Abu Ghraib

Our special forces don’t always need special treatment

by Paul Toohey

110
A good holiday is about unrest, not rest

by Angela Mollard

210
Dear Dr Tinman: Why do you want me to go to the airport?

by Dr Tinman

310
We don’t deserve this huge, exciting scientific project

by Claire Connelly

410
Mining money talks the loudest in Australian politics

by Laurie Oakes

510
Please enter your password

by Lucy Kippist

610
This concern for Thomson won’t change the script

by Mark Kenny

710
Weekend Punch: Tea or coffee?

by The Punch Team

810
Eurovision can’t drown out the human rights abuses

by Claire Mallinson

910
Revenge. It doesn’t get a whole lot better than this

by The Punch Team

1010

Rogue soldiers shine light on Army’s dark side

23 Mar 05:50am

Filed under: Abu Ghraib, Adf, Afghanistan, Army, Scandals, Soldiers

The stomach clenches with a cold nausea. The lip curls in disgust. It’s the same visceral reaction I had to pictures like the one below that emerged from Abu Ghraib; the images that made the idea of winning hearts and minds in Iraq a cruel joke.

Private Lynndie England holding a leash attached to a detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq, 2003. Pic: AP

Now, Der Spiegel has published three pictures of US soldiers, posing with the bodies of civilians they allegedly killed. One grins. The German news magazine says it has thousands more ‘trophy shots’.

The soldiers are described as ‘rogue’ – as opposed to ‘sanctioned’. But of course this is just another one-off atrocity. Isn’t it? Just Americans, right?

Not right. Not one off.

Continue reading "Rogue soldiers shine light on Army’s dark side" »

Latest 2 of 156 comments

View all comments

brendan says:

12:02am | 29/03/11

tory, while i have no issues with anyone expressing their point of view as you have made with this article, and many others have made in comments ive just noticed reading through that their are alot off disillusions about the army, i am thinking that mayby for your next piece… Read more »
Averill says:

01:10pm | 25/03/11

What on earth do we expect of out soldiers? We send them out to bomb and kill ‘the enemy’ and expect them to say nice things about them? Grow up you lot. If you don’t like it YOU go out there and see how you fare. I am damn sure… Read more »

Add your comment

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

antsharwood 28 May 12 12:01AM

#markwebber just wasted petrol faster than everyone else in monaco #f1

antsharwood 27 May 12 10:49PM

In my sports column on The Punch tomorrow: why Eurovision was easily the best game on the weekend. Mummy bloggers, you'll like this one!

drpiotrowski 27 May 12 10:12PM

The Logies could learn a lot from Eurovision #lamethings #sbseurovision

drpiotrowski 27 May 12 10:03PM

RT @ellehardytweets: Already despondent about the next fifty one weeks. #sbseurovision

See all tweets

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]