posted 05-08-2004 07:44 AM            

***
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=68054

Conservatives Justify Torture As 'Blowing Off Steam'

May 7, 2004

Rush Limbaugh, the voice of conservatives across America, claimed the torture at Abu Ghraib was "about people having a good time" and that the perpetrators just needed to "blow some steam off." Displaying his trenchant understanding of geopolitics, Limbaugh later claimed, "Maybe the people who executed this pulled off a brilliant maneuver." Weekly Standard editor Jonathan Last also downplayed the allegations claiming, "Worse things happen in frat houses across America." Syndicated columnist and Fox News host Cal Thomas stated, "If there has been humiliation, it isn't the fault of the West. It is Muslims' fault."

posted 05-08-2004 01:23 PM            

On his May 6 radio show, Rush Limbaugh continued to defend U.S. military personnel accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners, comparing the abuse photos to "good old American pornography" ...

Thursday May 6, 2004 more...

White House refuses to repudiate controversial Limbaugh remarks

Following recent reports that radio host Rush Limbaugh compared the torture of Iraqi prisoners to a college fraternity prank and said the American guards were simply "having a good time," White House press secretary Scott McClellan was asked by a reporter about Limbaugh's comments -- and McClellan refused to repudiate them ...

Friday May 7, 2004 more...

Limbaugh on torture of Iraqis: U.S. guards were "having a good time," "blow[ing] some steam off"

Hours before President George W. Bush announced plans to address the Arab world to condemn the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, Rush Limbaugh justified the U.S. guards' mistreatment of the Iraqis, stating that they were just "having a good time," and that their actions served as an "emotional release."

Wednesday May 5, 2004 more...

Hannity & Colmes guest compared U.S. soldiers' maltreatment of Iraqi POWs to "frat hazing"

Two days after CBS's 60 Minutes II first broadcast photographs of U.S. military police posing and smiling next to naked, hooded Iraqi prisoners of war, Hannity & Colmes hosted a guest who compared the maltreatment of the Iraqi POWs to "frat hazing." On the April 30 broadcast of FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes, former U.S. Army sergeant and former interrogation instructor Tony Robinson stated that "frat hazing is worse" than "what [was] happening in these pictures" ...

Monday May 3, 2004 more...

Rush returned fire, attacked media focus on his Iraqi prisoner abuse rants

On May 7 -- while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered his personal apology for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on Capitol Hill, saying that the wrongdoings were "fundamentally un-American" -- radio host Rush Limbaugh defended the prison abuse for the fifth straight day and attacked media coverage of the controversial remarks Limbaugh made on May 3, May 4, May 5, and May 6.

Friday May 7, 2004 more...

Scarborough, "moderate" just like Rush

Less than three weeks after MSNBC host Joe Scarborough described himself as a "very moderate guy," he grouped his program, Scarborough Country, together with FOX News Channel and radio host Rush Limbaugh (the man who compared the torture of Iraqi prisoners to a college fraternity prank and said the U.S. guards were simply "having a good time"). Referring to Al Franken (host of The O'Franken Factor on the Air America Radio network) and to former Vice President Al Gore (who recently announced plans to launch a new TV network), Scarborough posed this question on his May 6 show ...

Friday May 7, 2004 more...

more items ...

On CNBC: Iraqi prison abuses likened to fraternities ... again

On May 4, the same day that Rush Limbaugh described U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners as "having a good time" and "blow[ing] some steam off," Weekly Standard online editor Jonathan V. Last said on CNBC's Dennis Miller that he believed worse things happen in fraternity houses:

I hope these guys are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law ... but at the same time, let's not get too crazy and call them Nazi-like. ... Worse happens in frat houses across America ... bad pictures with some guys playing naked Twister. It's bad, but we don't want to get too crazy.

— K.N.

Posted to the web on Wednesday May 5, 2004 at 9:05 PM EST

posted 05-08-2004 01:46 PM            

Remember they were, almost to a man, chickenhawks.
They dodged military service or got cushy safe jobs via family connections and never saw anything like the real military.

They also don't consider us poor folk to be really human.
To them, we are disposable assets, like cattle, or, in the case of military; guard dogs, whose purpose is to protect the ruling elite.

