Brainwashed?

Submitted by JustMe (United States), Apr 9, 2006 at 14:20

Posted by j Davies Apr 6, 2006 at 11:26:

"We claimed that Saddam Hussein was a sadistic tyrant who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and who tortured his prisoners, but we failed to recognize that in the course of the war in Iraq, we did the same things."

I'm sure you could show us where the U.S. even came close to comparing to Saddam Hussein. I think it's funny that you and others say we're brainwashed by the media when a story like Abu Ghraib (extremely minor compared to other prisons all over the world) is all you heard about on our Liberal-biased media in the U.S. and all over the world. They rode that pony till it couldn't breathe anymore. In fact, in case it wasn't exploited to its fullest the first time, recently a liberal group wanting some more mileage out of that story in order to make George Bush and the Republican party look bad, sued and won in court to get their hands on and publish more pictures of that incident.

Please stop acting like the U.S. approved of what occurred there. Those people were charged and are serving their time in prison for those actions.

Another point which I believes goes completely opposite of those who think we're brainwashed by the media is the whole Guantanamo story where once again the Liberal-biased media says there's terrible human rights violations going on in that facility based on what some ticked off terrorists claimed. Well, that too was a big issue with the liberal politicians/media that was totally exploited to the fullest. Once again, that was all you heard on the news and out of the mouths of liberal politicians. Now that seems to support quite a few of the people's beliefs on this board who keep bashing the U.S. for committing horrific atrocities like Saddam, right? So it's YOU who are brainwashed seeing as you're buying into the mainstream media's prospective!! Your comments here are a virtual recording of what was pounded into viewers' heads day in and day out. Where was the media coverage for this story which totally refuted what the liberal Democrats kept saying was happening? You didn't see it anywhere. Now why is that? Don't you think this would be important to people? Here's part of the article--


March 07, 2004

Cuba? It was great, say boys freed from US prison camp

James Astill meets teenagers released from Guantanamo Bay who recall the place fondly

" 'Asadullah strives to make his point, switching to English lest there be any mistaking him. "I am lucky I went there, and now I miss it. Cuba was great," said the 14-year-old, knotting his brow in the effort to make sure he is understood.
Not that Asadullah saw much of the Caribbean island. During his 14-month stay, he went to the beach only a couple of times - a shame, as he loved to snorkel. And though he learned a few words of Spanish, Asadullah had zero contact with the locals.

He spent a typical day watching movies, going to class and playing football. He was fascinated to learn about the solar system, and now enjoys reciting the names of the planets, starting with Earth. Less diverting were the twice-monthly interrogations about his knowledge of al-Qaida and the Taliban. But, as Asadullah's answer was always the same - "I don't know anything about these people" - these sessions were merely a bore: an inevitably tedious consequence, Asadullah suggests with a shrug, of being held captive in Guantanamo Bay. . . .

Tracked down to his remote village in south-eastern Afghanistan, Naqibullah has memories of Guantanamo that are almost identical to Asadullah's. Prison life was good, he said shyly, nervous to be receiving a foreigner to his family's mud-fortress home.

The food in the camp was delicious, the teaching was excellent, and his warders were kind. "Americans are good people, they were always friendly, I don't have anything against them," he said. "If my father didn't need me, I would want to live in America.' "
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May 29, 2003
GUANTANAMO: A "DEATH CAMP?" Only if arteriosclerosis counts, apparently:

"Is America the only country in the world that could run a prison camp where prisoners gain weight? Between April 2002 and March 2003, the Joint Task Force returned to Afghanistan 19 of the approximately 664 men (from 42 countries) who have been held in the detention camps at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. Upon leaving, it has been reported, each man received two parting gifts: a brand new copy of the Koran as well as a new pair of jeans. Not the act of generosity that it might first appear, the jeans, at least, turned out to be a necessity. During their 14-month stay, the detainees (nearly all of them) had each gained an average of 13 pounds.

