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Original poster

Soldiers Beating up teenagers in Iraq...

231 replies

MrsBigD · 12/02/2006 08:23

News of the World

Sky News

Just saw this on Sky News and am once again slightly amazed at the general population...

I can possibly understand the attitudes that the News of the World shouldn't have published the video footage due to maybe putting other soldiers in Iraq under thread of attack - though I don't agree.

However when they showed the result of the opinion poll whether soldiers accused of abuse should be prosecuted I just was amazed... a high percentage said 'NO'... I was just flabbergasted ... so if one is a soldier and happily goes along abusing the people of the country who they are supposed to protect it's ok to abuse them???? surely not.

OP posts:
charliegirl25 · 12/02/2006 08:26

Message withdrawn

Original poster
MrsBigD · 12/02/2006 13:45

no views? Anybody? Hard to believe... usually mn is so fervent

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Heathcliffscathy · 12/02/2006 13:56

it's just too depressing to comment on in some ways mrsbigd. we shouldn't be there in the way that we are in the first place nevermind this.

moondog · 12/02/2006 14:00

It's a fucking disgrace.

No wonder there is such fervent anti 'Western' feeling in the Muslim and Arab world.

SenoraPostrophe · 12/02/2006 14:01

it is very depressing if true. it may be bollocks though.

also where was that survey from, mrsbigd? the result sounds very sus to me.

wannaBe1974 · 12/02/2006 15:48

If it's true then I think it's a disgrace and those responsible should be brought to justice. But I have my doubts. they played a clip of the comuntary etc on fivelive this morning and all I can say is that the sound quality of that video camera was amazing! and the guy doing the comuntary really sounded like he was acting to me. I'm not convinced.

And the news of the world don't publish this kind of stuff because it is in the public interest, they publish it to be sensationalist, if they had any morals at all they would have turned the tape over to the MOD without first printing it for all to see.

And call me scinical but isn't their timing just a tad coincidental? Apparently they have been in possession of this video for some time now. How ironic that they should publish it just at the time when islamic hatred of the west is at it's highest point? All the papers made an agreement not to publish the mohamed cartoons, to me this just smacks of the news of the world wanting to add fuel to an already volatile fire.

Original poster
MrsBigD · 12/02/2006 16:06

wannabe... you probably have a point about the timing... wouldn't be the first time [cynical emoticon]

The poll was a call in poll on Sky News, so obviously only a certain target group voted. Still makes you wonder doesn't it.

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satine · 12/02/2006 16:09

Could we wait to find out a bit more before we condemn these people? I certainly don't believe unquestioningly what I read in The News of the World. Don't let the media tell you what to think - they have their own agenda. I will wait to hear both sides before I condemn. Remember the Mirror pictures?

puddingandpie · 12/02/2006 16:14

I agree with wanabee1974! Ofcourse if it is true they should be punished. on the other hand, none of the decent really humane acts that alot of servicemen and women when they are sent out to these countries because they are sent not through choice. Press never reports on any of the good. They just give coverage to people with placard's calling for us all to be executed.

DominiConnor · 12/02/2006 17:41

Actually I sort of see the point of not prosecuting the soldiers.
Like in the abu gharib cases, it is a failure of command and discipline. Exactly who was in command of this bunch ?
Of course, the officers aren't going to be punished for allowing the men under their command to carry out these acts. The authorities will act of course, but care will be taken to ensure that the people punished are at the lowest possible rank.

satine · 12/02/2006 19:37

That's not true, DominiConnor. If it is proved that these soldiers did carry out this terrible abuse, they, and everyone in their command chain will be tried and if found guilty, face imprisonment and loss of job, pension etc. Despite what you read in the press, the Army is very hard on its commanders and something like this is not covered up or ignored. It's just that we don't try by media. Our courts martial are all open to the public and the press, at all times.

Original poster
MrsBigD · 12/02/2006 19:37

I agree it's sad that the bad / sensationalistic stuff gets more reporting coverage and the the good less... but that's live I guess. Scandal & murder sells! Sad but true... if people didn't want to read it...

IMHO everybody who did anything like that, not saying that it's 100% proven yet and it still could be a very ellaborate hoax, but if the CO was unable to control his troups he should also be punished alongside them.

