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Frat Boys Gone Wild

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

Dear BuzzFlash:

I sincerely apologize for the graphic nature of the following content, but I strongly believe that drastic action must be taken to shut down the dangerous and ill-conceived policies of the Bush Administration. I am hoping that publishing this will help to get their attention and get them to seriously reconsider their apparent widespread acceptance of the abuse of prisoners.

Reports are that the Bush White House has apparently ratified a policy of torturing people, believing that by calling them "detainees" instead of "Prisoners of War" that they can legally get by with it. Regardless of how they label their captives, the torture of anyone is not only un-American, it is also immoral, as well as ill-conceived because it obviously escalates the hatred of all things American and places our troops into even more dire circumstances than they already were.

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"An Iraqi journalist working for U.S. network NBC, who was arrested with the Reuters staff, also said he had been beaten and mistreated, NBC said Tuesday.

"Two of the three Reuters staff said they had been forced to insert a finger into their anus and then lick it, and were forced to put shoes in their mouths, particularly humiliating in Arab culture.

"All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers laughed, taunted them and took photographs. They said they did not want to give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse."

"...The military's conclusion of its investigation without even interviewing the alleged victims, along with other inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the report, speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the U.S. government is taking this issue" - excerpt, Reuters, NBC Staff Abused by U.S. Troops in Iraq

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5184201

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U.S. definition of torture applicable to POW's (but apparently not applicable to Bush's "detainees")

"...torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05102004/utah/165148.asp

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" ...The program got approval from President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and Bush was informed of its existence, the officials told Hersh." excerpt - Report: Rumsfeld Authorized Secret Program

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...

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Just the other day, President then walked out before the cameras, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his Defense Secretary, and thanked him for doing a "superb job". He then went straight away to view photographic evidence of the abuse of "detainees".

After viewing the photos, which, among other things, depicted soldiers sodomizing prisoners with chemical lights, his spokesman stated that Bush was disgusted, but notably didn't modify his opinion of Rumsfeld.

http://www.latimes.com/wireless/avantgo/world/la-fg-prison11may11.story

YET Bush publicly wonders "Why do they hate us so much?".

Obviously, he doesn't "get it".

Regardless of whether or not Bush understands, the larger question is whether or not we, as Americans, so jaded as to not understand that sleep deprivation, starvation, beating, kicking, rape, close-shackling for hours, blindfolding, subjecting prisoners to temperature extremes, stripping them naked and photographing them under deeply humiliating circumstances are all forms of torture?

And how could our President have viewed the photographs and not immediately been compelled to modify his congratulations still hanging in the air? Could it have been because he was pleased to see those photos graphically depict that his policy of torture and abuse was properly being executed?

Even though 70 to 90% of the prisoners were innocent?

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto...

Is it even possible that the Bush Administration might begin to "get it" if threatened with broad distribution of the info above along with my "restored" photograph of the BushCo Frat (below) to the rank-and-file membership of the Christian Coalition?

What would Pat Robertson say?

And just why is the Catholic Church remaining so silent about it?

"Hey!... I don't care what's in those reports... this AIN'T torture!*"

*for background, see: Limbaugh: Abu Ghraib was just a big frat party!
http://archive.salon.com/politics/war_room/2004/05/06/limbaugh/

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Is it true that his mother named him "RUSH" because it reminded her of the traditional week that her college frat boyfriends used to begin their drunken hazing rituals?

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And speaking of "detainees", please withhold my name and contact info so that I don't end up on the wrong end of a light stick at the ongoing frat style party down in Camp X-ray myself!

A BuzzFlash Reader

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION