The next Armed Forces scandal
September 26, 2005 1:56 PM Subscribe
America Blog over at blogspot writes about what may become the next armed forces scandal. Originally broke by The East Bay Express, apparently some American troops in Iraq are (allegedly) not only posing for cameras with dead bodies, body parts, and mutilated wounded, but they're trading the photos online... for porn.
One excerpt:
The page titled "Nice puss / bad foot" is devoted to the photo of a nude woman laying down on a table, her foot has been blown off by a land mine, blood, muscle, skin and bone are dangling in its place, and her naked crotch is clearly visible in the photo (thus the reference to "puss").
The mainstream media has yet to pick up on this story yet, but it's about to be linked on a few high-traffic news aggregator sites (including this one), so that may change.
Warning: while the page that is linked has been censored, it provides links to the uncensored photos which, if viewed are extremely graphic and emotionally disturbing, and probably best not viewed by anybody.
This post was deleted for the following reason: double
Not even having read your post, I'm hoping to be the first to snark about formatting. *snark* *snark*
posted by thanotopsis at 1:58 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by thanotopsis at 1:58 PM on September 26, 2005
Shoot, and I paged back a few days, too!
Format snarker! ;)
posted by chakalakasp at 1:59 PM on September 26, 2005
Format snarker! ;)
posted by chakalakasp at 1:59 PM on September 26, 2005
I've been seeing it on NTFU for months now. Is it supposed to be a scoop? I found it distasteful but hardly surprising. Human nature is pretty dark in the best of times, and these days hardly qualify as the best.
posted by ktoad at 2:00 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by ktoad at 2:00 PM on September 26, 2005
Um yeah, this is not new. I suppose the 'nice puss, bad foot' picture violated some ethical concorns, although for all we know it was an american servicewoman.
posted by delmoi at 2:06 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by delmoi at 2:06 PM on September 26, 2005
By the way, I mean, this crap happens, why is everyone offended when pictures get taken? Did they think war would be beautiful?
posted by delmoi at 2:07 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by delmoi at 2:07 PM on September 26, 2005
People aren't so much offended by the photos as they are by the fact that soldiers feel the need to pose in them like they're at Disneyworld and point and the bodies like they've just bagged a deer. Oh, and there's something a little, oh, I dunno, mean, about posting a photo of a woman's crotch all over the internet just because she had the misfortune of stepping on a landmine.
Sorry, if you don't intuitively see whats wrong about all of this, then you're probably beyond the point where logical discourse will help you.
posted by chakalakasp at 2:12 PM on September 26, 2005
Sorry, if you don't intuitively see whats wrong about all of this, then you're probably beyond the point where logical discourse will help you.
posted by chakalakasp at 2:12 PM on September 26, 2005
Context, delmoi. Went to our new national war museum a couple of weeks ago. One thing to want to have a picture taken in front of a memorial. Another thing to have a thumbs-up grinning pic in front of Hitler's car. I know that respect is this old-fashioned, out of date idea, and never the final word in journalism where getting the shot is everything, but this is trophy hunting without taking the trophies.
On preview, what chakalakasp said.
posted by dreamsign at 2:13 PM on September 26, 2005
On preview, what chakalakasp said.
posted by dreamsign at 2:13 PM on September 26, 2005
What's worse, using war pics to access porn, or using war pics to forward your agenda?
posted by jsavimbi at 2:17 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by jsavimbi at 2:17 PM on September 26, 2005
I've been publishing these photos now for a year... The only reason this version of the story is marginally interesting is because of the "trading it for porn" bit, but that's simply a favor on the part of the webmaster a la "support our troops"... AFAIK it was never intended as a porn-for-gore swap, but just a way of confirming that he was giving free memberships to people who really were stationed overseas...
posted by glider at 2:19 PM on September 26, 2005
posted by glider at 2:19 PM on September 26, 2005
Of course the photos are disrespectful, but people are people. We are not perfect, and I've certainly had my share of poor decision making. Just because I have a different perspective I don't see any reason to pass judgment on them, though.
To give you an idea of just how removed from the situation you keyboard heroes and ethical champions are, do you think every person who, just by nature of joining the military, is going to be just fine with going to war? You can call it brainwashing, but they definitely have to create a an atmosphere where killing is encouraged. As soon as what was once looked at as the most cardinal of sins becomes nonchalant, your world is then upside down. A dead muff is a dead muff, and a dismembered arm can go on the wall.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 2:31 PM on September 26, 2005
To give you an idea of just how removed from the situation you keyboard heroes and ethical champions are, do you think every person who, just by nature of joining the military, is going to be just fine with going to war? You can call it brainwashing, but they definitely have to create a an atmosphere where killing is encouraged. As soon as what was once looked at as the most cardinal of sins becomes nonchalant, your world is then upside down. A dead muff is a dead muff, and a dismembered arm can go on the wall.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 2:31 PM on September 26, 2005
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posted by godawful at 1:57 PM on September 26, 2005