Asia Times: Who let the dogs out?

So now you know. Thanks to prime-time television, you, the American people, understand that war is horrible. The mystery is why you didn't know before, why you are outraged now. Perhaps the answer is, if it's not on TV, it's not happening. So, credit to CBS's 60 Minutes II for finally showing part of the truth - that Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison have been undergoing the horrors of war at American hands. No credit to the US media for pulling the wool over your eyes about this war for so long. No credit to you for being appalled now - you should have known that this is what happens in any war, no matter whose side God is on.

Don't you remember the stark images in Life magazine of US soldiers torturing suspected communists during the Vietnam War? Have you forgotten about the My Lai massacre? Did you think the Disasters of War, as depicted by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya in 1810-11 (click here ) were things that only other countries perpetrated, in other times?

Did you think American wars are more civilized, more humane? Well, of course you did. Your president and your media, after the nonsense about weapons of mass destruction had been swept under the carpet, sold you this war as ridding the world of the brutal, bloodthirsty tyrant Saddam Hussein; as bringing the forces of humanity, civilization and enlightenment to a people living in darkness. And you believed that war could achieve this. Now, shocked, you are seeing images that show that the brutal, bloodthirsty tyrant's boot fits some American feet as well. Sorry, but war is dehumanizing.

Your president thunders that prisoner abuse "is not the American way". Maybe he really thinks so - he never saw service in Vietnam, or any other war, after all. Maybe his advisers just didn't tell him what really goes on in war. But to all but the simple-minded and the rose-bespectacled, this is not only the American way of war, it is the way of all sides in all wars.

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE04Ak03.html

taht is the Rumsfelds and Chenneys and Bush's of the world, have NEVER seen the face of war. I wonder if they truly believe the
crap that war is truly about roses (with C-4 of course) and candy (with explosibe tips)

They have no clue but they are still in this delusion that this is
somehow a game. I say, give them a rifle, the same type of body armor the NG is getting, and the same training... and send them on patrol... maybe after the first time they face shots being fired in anger, they will get it. This is NO GAME