The treatment of Faye Turney A peculiar outrage

[Topol-M]

Interesting viewpoint:

A peculiar outrage

The treatment of Faye Turney is wrong - but not in the same league as British and US abuses
It's right that the government and media should be concerned about the treatment the 15 captured marines and sailors are receiving in Iran. Faye Turney's letters bear the marks of coercion, while parading the prisoners in front of TV cameras was demeaning. But the outrage expressed by ministers and leader writers is curious given the recent record of the "coalition of the willing" on the way it deals with prisoners.
Turney may have been "forced to wear the hijab", as the Daily Mail noted with fury, but so far as we know she has not been forced into an orange jumpsuit. Her comrades have not been shackled, blindfolded, forced into excruciating physical contortions for long periods, or denied liquids and food. As far as we know they have not had the Bible spat on, torn up or urinated on in front of their faces. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs.

They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not been pictured naked and smeared in their own excrement. They have not been bundled into a CIA-chartered plane and secretly "rendered" to a basement prison in a country where torturers are experienced and free to do their worst.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2046334,00.html

 

[basketcase]

All this "They have not been" is just an assumption by the Western media which though they admit ("so far as we know"), they seem to ignore the lack of information for the rest of the article.

I am absolutely sure for example they were at least shackled when captured and were searched (which may have included taking their uniforms from them). We know that something the Iranians said or did "convinced" at least one to make admissions of guilt. We know that they were paraded in front of the media for propoganda purposes. What happened in between and the conditions of their detainment are not advertised. We (as well as the soldiers involved) also have no idea what is awaiting them, how long they will be held for, or what they may yet go through.

The author creates a compelling read but in reality, there are two many unknowns to award the Iranians the moral high ground.

 

[danmand]

All this "They have not been" is just an assumption by the Western media which though they admit ("so far as we know"), they seem to ignore the lack of information for the rest of the article.

I am absolutely sure for example they were at least shackled when captured and were searched (which may have included taking their uniforms from them). We know that something the Iranians said or did "convinced" at least one to make admissions of guilt. We know that they were paraded in front of the media for propoganda purposes. What happened in between and the conditions of their detainment are not advertised. We (as well as the soldiers involved) also have no idea what is awaiting them, how long they will be held for, or what they may yet go through.

The author creates a compelling read but in reality, there are two many unknowns to award the Iranians the moral high ground.

The tragedy is that after what happened in Abu Ghraib (and Gitmo) , the coalition forces have occupied the low ground, at least in many islamic persons mind.

 

[basketcase]

So you think every Islamic person is an automaton and must share the opinions of others?

If you change it to many, I would accept it but counter that terrorists beheadings online and suicide bombings (or if you prefer, the power plays by the Iranian government re: Israel and the West) make the insurgents have the moral low ground in the eyes of many western people.

 

[Aardvark154]

The tragedy is that after what happened in Abu Ghraib (and Gitmo) , the coalition forces have occupied the low ground, at least in every islamic persons mind.

I believe that the spin that has been put on the Prison at Guantánamo Bay is disconnected from the reality. Is it a "nice" place to be definitely not! However, have most of the detainees there behaved according to the rules of war or of civilized behaviour as most of us believe it to be. Hell No!

However, you are right that that is how it is perceived.

 

[papasmerf]

The tragedy is that after what happened in Abu Ghraib (and Gitmo) , the coalition forces have occupied the low ground, at least in many islamic persons mind.

Ya know your instance on diverting attention from the truth is a bit tiresome.

You are stuck on party lines.