In America, where 13 pounds is what many of our citizens' chins weigh, the prisoners' slightly enlarged girth might seem negligible. But given the low-bit-resolution video footage we have seen of stooped and shackled men in orange jumpsuits, and the collective protests from international human rights groups, the revelation that the men detained from last year's war would leave the Guantanamo prison camps sporting a larger pair of trousers than the ones they showed up with comes as something of a surprise."
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"Then there's this, from an OSCE official: "'At the level of the detention facilities, it is a model prison, where people are better treated than in Belgian prisons,' said Alain Grignard, the deputy head of Brussels' federal police anti-terrorism unit. Grignard, who is also a professor of Islam at the University of Liege, served as an expert to a group of lawmakers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on a visit to Guantanamo Bay last week."

That's from March of this year. Didn't get much attention, though. Maybe by March of 2008. Meanwhile, perhaps human rights activists will turn their attention from Guantanamo to places where it might actually do some good:

BRUSSELS, March 7, 2006 (UPI) -- Is Guantanamo a model prison? Not in the eyes of most observers. The United Nations and the European Parliament have called for the notorious American detention center to be closed immediately and slammed the practice of holding prisoners without trial for over three years. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, both close allies of the Bush administration, have also urged Washington to shut the camp -- as have civil liberties groups the world over.

However, a preliminary report by a team of observers from Europe's biggest security organization paints a rosier picture of conditions at the controversial camp, which is situated on the island of Cuba.

"At the level of the detention facilities, it is a model prison, where people are better treated than in Belgian prisons," said Alain Grignard, the deputy head of Brussels' federal police anti-terrorism unit. Grignard, who is also a professor of Islam at the University of Liege, served as an expert to a group of lawmakers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on a visit to Guantanamo Bay last week.

While admitting that conditions were not "idyllic," and that detaining prisoners for years without trial was a form of "psychological torture," Grignard -- who has inspected the camp five times -- told reporters in Brussels: "I have never witnessed acts of violence or things which shocked me in Guantanamo ... one should not confuse this center with Abu Ghraib."

European politicians and human rights groups have repeatedly rapped the U.S. military for its treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. But this torrent of criticism was undermined last month by a report on French prisons by the Council of Europe, the pan-European human rights organization. The author of the report, human rights commissioner Alvaro Gil Robles, said France had the shabbiest prisons of any country he had visited, with the exception of Moldova."

Amnesty International was furious with the observations by the OSCE team, which it said risked tarnishing the reputation of the Vienna-based body." (talk about politics by Amnesty International, concern is for their precious reputation not the facts)
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In the meantime, back to reality and to the 'actual' atrocities going on in this world that I haven't seen much interest in on this board or our news media, seeing as it doesn't push forward the political interests of either, here's a REAL horrific atrocity going on as we speak:

"The continuing raids by Sudanese tribesmen have sent over 50,000 Chad civilians fleeing from their villages. Some of the Sudanese raiders belong to tribes with branches in Chad. Same thing with the victims. Like Sudan, Chad has tribes that consider themselves Arab, while others consider themselves just African. There has always been animosity between the two groups, although intermarriage, rape and slavery have resulted in both groups looking much alike, and sharing languages and customs.

Sudan continues to receive the support of other Arab nations, especially Egypt. The Arab nations oppose bringing in UN, and especially European, peacekeepers. This would offend the dignity of the Arab world (the way overthrowing Saddam Hussein did), thus the Arabs allow the ethnic cleansing of Darfur to continue, even though the victims are Moslem. These attacks are less painful to Arabs because the victims are black Africans, who have always been held in low esteem by Arabs, even if the Africans are Moslem. . . . a coalition of Arab and Moslem nations, plus China (which wants to protect its business interests in Sudan), block any too aggressive operations by the UN."

Where's your outrage? It's so much easier to point your agenda-driven, politically-motivated fingers at the U.S. over defunked/unsubstantiated stories (Guantanamo) and one-time overblown embarrassing incidents (Abu Ghraib). So please, look directly in the mirror when you're looking for the poster child for 'Brainwashed by the Media'. You have to dig much further than the morning news to find the FACTS.

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