Was the invasion of Iraq illegal?

[Dorain]

yeah, and nobody would know about Abu Ghraib.

I am assuming you are insinuating that without: clearly non-partisan, meticulous fact checkers from such honored media outlets like Al-Jazeera and CBS that the Abu Ghraib story would have never surfaced. A minimal effort put forth in checking on the FACTS of the case would reveal that those events came to a halt by actions of fellow soldiers/guards. This had been reported to the media with very little coverage. It wasn't till much later after the photos surfaced that their 'moral outrage' over the incident blossomed. The same 'outraged' have (IMHO) lost all moral authority when it didn't bother them that the previous regime was feeding LIVE Iraqis into industrial chipper/shredders...feet F#@$ing first.

[Lebeau]

Originally posted by kestra

Do you seriously think that the media should be taken away from war zones?

Well, uh, yeah. I do. Well, not completely. Frankly, if everyone knew the shit that soldiers have to do to survive, we'd never win a single war. There is a reason why the military has Public Affairs Divisions. There's some things the public does not need to know. There's things that I don't need to know. Did you really need to know about Abu Ghraib?

I say not completely because, as much as I'm against propaganda, we have a public image to defend, and if we look bad to our own people, we are destined to fail. Is it better to lose our asses and know all about it, or to win, be safe, and not know absolutely everything?

I'm personally divided between the right-to-know and need-to-know. Censorship is a necessary evil. Hopefully, this will show why it is. This is kind of a tough issue for me to argue because I can see both sides. However, there's some things that must be suppressed due to security and success of the mission.

For the record, I think every person that comes under fire by a servicemember of Geneva Convention members should be subject to Geneva Conventions. This includes Taliban and other terrorists. But one has to be familiar with Geneva Conventions to truly understand what I mean by this. Besides, I've already conceded that the pictures were illegal. I've also said I'd do it too, but no one would ever know. That is the difference. But again, that's not even the same league. If no one knewabout the photos, would there be any difference? No. If no one reported the beheadings? Yes, there would. They'd still be dead. The beheadings are something that the families of the victims need to know. Something we would eventually hear about. I'm not saying don't report it. I'm saying they shouldn't focus on the negative and swoop in on the killings as if that's the scoop they were waiting on to further their careers. Try showing some Iraqis giving coalition soldiers flowers. Show the whole story.