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ruty · 12/02/2006 19:38

i just heard the video commentary on the news. The camera man was beside himself with excitement. Sickening beyond belief.

kittyfish · 12/02/2006 21:13

I wait with bated breath for the noos of the scroos editor to be fired a la Peirs Morgan.

sharklet · 12/02/2006 21:30

I think its sad that this has happened. Sad that through the stupid actions of the few the rest of the army serving out there will be punished, through more fervent hatred and more insurgency actions. Before any one jump on me with we shouldn't be out there anyway, I've always been anti the war in iraq - however I do believe what ever stupid decisions our government has taken that we should support our armed forces and this is really sad because it tars hard working dedicated soldiers with the same brush as these idiots.

I don't know if the tape is real or not, if it is a fake then thats even more scary but it would be a very clever form of propaganda. I hard the tape with the commentary on the news and it was pathertic, cruel and stupid. I hope they do catch and court martial the perpetrators and their commanding officers.

Its sad also becasue it gives more ammuniton in the current hatred of the west that seems to be bubbling up. I wish there was a way to quell it all I really do!

DominiConnor · 13/02/2006 10:01

If it is proved that these soldiers did carry out this terrible abuse, they, and everyone in their command chain will be tried and if found guilty, face imprisonment and loss of job, pension etc.

I'm not quite sure how you came to theat conclusion. Do you have any examples of where this has happened ?

wannaBe1974 · 13/02/2006 11:20

this morning it has been revealed that the lads who were beaten up were actually throwing home-made grannades at the regiment in question. I do think that it puts the abuce in a slightly different light. It perhaps doesn't make it right, but if they'd been doing the same to anyone else, i.e. the americans, these lads would most likely have been shot, and nothing would have been said about it because they would have been "defending themselves". I think actually that the lads in question were lucky to get away with just a beating.

Also, a lot of questions have been raised about the comuntary on the video, and how the voice-over does not appear to coincide with what was happening at the time. There is a lot of speculation that the voice-over was done after the event, and was done to increase the amount of money the news of the world would pay.

DominiConnor · 13/02/2006 11:59

Shooting them would have been better.
The pond life had been using weapons against British soldiers and lived to tell the tale. This means that they will go back and tell their mates how hard they are. A few scars will add to their status.

kittyfish · 13/02/2006 13:55

The commentary is very dodgy, someone on here said it sounded staged. I couldn't agree more. BTW a man has been arrested today over this but noone is saying if he is a soldier.

Original poster
MrsBigD · 13/02/2006 14:12

DominiConer... the pond life?! slightly biase dare we?

o.k. so the guys that got beaten up threw granades so maybe deserved a good beating... however, looking at the video footage (even without possibly staged voice over) ... once someone is down surely there is no reason for multiple people to kick the cr*p out of them ...

Also the question arises... why was there someone within the compound ready at the camera?

There are always two sides to everything.

And isn't it a sad fact that if the Americans had been involved and somebody would have been shot, nobody would have made a fuss... now what does that tell us?

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paolosgirl · 13/02/2006 14:15

Here's my tuppence worth. Firstly, we expect these men (and women) to give up their lives for a war that we shouldn't be fighting, and to tolerate things that none of us will hopefully ever have to in our lifetimes - so if they want to beat up some little hooligans who are throwing grenades at them, then they have my blessing. Secondly - why did the News of the World feel it appropriate to hold onto the tapes for nearly 2 years???? Why not hand them to the MOD, tell them to conduct an enquiry, with the threat of publication is they didn't?

kittyfish · 13/02/2006 14:37

Too true PG, it is all very fishy. Also, I know squaddies arn't terribly blessed in the brains department, but after the furore over the Lindy england pics you'd have thought the guys in question would have said 'No cameras'.

donnie · 13/02/2006 14:39

agree with satine completely. Also, Sky news and NOTW are both owned by the same rabidly Xenophobic media magnate ( Murdoch) and yes, the timig is highly suspicious....designed to inflame antipathy between cultures and nations?

just a thought.

Blandmum · 13/02/2006 14:46

If true they shold face a courtmartial.

The last was a hoax, this one might be. OTOH it might not. It needs to be fully investigated and the people involved brought to justice pdq.

Totaly unforgivable and the ultimate breach of military dicipline and well as basic humanitarianism

Rhubarb · 13/02/2006 14:49

And the West wonders why the East hates them so much!

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