"It Ain't Torture if Cheerleaders do it!!"

[dcole50]

A lawyer defending Specialist Charles Graner, who is accused of being a ringleader in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, argued that piling naked prisoners in pyramids was a valid form of prisoner control.

"Don’t cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?" said Guy Womack, Sergeant Graner’s lawyer, in opening arguments to the ten-member military jury at the reservist’s court martial.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1434680,00.html

No matter how you feel about the Abu Ghraib scandal, you have to admit that this is a weak defense. If cheerleaders across the nation were naked and forced to form pyramids, then he might have an argument.

[Useruser666]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1434680,00.html

No matter how you feel about the Abu Ghraib scandal, you have to admit that this is a weak defense. If cheerleaders across the nation were naked and forced to form pyramids, then he might have an argument.

Hold on, let me visualize that for a moment! :wow

[dcole50]

hahah. the attorney may be able to save his argument if he can bring in photographic prove of these nude cheerleader pyramids. ;)

i just can't believe that was part of his opening argument ....

[Useruser666]

hahah. the attorney may be able to save his argument if he can bring in photographic prove of these nude cheerleader pyramids. ;)

i just can't believe that was part of his opening argument ....

In a technical sense it is a valid argument. It doesn't sound right though, but there are much worse forms of information extraction.

[bigzak25]

torture, no. prisoner abuse, yes...duh. wouldn't want our soldiers mistreated like that. but that's all it was....mistreatment.

[SpursWoman]

"Don’t cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?" said Guy Womack, Sergeant Graner’s lawyer, in opening arguments to the ten-member military jury at the reservist’s court martial.


That's stupid.

[Clandestino]

yeah, our prisoners get their heads cut off!

[Useruser666]

yeah, our prisoners get their heads cut off!

And then their heads are stacked in a pyramid.

[Extra Stout]

That's stupid.It doesn't appear Sgt. Graner will be receiving the best legal counsel the military can offer. Either his lawyer is a doofus, or he's being influenced to offer up a weak and unconvincing defense.

[GoldToe]

He's toast.
But I wonder if the members of the jury are concerned about their careers?
If they find him guilty then they may face early retirement.
If they find him not guilty then they will be accused of siding with their employer, the military.

[Hook Dem]

I don't think it is torture either but I do agree that it is mistreatment and should be rewarded with some form of punishment. It's my opinion that this particular individual actually "enjoyed" what he was doing.

[ididnotnothat]

I don't know how anyone could have enjoyed tapping that Lindy chick.

[Hook Dem]

I don't know how anyone could have enjoyed tapping that Lindy chick.
I'm with you on that one!!!!!!!!

[Useruser666]

I thought you said taping, like as in taping a bag over her head.

[Yonivore]

None of what happened at Abu Ghraib could be classified as "torture," but, having said that, I believe the people involved in that juvenile behavior are being treated appropriately.

Now, do I think the U.S. is engaging in torture? Absolutely. But, trust me, it is taking place where no one will ever see it and being conducted by people who are known for their discretion...if not their compassion.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Now, do I think the U.S. is engaging in torture? Absolutely. But, trust me, it is taking place where no one will ever see it and being conducted by people who are known for their discretion...if not their compassion.

Why do i get the feeling that sick son of a bitch gets pleasure from knowing this

[JoeChalupa]

I do too.

[ChumpDumper]

Don’t cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. I think the "six to eight times a year" part is the funniest for some reason.

[ClintSquint]

I'm just glad Cheerleaders do it.

[Nbadan]

None of what happened at Abu Ghraib could be classified as "torture," but, having said that, I believe the people involved in that juvenile behavior are being treated appropriately.

Now, do I think the U.S. is engaging in torture? Absolutely. But, trust me, it is taking place where no one will ever see it and being conducted by people who are known for their discretion...if not their compassion.

Your a phycho Yoni. The state should never sanction torture because your giving our enemies the justification to also torture, humiliate, and murder. We have methods to extract information that are better than this, and we are better than this.

[SpursWoman]

Last I heard, they didn't need justification to torture, humiliate and murder our POW's. Or is sawing off heads on video tape considered humane these days?

And no, I don't think that makes it okay for us to do the same.

[Nbadan]

Last I heard, they didn't need justification to torture, humiliate and murder our POW's. Or is sawing off heads on video tape considered humane these days?

