Severed fingers of 5 hostages delivered to U.S. officials in Iraq

Severed fingers of 5 hostages delivered to U.S. officials in Iraq

news.yahoo.com

BAGHDAD _U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq , U.S. officials said Wednesday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Nice bunch of guys. Been rolled up for a year, and now they get a finger chopped off. Wonder what's next?

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wonder which finger it was?
The middle?
Well at least it wasn't heads.
Hopefully they''ll be released before that happens.
And all this for what?
Saddam, wmds, democracy, terrorism, oil?
Which one are we touting now folks.
Hell i forgot.

reply to post by TimeTracker


yea I am not sure why these monsters try to cut people fingers off, Money, a name for themselves, Jacked up values, Being a radical psychopath, lack of education, brainwashing? Those are just a few I can come up with.

Oh I am sorry did I take away from your anti US statement

Originally posted by ShiftTrio
reply to post by TimeTracker

 

Oh I am sorry did I take away from your anti US statement

Actually it was anti-war but yes i can see how you could come to that conclusion.
However it is their country and we are over there uninvited so......

Though I disagree with the reasons we went there and I do believe we should have never gone. (Afghanistan was correct though IMHO) I do not think there is any reason for what these people do and in most cases these are not Iraqis doing this, but foreign invaders themselves who IMHO are wanted out far more then the US is. These things to me seem self centered and backwards. We want you out but we will cause this destruction so you can't leave.

See if they did not bomb innocent civilians everyday and use the US occupation as an excuse for Shiite /Sunni Hate garbage, the US would be out much quicker. If only they would let it be peaceful, then we could leave and everyone would get what they want. But at this point, I have to say we cannot leave because of these people and the genocide they cause.

I am afraid as always being a registered Democrat, I can't vote for Obama, because he is going to leave these poor people in the hands of worse thugs, IMHO. I think its wrong now to leave the country after starting this, and leave the innocent people to their own demise.

Its a double bladed sword to say the least.

PS didn't mean to come off harsh in my first post, just do not like these people actions defended (or at least how I saw it) because of what ever reason we went into there.



[edit on 12-3-2008 by ShiftTrio]

It's a sad day when i trust hardly anything that we are told by the government, but how are we to know these are really the fingers of the guys that were kidnapped?

This story is exactly the kind of thing to get the public seething for revenge. The thought of our guys being delievered bit by bit will always get a strong reaction.

Just enough for people to forget about how wrong the war is, and to focus on how much more can be done to crush the enemy in the WOT.

CX.

I agree with you in every respect.
The thing that bothers me about this whole war deal though.
If it were my country being invaded, what would i do to secure it's freedom?
I can't honestly say. I know i would fight, and fight hard.
Would i commit such atrocities as they have.
Well i have to ask myself one question.
How desperate am i?
Now i know there are many over there that are nothing but criminals.
However there are just as many misguided iraqi patriots.
All in all war sux, plain and simple.
It should always be the absolute last response.
and i do fear for our troops because the storm is not past.
God bless them all.

And as far a your response, it's all good.
If we had more dialoge, we'd have less war.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by TimeTracker]

Originally posted by TimeTracker
If we had more dialoge, we'd have less war.

How I wish you were right. Everyone thinks talking will solve all problems. We are human, which means since the beginning of time, we have had the desire for power, fame, fortune, and status.

Many people can learn to be satisfied with their peice of the pie...others cannot, and will stop at NOTHING to get it all. I know you and many others do not like to hear it but, there are truly evil people among us that only will be stopped with violence. I agree it should be a last resort...but many think WAR/FIGHTING should NEVER be an option...and I ask you...can you imagine if noone stood up and got a little dirty when someone else decided to push others around. Peace on earth would be great....but then there is this thing that keeps getting in the way...REALITY!

Yep, these guys were threats to the insurgents:

"Withrow, a computer specialist who worked for JPI Worldwide, was kidnapped separately at a phony checkpoint near the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Jan. 5, 2007 , according to news reports. Very little information is publicly available about his abduction; the bodies of his Iraqi translator and driver were discovered the next day. His employer is a Las Vegas -based company that provides Internet and technological support to remote or war-torn areas around the globe, according to the company's Web site."

This guy was wiring them for internet access. Wonder if he can type code since he's now missing a finger. Yep, big threat to them. Guess he was guilty of further perpetrating the capitalist ideals.


But then again, one of them, Joshua Munns, was a former Marine, and everyone knows they are the epitome of US oppression projected into the 3rd world to enforce the reactionary policies of the reactionary American imperialist running dogs.

Does anyone here not recognize that real people lost their fingers?!?

What do the politics matter in this case?

Regardless of the side of the fence you are on...this is not right.

