I didn't say you were advocating it. I said your idea that they would use them as trophies was ridiculous. Implying that they were dragged in from a battle for that purpose was ridiculous. They were clearly murdered in that room. The soldier they filmed in battle rattle outside was shot in combat. Uh... I have never executed four people and used their bodies as trophies. Or propaganda tools. Because they just finished murdering them. They wanted the remaining soldiers to see them. And yes, they are propaganda tools - as I said previously, the Arab street will love it. But they were not killed in combat. For one thing, they are not wearing battle rattle. Again, why did they leave the other soldier outside if they dragged these guys in from combat? You have no explanation for that, because there is none other than what I have laid out.
1) Clearly I wasn't saying that you yourself had executed people, etc..I was saying that you yourself had stated that they were capable of using bodies as propoganda. 2) There are all kinds of possible expalnations...battle fatalities are often not immediate, even head wounds, so the inured could have been brought in and the laready dead left...they might have decided to leave one outside for film effect...whatever...it's up in the air. Again, tree, I am not saying it didn't happen...I am just not going to leap to the conclusion that it did happen simply because I may or may not think it could have happened. Looking at what I see and filling in the blanks to support my theory would not be critical thinking, it would be bias. I have filled in no blanks, and come to no conclusions...
I am taking all the news I have seen so far with a boulder of salt. The journalism does not appear objective as much as progranda from the Pentagon. This is probably a good thing, since an ignorant American public will also imply an ignorant opponent. I suspect treeman will even agree with me.
Macbeth, they were not wearing battle rattle. This means that someone removed it from them. Are we to believe that they took the battle rattle off of the bodies before they filmed them? For what purpose? This makes no sense, and you know it. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you are making excuses for the Iraqis. You know damned well that they executed those guys. Everyone with a pair of eyes and a brain can see that.
No Worries: Am I to understand that you believe that this may be US propaganda? If so, then I can only say - Wow. I am stunned. The conspiracy theories have reached a new level.
Not this story. I do suspect that Rumsfeld et al would not even acknowledge the POWs without the Iraq vid. But the "we bombed Saddam, someone saw Saddam leaving on a stretcher" story could be propaganda.
From what I heard these guys were mechanics with wounds consistent mainly on the head and abdomen. Usually victims during battle have random wounds. Not even part of the infantry and these animals felt compelled to execute them. Comparing them to Iraqi infantry who are being well taken care of is absurd and incongruous.
They showed part of the video on NBC News tonight, and Brokaw even interviewed the mother of one of the POW's that was shown. She was obviously a Filipino lady, given her thick accent and the fact that she told Brokaw that she actually saw the entire Al-Jazeera video, including footage of her son, on "The Filipino Channel."
Kind of off topic, but I have to ask something about the media coverage. Why does the media always show a young, white suburban couple embracing and crying, during a war or following a terrorist attack? The couple are never related to victims or soldiers. The couple are irrelevant to the story. I guess the media wants to show that the story "affects everyone," even young, white suburban people.
We'll have to wait until we get these POW's back to find out the real story. Anything else is pure speculation.
Trying to get a feel for what the Muslim world is being shown. Some Saudi Arabian spin on the whole boondoggle. http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=24180 Heck, news media on both sides trying to inflame their respective audiences, and it's working judging from some of the comments on here and the Arab riots.
One other note to mention. I heard on one of the news stations, a Military analyst say that the head wounds of the dead were in his opinion executions. And his reasoning for it was something I haven't seen mentioned here. They were shot in the head where they should have been wearing Kevlar Helmets. He noted that they had been stripped of their gear and stated that it would have been hard to believe that 7 soldiers would all take off their helmets and get shot in the head.
Ugh. I didn't think of it this way but it sounds very consistent with the pictures and info in the media.
POW comes from New Mexico, family says Richard Benke, Associated Press Published March 24, 2003 HUDS24 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A New Mexico woman said Sunday she saw her son interviewed on Iraqi television as one of the U.S. soldiers taken prisoner, and she begged President Bush: ``Please do something for my son.'' Anecita Hudson of Alamogordo said she saw her 23-year-old son, Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, who was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, interviewed in the Iraqi video, which was carried on a Filipino television station she subscribes to. ``I saw my son and I said, 'Oh, my God.' I looked at him, and he looked so scared. I started crying,'' Mrs. Hudson, who is of Filipino ancestry, said as she clutched a red-beaded rosary at the home of a friend. Asked what she would tell President Bush if she met him, she said she would say: ``Please do something for my son. I don't want him to get cold, and I don't want him to get hungry. I just want him to come home alive.'' Mrs. Hudson said her son identified himself on the video but didn't give any more information. She said he appeared to be uninjured, unlike some of the others in the video. ``It's like a bad dream, seeing your son get captured on TV,'' she said, noting she had no warning and no prior announcement from government officials. U.S. military officials did not immediately release identities of any of the soldiers, who Iraqi television reported were captured or killed in an ambush near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra. However, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld had told him to ``assure the family, including Mrs. Hudson, that we are doing everything possible to assure his safety and speedy return. He complimented the young military people, including Joseph, as being well-trained, extremely patriotic and great volunteers.'' Mrs. Hudson said her son's wife, Natalie Hudson, was briefed at Fort Bliss Army base on Sunday and was told not to say anything about her husband's plight. The couple has a 5-year-old daughter. ``I'm just praying that the other people (in the military) will get him out of there,'' she said. She said she and her son moved to Alamogordo after his father - an Air Force retiree - was killed in a Florida motorcycle accident in 1991. The family had lived in Alamogordo previously when her husband was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, she said. A 1998 graduate of Alamogordo High School, Joseph Hudson did weight training at the school and liked fishing, bowling, and card games, his mother said. ``I'm just praying that the other people (in the military) will get him out of there,'' she said. She said he went into the Army to secure a good future, not to fight. He is a mechanic who specializes in fixing trucks, his mother said. His brother, Anthony Hudson, 18, said he heard about his brother as he got out of the shower Sunday. ``I'm going out of my mind. I don't care about myself. Send me over there. I'll get him back,'' Anthony Hudson said. ``I promise that.'' Rick Arias, basketball coach and driver education instructor at Alamogordo High, said he remembers Hudson as a ``typical high school kid, a really good kid who took care of business in the classroom, a good student.'' Track coach Joe Bryant said Hudson had a good idea of what he wanted to do while in high school. ``In 30 years I've been involved with a lot of kids,'' he said. ``You really look for the kids that kind of brighten your day, and he's one.'' Two of the other prisoners interviewed said they were with the 507th Maintenance, part of the 111th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which is stationed at Fort Bliss. <img src=http://www.startribune.com/stonline/images/news5/2huds0324.l.jpg> Army Spc. Joseph Hudson is shown in an undated family photo. Hudson's mother, Anecita Hudson, of Alamogordo, N.M., said Sunday that she saw her son interviewed on Iraqi television as one of five soldiers taken prisoner. ----------- Hang in there bro. Our prayers are with you.
