Religious Right leaders blame Iraqi prison abuse scandal on MTV

[checks-n-balances]

May 13, 2004

Two leaders of the Religious Right have blamed the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal on a remarkable source: watching too much MTV.

Chuck Colson spoke this week at a pastors' briefing in Washington sponsored by the Family Research Council. In a May 12 e-mail to supporters, FRC President Tony Perkins observed, "As Chuck Colson pointed out at yesterday's Pastors' Briefing, when you mix young people who grew up on a steady diet of MTV and pornography with a prison environment, you get the abuse at Abu Ghraib."

snip

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, made the following comment: "This is one of the stupidest things said about the Abu Ghraib scandal to date. Seeing Colson and Perkins stoop this low should not really surprise me, but I'm disappointed at their lack of imagination. Surely they could have found some way to blame the scandal on same-sex marriage, Bill Clinton or activist judges. Blaming every horrible thing that happens on MTV is SO '80s."

http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6651&abbr=pr&JServSessionIdr011=79ax8fbe81.app13a&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1241

[gmoney]

1. THE Chuck Colson?

Man, why do all these Watergate vampires seem to be living FOREVER? Must be that deal with the devil...

[yellowcanine]

17. One and the same - Now he is a RW Fundy Type

Chucky "I would run over my grandmother for Dick Nixon" Colson got religion while serving time in the Fed Pen for Watergate felonies. Now he is a full blown fundy, ranting against evilution, abortion, and same-sex marriage.

[Colin Ex]

2. I knew it!

I knew Ludacris was telling me to have sex in front of prisoners and put bags over their heads.

IT ALL MAKES SO MUCH SENSE.

-C

P.S. - Praise Jesus.

[hatrack]

3. Was it the influence of NWA, Nelly and Public Enemy?

Or is this more of a Marilyn Manson/Korn/Limp Bizkit kind of POW torture scandal?

And hey, if man of God and convicted Watergate felon Chuck Colson says it, you just KNOW it must be true!!

[lapfog_1]

4. What took them SO LONG!

I've been waiting for these idiots to blame porn and moral decay
for this... never mind that the "abuse" was ORDERED and APPROVED
by the highest levels in the pentagon and white house.

Geez they must be stupid to have taken so long to come up with this
"explanation".

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. This could have NOTHING to do with

orders given by LGen Sanches.

Nope

And we should ignore Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith...

Of cousre while we are at it, we should also ignore MGen Miller.

And of course SecDef Rumsfeld and under SecDef Wolfowitz....

This also will allow us to avoid the temptation of blaming this
grateful Child, LGen Boykin, or his boss, our loyal son George Bush

And all say Hallelujah!

These people make me sick.

[pacifictiger]

6. someone needs to send them this

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3566427&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

a few exerpts
-----------
Experts in torture are not surprised by the details in the stories of abuse which continue to emerge from US-run prisons in Iraq. And the more that emerges the less it seems to be the work of a handful of sadists or perverts.
-------
The techniques, which rest on principles of psychological disorientation rather than inflicting physical pain, were pioneered in Russia and China after the Second World War. They included humiliation, hooding, disorientation and depriving prisoners of sleep, warmth, water, food and human dignity. The KGB and Chinese secret police passed them on to the North Koreans during the Korean war,
---------
In Israel what was called "moderate physical force" was once lawful and security forces ended up torturing as many as 85 per cent of Palestinian security detainees " thousands of people" before Israel's Supreme Court in 1999 outlawed acts such as shaking prisoners, hoods, frog crouching, chair perching and sleep deprivation.

Despite this, according to Human Rights Watch, the practice seems to have increased in the past year and the head of the American defence contracting firm implicated in the torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib visited an Israeli "anti-terror" training camp in the occupied West Bank earlier this year.
--------

[whistle]

7. Religious political agenda. The fact that these soldiers...

...were denied sex for their entire tour of duty, probably made them all the more open to suggestion to engage in such perversities in the prisons. These religious leaders need to get a grip on reality and modern way of living one's lives. This whole war is perverse and insane. I am actually surprised that there are not more such incidents going on in all of the fronts and prisons and war theaters. This is just the tip of the iceberg. MTV is only a symptom, not the cause.

[ecoalex]

8. Where's Jimmy..........

Swagart when you need him ? He could learn them recuits a thing or two =)

[BattyDem]

9. When I read the subject line ...

the first thought I had was, "MTV??? Is that the best these right-wingers can do? MTV hasn't been blamed for deviant behavior in years!"

Then I read the post and came upon this line:
"Blaming every horrible thing that happens on MTV is SO '80s."


I KNEW IT!!!! ROFLMAO!

[corriger]

10. fucking insanity

of the american fundamentalist which is no different from the muslim one.

[MikeG]

11. Who do they blame Islamic religious fundamentalism on?

[countmyvote4real]

12. Damn that JJ breast!

Um. I guess the abuses happened prior to the Super Bowl.

Well then, damn that MTV. They just projected it.

Obviously, this defense is just a bunch of crap.

[richmwill]

13. If you...

Send me ALLL of a-your money, the best "Gift" you can- Ahhh can do my part to take the evil, vile MTV off of TV sets across this great land. Ah can do it, but I need your help. Won't you write me the most generous check that you can, so that I can achieve this?

[jeff30997]

14. MTV?

Yeah right! And what happened at Auschwitz and the other death camps was because the Nazis were listening too much Wagner!

[amber dog democrat]

15. It was not Clinton's fault?

Damn.

This is too funny. Chuck Colson, - convicted Watergate conspirator, who found religeon while incarcerated. Like patriotism, religeon MIGHT be another last refuge of a scoundrel.

Just how much credibility does that man have? OK blame MTV, but lets go up the chain of command while we are at it. It appears the comander in thief is all set to white wash this thing and let the non coms take the fall.

[TrogL]

16. It's reached the point where you can't tell if this is parody or not

There's a famous quote, something like:

A parody of fascism is indistinguishable from fascism itself.

but I've googled and can't find it.

when you mix young people who grew up on a steady diet of MTV and pornography with a prison environment, you get the abuse at Abu Ghraib

This doesn't even make any sense internally, never mind in real life.

[yellowcanine]

18. Time for Falwell and Robertson to "weigh in" (pun intended)

When do we hear from the dynamic duo? Surely someone is gonna get by a hurricane, or a tornado, or maybe even a meteorite because of all this sinning, aren't they?

[gatlingforme]

21. What about Tinky Winky????

[writekid]

19. someone who knows

the gov speaks in abstractions when it says, "we're fighting for democracy." or when they say, "operation this and that." you can't fight for a "word," as we all know, but it sounds better than saying, "we're going to iraq to kill people and occupy the land."

this link is an interview with a marine who was part of the invasion and occupation. it gives a much more clear picture of what actually happens in war.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18730

this is the sort of reality that the government doesn't want anybody to know about. for if stories like this filled the network news, the war would end very quickly, and that's not good for business. it's much better for the economy if we stick to stories about young women being rescued and courageous football players who trade their lives for god and country.

[GOPBasher]

20. I believe fundamentalist Chrisianity is the cause.

LOL The shit these people come up with is incredible. Blaming it on MTV? Wow! Anyway, I'm going to say that the extreme Christian Right is responsible. I think it teaches people that anyone who isn't Christian is subhuman, thereby making it easy to torture them. I really can't prove that at all, but hey, it's much more plausible than the MTV theory.