Step up.

Originally posted by MemoryShock
Does anyone here not recognize that real people lost their fingers?!?

What do the politics matter in this case?

Regardless of the side of the fence you are on...this is not right.

Step up.

Yeah, we all realize someone really did lose fingers. Unless we are getting real advanced at the cloning process.

However, not taking sides here, just stating known facts. I would like to "step up" and remind people here that we (US) just announced we would be seeking the death penalty for 4 "terrorists" related to the 9/11 conspiracy and that we also have plenty of POWs in Guantanamo, Iraq prisons, and other US detention facilities. We got a "taste" from the media, several years ago with several US and allied beheadings followed by "terrorist" POW abuse at Abu Ghraib.

War is hell people, this is nothing new. We should be so lucky that the media even decided to tell us, now that we are so shielded, that is unless, it is time for propaganda to push the masses along with the agenda. Can we at least all agree on the last two sentences, or are there people out there who still don't understand how information control is the most supreme power? Deny ignorance.....but not until you have read everything you can about what you speak.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by percievedreality]

Originally posted by MemoryShock
Does anyone here not recognize that real people lost their fingers?!?

What do the politics matter in this case?

Regardless of the side of the fence you are on...this is not right.

Step up.

For sure it never is.
But i think what we(in the west) fail to recognize or ignore is why it is done.
There is a whole culture thing with the hands,fingers, and heads that we find repulsive. But it is the norm over there. And for the west, our celtic forefathers collected heads so it's not all that far removed.
I'm just saying we now see it as a terrible thing but they don't see any difference in chopping off a head and shooting someone.
Not condoning it in any way.
And yes i know i talk in utopian terms as far as war.
We must fight war from time to time but let us never stop aspireing for everlasting peace.

Great, because you know lob'ed off fingers is going to make us want to negotiate more.....they MUST be stupider than they look.

Originally posted by CX
It's a sad day when i trust hardly anything that we are told by the government, but how are we to know these are really the fingers of the guys that were kidnapped?
CX.

Uhhh...fingerprints?

Originally posted by TimeTracker
For sure it never is.
But i think what we(in the west) fail to recognize or ignore is why it is done.
There is a whole culture thing with the hands,fingers, and heads that we find repulsive. But it is the norm over there. And for the west, our celtic forefathers collected heads so it's not all that far removed.
I'm just saying we now see it as a terrible thing but they don't see any difference in chopping off a head and shooting someone.
Not condoning it in any way.
And yes i know i talk in utopian terms as far as war.
We must fight war from time to time but let us never stop aspireing for everlasting peace.

You misunderstand.

Of course it has been done in the past. It is still a very recognizable consequence.

But to ignore the ill fate of the fingers whom had them in favor of political bickering is absurd.

Besides, has anyone considered that the connotation of the story is intended to dissuade any personal interaction with the implication of the action?

Who are these hostages? Why were they in a position to become hostages? What does this mean about the actual opinion of Iraqi's regarding our involvement?

Do you really think we have the answers to these questions? Or are we going to continue to react to emotive headlines while failing to call shoddy reporting on our main medias?

We devour posters here on ATS when they don't have all the answers whe they make a claim. Why are is yahoo different?

Originally posted by MemoryShock



But to ignore the ill fate of the fingers whom had them in favor of political bickering is absurd.

Who are these hostages? Why were they in a position to become hostages? What does this mean about the actual opinion of Iraqi's regarding our involvement?

Do you really think we have the answers to these questions? Or are we going to continue to react to emotive headlines while failing to call shoddy reporting on our main medias?

We devour posters here on ATS when they don't have all the answers whe they make a claim. Why are is yahoo different?

We know the who,why, and i can give a good guesstament to the opinion of iraqis.
but wouldn't that be more pollitical bickering?

As for the shoddy reporting, you can only report what the government lets out.
Sounds like to me they may have more than fingers though.

And i'm new here so please don't devour me yet!

Originally posted by jsobecky

Uhhh...fingerprints?

Yeah i figured that one, my point is, all you have is the officials words for this. Even if they say they say they have fingerprints, all you have is thier word for it.

Thats enough to get people really mad for action, and suddenly alot of people forget about the rights and wrongs of things.

Would'nt be the first time we've been lied to in order for the government to achieve a goal with the publics support would it?

CX.

Sad story.

Whats even sadder is.... how many of us actually remembered these poor guys were STILL being held hostage?

Myself, I wasn't aware or FORGOT about these guys. For that, I a tad bit ashamed of it.




Becoming immune to the atrocities of war is never a good thing.

Very good point

Its easy for us to forget these are real people. civilians some of them and they must being in a very terrifying situation. My prayers go out them