Date: Sun, 2 May 2004 23:36:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: yippi yi eh (New Yorker Article)


Hmm. I agree with greg partially. His observation is
correct, the other bits incorrect.

This whole nudity as an arab taboo shit is
misdirection by the media (and by extension, the
government). 

It's not like the guards walked over to a few
prisoners and said.

"Hey, Charlie, we want to take a couple of snaps for
the folks back home, why don't you be a nice prisoner
and give this other raghead a blow job. or bend over
so we can sodomize you with a broomstick."

Those prisoners had to have the crap beaten out of
them before they would be compliant enough to be put
in those positions. A point not dwelt upon by the
newsmen. Just as they went to pains to state that the
wires were not actually plugged into any thing. Just a
mean practical joke.   

The choice of pictures released is something which
underwent a lot thought at the pentagon.

According to the New Yorker, CBS has pictures of
prisoners being beaten and kicked and attacked by dogs
and physically tortured. The army report says they
even have videos. But none of those pictures were
released.

Then Bush and Blair took the line that some shit
happened, but it wasn't as bad as under Saddam.

So, what greg is saying is right. The message the
media is trying to put out is "Some bad shit done by a
few bad apples, but really more of a cultural and
religious misunderstanding."

More of a fraternity initiation gone wrong, then war
crimes material. And if the Arabs and Muslims get
their testicles twisted about it, its just because
they are homophobes and prudes.

The reactions printed from the arab world are also
very selective. emphasising "They humiliated the
prisoners by striping them, and taking dirty pictures"

Now where greg is wrong. It is not weither Christians
or Jews or Atheists would be as offended or humiliated
or tortured by being stripped naked.

Rather that the nudity and pyramids etc. are the
AFTERMATH of torture. 

The prisoners piled on top of each other are NOT being
tortured at that moment.

This is after the torture, when they will do anything
to escape further torture. In that pile, those
prisones are not thinking, "OH, How shameful, my
islamic values are being ripped apart, I'll tell them
everything". No. They are focused on their guards, not
wanting to miss the next command, anything to delay
the next beating. And that is what CBS and the
Generals are trying to direct attention away from. The
tireirons and truncheons. 

This is very well thought out damage control program
aimed at the domestic market.
 
And it is working, even carp who usually has a pretty
good BS radar, is taking it as something to do with
religious mores, and repressed sexuality(?), equating
the "naked torture" iraqis with evangelists getting
caught in motels, and not the old fashioned bamboo
strip under the fingernail sort of stuff that it
actually is.

I really would not surprised if the British Photos,
which appeared so miracleously just two days after the
CBS thing, aren't fakes. By releasing those Brit
pictures and then proving them to be staged, they will
cast doubt, however irrational, about the US pics.
Giving those americans who might not be able to
reconcile the pics with their national self image a
easy way out. "Damn photographs, must have been faked,
you can do anything on a computer, I've heard."

> Like all religions and religious nuts, Islam is more
> perfect in the telling 
> than the acting.  One of the dirty secrets of
> Taliban Afghanistan and the 
> whole fundamentalist madrassas movement is the
> pedophilia that runs rampant 
> when you repress women and sexuality.

Homosexuality and pedophilia in Afghanistan and the
madaris is not a dirty little secret. Anyone who knows
the region, knows about it. Homosexuality, some
Afghans have this ancient greek attitude towards it.
Otherwise, as %age of the population I think it is the
same as all over the world.  And as far as the madaris
pedophilia goes, that seems to be a preacher disease. 
It would be at the same level as the catholic church
in the US. Or Hindu Ashrams in India, or Shaolin
Temples in China. Or Buddhist monastaries in Tibet.
Take your pick of preachers.


Cheers
Ali


	
		
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