The U.S. Military, abuse & paintball :(

[warbeak2099]

Yup, I wonder why the liberal media tends to care more about our enemies than our own citizens and allies. When a Briton, American, Canadian, Italian, etc is taken prisoner, there is some light coverage and no calls from the media for the action to stop. Instead, they work to serve their own political agendas by making the Coalition look like the bad guys and make up torture stories. Some are real and some are false, but abuse is hardly the norm in Iraqi POW camps. The media conveniently leaves out that fact. I really don't look to the news for facts anymore. Entertaining stories? Yes of course, they're always good for some entertainment. But they just don't report facts. Yellow journalism is at an all time high I think. And sadly, there are gullible people like jenarelJam who buy into it all. It's a shame. We really need to get back to teaching children critical reasoning skills in public schools, instead of teaching them how to memorize various peices of information. Learning how to think in different ways is much more important. I think this ridiculous effect that the media has on many people is a result of the poor educational methods in our school systems. Yep, I'm moving to Switzerland...

[azzkikr]

well while its unfortunate in a way. any time something like this comes up i just remind myself what they would do to our guys. then all feelings of guilt go away.

after all, this is war, what do you want them to do. sit down their captured enemy offer them a cup of coffee and ask them nicely where their friends are at.

the whole using paintball thing as a negative thing in the news is bad for us. but everyone whos ever gotten shot with one knows that is not very pleasurable. and to those who are going to say paintball doesn't hurt, while your playing you adrenaline is up and all that good stuff, but you stand there and take a few hundred rounds at close range while defenseless, you'll change ur mind.

azzkikr

[Lohman446]

Why do you hate him??

Because my government teacher told me to?

/Sorry, couldn't pass up the chance.

[muskratjim]

***This post edited for filter violations. Army**

[deathstalker]

I have two family members in the military. One is my uncle who has been in the army for around 20 years and is a Command Sergeant Major. The second one is my brother who just completed the marine school of recon and will be going over to Iraq in September. You should be getting your views about the war from people like that...

I use my Father for some of my own views. As a decorated combat veteran, retired Lieutenant Colonel, and an officer who was assigned to least two M.I. battalions, I highly value his input. His description of U.S. soldiers' activity? "Sick." He is certain that these kinds of abuses indeed take place, based on his previous combat experience. While he does not necessarily feel the NY Times article is accurate, he feels there is probably a lot more truth to it than people are willing to admit.

Another thing that makes me value my Father's input even more is he is not one of those they-did-it-to-us-so-we'll-do-it-to-them type of people. He feels sorry for people who think that way.

[neppo1345]

They gotta do what they gotta do

If it's keeping one of my friends over there alive, I'm all for it.

[Baby Huey]

I love W, support the vets (my Dad, 2 uncles and several cousins), and God Bless America.


On a side note, who is excited about spring getting here and playing some Pball outside (for those of us in the snow regions)?

[warbeak2099]

I have two family members in the military. One is my uncle who has been in the army for around 20 years and is a Command Sergeant Major. The second one is my brother who just completed the marine school of recon and will be going over to Iraq in September. You should be getting your views about the war from people like that

Bingo, I get the real news about Iraq from my uncle in the Navy. He's the captain of a frigate over in the Mediterranean, escorting and patroling the coast for terrorist/pirate boats. He was also a part of a joint operation staff in Iraq before. That's a much more reliable source of factual information than the media.

[Pump Scout]

Seems to me (and my aging memory) that TF 6-26 is old news. This was brought up, albeit in somewhat less detail, several months ago. Why would the Times run this story now? Nothing better with which to sling mud at the military today?

As much as the mention of paintball touches a nerve to us American paintball players, I doubt it's going to have any impact whatsoever on the public or world opinion of the sport. Two lines and an image in a five page article will likely go unnoticed by anyone except paintball players. We tend to be hypersensitive to paintball in the media because various people and agencies have taken shots at us. I think overall, in the big picture, the good that paintball does will far outweigh the abuses that come about involving paintball equipment. There's a big difference between an inherantly evil sport/game, and one where the equipment is misused.

[craltal]

why would our "most elite counter-terrorism force" be the ones torturing the prisoners? that doesn't make sense to me. The intelligence people would be the ones doing that

Funny how this stuff comes out when the approval ratings are so low...

[hitech]

It is okay to shoot at kill your enemy, it's not okay to "yell and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball". While I don't condone torture, I don't agree with most of the definitions I hear of torture either. While beating prisoners with rifle butts likely crosses the line, most of the other actions do not. If this is truly war, it's not supposed to be pleasant. It's also quite possible that we would have never found Saddam Hussein if it weren't for the work of counterterrorism units.

The article is taking the word of the enemy to make its claims. What's next...

Five days later, the C.I.A. issued a classified directive that prohibited its officers from participating in harsh interrogations

So, this is a war on terrorism, you can shoot and kill them, but don't be too harsh.

It's war people.


BTW, I don't support the invasion of Iraq. But war is war. You can't expect the military to act like cops...

[hitech]

why would our "most elite counter-terrorism force" be the ones torturing the prisoners? that doesn't make sense to me. The intelligence people would be the ones doing that

Interrogating enemy combatants (they are not prisoners, and they should not be referred to as such) would most certainly be the job of "elite counter-terrorism personal. Intelligence personal don't typically "get their hands dirty". They would work with the results of the interrogations.

[Baby Huey]

prepare for a completely unqualified post:

It is sad that it takes a national event (9/11) to spark support for our troops and government when all along there has been the same goal (in my unqualified opinion), to keep our country safe. A democratic Middle Eastern country = a safer America. Again take it with a grain of salt as I am just a preacher who loves to play paintball (see I tied the post to paintball) and who loves his country and its troops. Take care and God Bless.

[RoamingStorm]

Ill say that even torture with a paintball gun isnt that severe. Id rather get shot 50x barechested than get pistol whipped in the head. or kicked and beaten. I believe some of the stuff that they are saying, Im sure the paintball thing happened, and that there are "secret" prisons throughout the world. they also referred to declassified documents that I would like to see them make reference to.. Besides thats all army stuff... Semper Fi baby!!

[SCpoloRicker]

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