Iraqi Prisoners

The ill-treatment of Iraqi Prisoners by some US soldiers (the case against the UK soliders may be faked) is totally indefensible. NZ Pundit makes the point that the treatment given to the prisoners is a lot better than the Husseins used to dish out their prisoners.

He’s right, but frankly once you have to start arguing relativity that at least it is not as bad as Saddam’s torture, you’ve lost almost all the moral high ground (I am referring to the US, not NZ Pundit).

The soldiers who did this need to be sent to prison for decades. I can not beleive how moronic they have to be to do it in the first place, let alone take photos as some sort of trophies (not suggesting it would be okay as long as they didn’t photograph it). They need to be aware they they personally will be responsible for dozens if not hundreds of their fellow soldiers being killed, and maybe tortured if captured alive.

The only good thing about this is that it does get exposed, people get sacked or jailed, and it gets condemned from the President down. And most of all the public reacts with 99% revulsion – something which would not be the case in many countries unfortunately.

The other very unfortunate consequence is that every terrorist or enemy combatant who is in custody can now claim they were beaten up, and even if they were not, their claims will be far far more believable now.