-edited-
Their cushy stateside jobs were no more risky than a boy scout camp.

Torture is allowed BTW, since our dear dubya Bush decided the US military is not subject to international laws;
such as those the US enforced at the Nuremberg trials.
what the US used to call "war crimes" are now business-as-usual -edit-

Iraqis have treated our prisoners much better than our side treats them.

Not one single American pow raped or murdered by Iraqis yet.
but Bushco have given them cause to reconsider...

-edit-

I'd say more, but the Gestapo is reading all our posts.
-edit-

posted 05-08-2004 03:27 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by shatoga:
I'd say more, but the Gestapo is reading all our posts.

---

Well, here's one more for the Gishtoppo:

http://www.pressaction.com/2004/002193.html

May 08, 2004

Rush Limbaugh and the Babes of Abu Ghraib

By Kurt Nimmo

Torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq? It's no different than fraternity hazing. Or so declares the king of reactionary radio, Rush Limbaugh.

Beating and killing Iraqi detainees, according to Limbaugh, is good fun. "I'm talking about people having a good time, these people [CIA agents and MPs at Abu Ghraib], you ever heard of emotional release? You heard of need to blow some steam off?" Limbaugh asked a caller. "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time."

Limbaugh is attracted to people who torture. On his May 3 show, the loudmouth drug addict said "have you people noticed who the torturers are? Women! The babes! The babes are meting out the torture."

Limbaugh is talking about Spec. Sabrina D. Harman, a military police officer who has been charged with abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. Harman is now probably the world's most infamous dominatrix of sadomasochism. She took her orders from Army military intelligence officers, CIA operatives, and civilian contractors who conducted brutal, Israeli-styled interrogations. She is accused of photographing dead Iraqis, posing with corpses, striking several prisoners by jumping on them as they lay in a pile, writing "rapeist" on a prisoner's leg, and attaching wires to a prisoner's hands and penis while he stood on a box with head covered.

Most of us would likely find Harman seriously deranged and in need of years of psychological treatment. But Limbaugh finds her and Pfc. Lynndie England attractive. England is featured in many of the torture photos. In one, she smiles happily with a cigarette clenched between in her teeth as she points at a hooded Iraqi man's private parts. England's boyfriend, Sgt. Charles Graner, is a former prison guard with a history of domestic violence. None of this bothers Rush. On the contrary, Harman and England are patriotic Americans innocently engaged in "good old American pornography," as Limbaugh said on May 6.

More like "good old American" snuff films.

In fact, for Limbaugh, torture is a good thing. It builds character. Americans are too squeamish, too wimpy, unable to face up to the neocon plan of total war against Muslims and Arabs, a war Bush has promised will last for generations. "I think a lot of the American culture is being feminized. I think the reaction to the stupid torture is an example of the feminization of this country," he told his audience. In other words, if torturing people makes you sick you're effeminate, or maybe French. Get used to it, Rush seems to be saying, there's more where that came from.

For Rush and the neocons, it's all about humiliating and torturing as many Arabs as possible. "It could well be that the whole purpose here, which has been said, was to humiliate these prisoners. And there's no better way of doing it than what was done. These are Arab males — what better way to humiliate them than to have a woman have authority over them? What's the purpose here? What's the objective of this? The objective is to soften them up for interrogation later, later on. As I said, there was no horror, there was no terror there was no death, there was no injuries, nothing." Never mind that people were killed — and photographed by Limbaugh's centerfold, Spec. Sabrina D. Harman. The point Rush is making is that Arabs are untermenschen, sub-humans, and they do not experience horror and injury the same way Americans do. It's okay to saddle up a 70-year-old Iraqi woman with a harness and ride her around like a donkey because Arabs are immune to terror and abuse.

Finally, you'd think Bush, given the chance, would distance himself from Limbaugh's obvious sadism and racism. But no, instead White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to go on the record and condemn Limbaugh. Here's how McClellan responded during a news conference:

Q: Scott, there's a segment of society that differs with the White House as it relates to these pictures and the investigation of the U.S. soldiers' conduct to include Rush Limbaugh who, Tuesday, agreed with the caller, equating the pictures to a college fraternity prank, and said the U.S. soldiers should not be punished because it was an emotional release as they were letting off steam. What's the White House say about that?

