[hobbes]

like i said they can't stick to the geneva convention. killing US soldiers is the only chance of winning power back. america has the means to stick by the geneva convention, and what does humiliating prisoners achieve?

sorry but i don't follow this eye for an eye thing.

Torture is not a necessary way to kill. You can shoot them and they will be dead before they know it. Slitting the throat is an intentionally cruel act and filmed for to evoke fear in those who see it. Imagine being threatened for days with this grim fate. It is not done quickly and decisively, but drawn out over days or weeks, to inflict the greatest psychological torture.

Why should we not torture our enemies? Not humilate, but torture. The humilation was done by individuals and was not a tactic to extract important military information.

These people need to know that they will not be getting 3 square meals a day and a nice cell if they are captured, but tortured beyond belief. This would curtail recruitment and make people think twice about being accomplice to these people.

All is fair in love and war.

[3RA1N1AC]

i get the sense that the civilized world has drawn up artificial distinctions between barbaric methods and civilized methods of waging a war. and degrees of superiority, with computer-guided missiles & crushed-by-the-wheels-of-a-tank at the top of the moral scale, and scalped-or-beheaded-and-rolled-into-a-mass-grave at the bottom of the scale. out-of-sight is out-of-mind, almost.

if confronted by a more civilized enemy than ourselves, who find our tactics distasteful and barbaric, would we indulge their outrage and stop using things as inhumane as bullets & knives, only handle war-related items with silk gloves and blindfolds on, or stop using soldiers to settle disagreements between our leaders? okay that's hypothetical, but my point is that these barbarism vs. civilization things are relative rather than absolute, and quite possibly very subjective in nature.

[Skiz]

skizo -i did include the word 'etc'...

i didn't want to start upsetting certain people on the forums, as i'm sure some have lost loved ones in this war.

I'm wasn't trying to sound like an ass. I like you Samurai. We've had a good repore on this board with one another. I wasn't attacking you but I certainly disagree with you on this one.