How do we know who is doing the sawing? We have so many psy-opts and murderous mercinaries running around in Iraq its hard to tell the good guys from the bad anymore. That's not to say that some of the hostage slayings have been legit, but the Nick Berg slaying in particular was very suspecious given the tapes relationship with Zaraqawi , whom has been dead for years.


Arab linguists have said the man posing as the Jordanian Zaraqawi did not speak with a Jordanian dialect. Others have suggested the man reading the written statement may not have been a native speaker of Arabic.

Zaraqawi was missing one leg and had been outfitted with an artificial leg that did not fit or function properly. He was unable to walk or stand normally with his ill-fitting limb. No man in the group showed evidence of such an infirmity.

Numerous indigenous sources have said Zaraqawi was killed by a US helicopter attack months ago when he was unable to move quickly enough to escape the targeted house. While others managed to exit the house in time to survive, he died in the collapsed building.

As any surgeon will testify, the alleged beheading was a fake. A beheading would result in a tremendous amount of spurting blood. There would have been blood everywhere had an actual beheading taken place. When the executioner holds up Berg's head immediately following what is represented as an actual decapitation of a living person, there is no significant blood flow from the neck or blood splatters showing anywhere on the executioner. Furthermore, the cut was simply too neat to have been done crudely and with such amazing speed by a man wielding a knife. Anybody who has ever carved a turkey knows there is something wrong with the supposed beheading. The suspended head looks more like Berg had been neatly beheaded by a guillotine.

The orange jumpsuit was standard US military issue to men in custody. It is unlikely Berg would have continuing wearing a US custodial uniform if he had been released by the military as they claim. The fact he was still wearing the suit is both anomalous and suggestive. One is forced to speculate as to whether there was an immediate transfer of Berg from the US military to unknown persons, thusly preventing Berg from discarding his US prison garb.

Several of the men in the film were fat by Iraqi standards. If they were Feyadeen or mujahadeen, they probably have been living underground since the first days of the occupation. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been shown on news stories as they have marched and demonstrated. One would be hard pressed to point out a single fat man among these thousands.

Some men had what can only be described as pasty-white hands. Once again, one would be hard pressed to find Arab men with pasty-white hands.

The lack of spurting blood suggests Berg was already dead at the time of the alleged decapitation. It is possible Berg's dead body was displayed with his head already partially or totally severed. In any case, he almost certainly was killed before the staged beheading. If so, it suggests the captors had no stomach for an actual beheading of a living person, and they opted to fulfill their assignment quietly and with the least amount of gore.

The scream that is heard has been interpreted as a woman's scream by many viewers. Videotape cognoscenti have further said the scream was amateurishly added to the tape.

The U.S. government translation of one statement made on the film is: "Does al Qaeda need any further excuses?" This is a falsification. The actual statement urged fellow insurgents to get off their hind ends and do something. One assumes the translator being used by the US military is a native speaker of Arabic, so this cannot be explained as an innocent flub. This suggests the US government wanted to inject an alleged al- Qaeda group into the murder of Nick Berg.

Iraqis who have seen the videotape on Arabic news broadcasts are universally saying the men in the film are not Iraqis. Are they saying this partly because the speaker does not employ an Iraqi dialect? Where does their certainty come from?

Firearms experts have stated the AK-47 carried by one man was a "Gilal." This actually is an Israeli-made weapon that improves on the famous AK- 47. Feyadeen and other insurgents almost universally use AK-47s.

The man in the videotape who is purported to be Zarqawi is wearing a gold ring. This is absolutely proscribed by Islamic law.

The US military has stated that Berg was never in US custody and that he had been in custody of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi police adamantly deny he was ever in their custody. On April 1, an e-mail from Beth A. Payne, the U.S. consular officer in Iraq, was sent to the family of Nick Berg. It stated that Ms. Payne had located Nick, and he was currently in custody of the US military. We have to conclude that either the email was bogus or the US military has been lying.

The chair that Berg was seated in during the filming was a standard issue military chair of the exact same kind as seen in a color photo taken at the Abu Ghraib Prison. The chances a terrorist cell would be using this same chair are minimal at best

Rense.com (http://www.rense.com/general52/anom.htm)

[violentkitten]

it has to be some texas rangers in conjunction with the bexar county sheriffs department and sapd who were secretly flown in to iraq to oversee the torture. we all know law enforcement is full of ex-military types who would jump at the chance to fuck with some mohammeds. probably some of the same guys who busted nbadan for selling pictures of his children nude once upon a time were sent over there.