MR. McCLELLAN: April, I think the White House says what we said yesterday and what the President has said over the last few days.

Q: No, but Scott — no, seriously. This man is a conservative —

MR. McCLELLAN: And I actually got asked a question earlier today about that matter.

Q: But none —

MR. McCLELLAN: And I addressed it then.

Q: But if you stand out strongly trying to let the Arab world know that this is wrong and then you have the proverbial spokesperson for the conservative party saying this, doesn't that send a mixed message?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views have been very — have been made very clear.

Indeed, Bush's views are clear — and they are the views of the neocon rabble in the Pentagon and ensconced deep within conspiratorial neocon foundations: this is a war against Islam and the Arabs, at the behest of Likudite whack jobs and Christian Zionists. Bush has "apologized" for the depravity of Abu Ghraib — an apology not accepted by Arabs who understand his sincere motivations and those of the neocons — but only because there is an election right around the corner. It can be stated without much doubt that Bush supports whatever plan the CIA and the Pentagon come up with to defeat the Iraqi resistance — including torture. For a man who mocked the anguished plea of a death row inmate in Texas and killed more than 10,000 innocent Iraqis under false pretenses, the humiliation and beating death of a few Iraqis cannot be of much concern.

Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is free to say what Bush most certainly thinks but cannot say if he wants another four years in the White House.

posted 05-08-2004 10:54 PM            

http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/may2004/050604limbaughontorturing.htm

Limbaugh on Torturing Iraqis: U.S Guards Were Just "Having a Good Time"

Media Matters/Paul Joseph Watson | Updated May 7 2004

Hours before President George W. Bush announced plans to address the Arab world to condemn the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, Rush Limbaugh justified the U.S. guards' mistreatment of the Iraqis, stating that they were just "having a good time," and that their actions served as an "emotional release."

As reported by Wonkette.com, Limbaugh's comments can be found on his website. From the May 4 Rush Limbaugh Show, titled "It's Not About Us; This Is War!":

CALLER: It was like a college fraternity prank that stacked up naked men --

LIMBAUGH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off?

The day before, on his May 3 show, Limbaugh observed that the American troops who mistreated Iraqi prisoners of war were "babes" and that the pictures of the alleged abuse were no worse than "anything you'd see Madonna, or Britney Spears do on stage."

LIMBAUGH: And these American prisoners of war -- have you people noticed who the torturers are? Women! The babes! The babes are meting out the torture.

LIMBAUGH: You know, if you look at -- if you, really, if you look at these pictures, I mean, I don't know if it's just me, but it looks just like anything you'd see Madonna, or Britney Spears do on stage. Maybe I'm -- yeah. And get an NEA grant for something like this. I mean, this is something that you can see on stage at Lincoln Center from an NEA grant, maybe on Sex in the City -- the movie. I mean, I don't -- it's just me.

The official US Army report listed all the abuses committed at the prison. Rush Limbaugh labels the following as 'just having a good time' and 'blowing some steam off'.

a. (U) Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;

b. (U) Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;

c. (U) Pouring cold water on naked detainees;

d. (U) Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;

e. (U) Threatening male detainees with rape;

f. (U) Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;

g. (U) Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.

h. (U) Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

.................

a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;

b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;

c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;

d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;

e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;

f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;

g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;

h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;

i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;

j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;

k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee; [FORGET THE DOUBLE SPEAK, THIS IS RAPE]

l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;

m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

ALL OF THE ABOVE ACTIVITIES ARE DESCRIBED BY LIMBAUGH AS 'BLOWING SOME STEAM OFF AND HAVING A GOOD TIME'. SO, ACCORDING TO LIMBAUGH, IF YOU HAVE A BAD DAY AT WORK, JUST GO AND FIND A WOMAN, POUR BATTERY ACID ON HER, RAPE HER AND THEN BEAT HER TO DEATH - YOU'LL JUST BE BLOWING SOME STEAM OFF!

Neo-Con talk show hosts across the country from Limbaugh to Michael Savage are making outbursts on a daily basis that would make Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin blush. Savage openly calls for putting anyone who criticizes the government in a forced labor camp.