MSNBC: Lawyer likens piling of prisoners to cheerleading

[mountebank]

FORT HOOD, Texas - The military lawyer for Spc. Charles Graner, the accused ringleader in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, on Monday defended piling naked prisoners in pyramids as valid prisoner control and compared it to shows by cheerleaders.

"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?" Guy Womack, Graner's attorney, said in opening arguments to the 10-member military jury at the reservist sergeant's court-martial.

snip

The prosecution showed some of those pictures in their opening argument, including one of naked Iraqi men piled on each other and another of England holding a crawling naked Iraqi man on a leash.

Womack said using a tether was a valid method of controling detainees. "You're keeping control of them. A tether is a valid control to be used in corrections," he said.

snip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6795956/

Someone please tell me that a news item from The Onion accidentally found its way to MSNBC....

edit: for punctuation and link

[daleo]

1. It would be torture if someone forced cheerleaders to do it naked.

If this is the best case that the lawyer can argue, it doesn't say much for the case.

On edit - This argument reminds me of something Lionel Hutz, the Simpsons lawyer character would come up with.

[JuniorPlankton]

6. Drop the naked part!

Nobody forces the cheerleaders to do what they do!
This like to say, while defending a rapist, that millions of people are having sex every day and it's not crime.

What an idiot!

:puke:

[daleo]

13. True, the naked part isn't necessary, just coersion.

But forcing people to do this naked certainly increases the degree of abuse and humiliation they would experience.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maxrandb]

3. May Explain why he is a "military" lawyer n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Cheerleaders do it by free will, not under duress

and have a realistic expectation that they will not be KILLED if they decide NOT to pile up.

Maybe Rush Limbo can be a character witness for these clowns.....

[trogdor]

26. Why are we even dignifying that statement...

...by drawing comparisons? This is stupid. As long as we indulge this sort of stupidity, the 'cons will continue to serve it up.

I wonder, though, where they dug this guy up. Last in his class at law school, he probably was.

[DrZeeLit]

37. Absolutely correct. Who's asking "Have you no decency?"

How can this "lawyer" say any of this with a straight face?
Preposterous.
It's like....
"When did you stop beating your wife?"

Again, somebody has to stand up and say finally, "Have you no decency, sir?"

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mountebank]

11. Sorry - added. n/t

[Rose Siding]

12. Here's the link

Lawyer likens
piling of prisoners to cheerleading

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6795956/

[NYC]

15. Here's a link:

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2-10-1460_1645397,00.html

[redqueen]

7. So then we've gone all the way through the looking glass?

"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?"

Is he mentally disabled?

[HereSince1628]

8. The defense is based on Limbaugh-isms

I suppose the concept is that the military supports Limbaugh and will buy into that...

Can a court martial be appealled on the basis of incompetent defense?

[AlCzervik]

9. Do cheerleaders get sodomized and killed after they finish their routines?

[Supersedeas]

31. Maybe someone should sign Guy Womack up?? Another Bushist name to

remember.

[Rose Siding]

10. Is Womack using Rush's drugs as well as his arguments?

This jury is made up of military who served in Iraq. I hope they see through this stuff, but what are the odds?

[punpirate]

14. Graner will be able to make...

... a pretty good case, by the end of this trial, that he was represented by incompetent counsel, if these are the opening arguments.

Defending what is clearly torture and abusive treatment isn't going to fly.

[underpants]

16. He should call W and Trent Lott to testify about it

They probably know ALL about it.

[TahitiNut]

17. And rape is 'like' consentual sex?

We're in a moral wasteland when anyone vested with public trust can rationally spew such mental vomit. According to Gonzalez's criteria, even rape cannot be regarded as torture, since it doesn't directly cause death or permanent organ damage. Nor can being tossed into a latrine pit and being nearly immersed in human excrement. The sane mind boggles at the range of atrocities that a human being can be subjected to without running afoul of this regime's appallingly narrow definition of torture.

[Rose Siding]

18. AP: Witness: Graner Punched Iraqi Prisoner (more testimony here)

FORT HOOD, Texas - A military guard testified Monday that he saw Spc. Charles Graner Jr. punch an Iraqi detainee in the face a moment after a notorious photo was taken at Abu Ghraib prison.

Another witness said Graner was "laughing and having a good time" while making naked prisoners pose.
...
Wisdom described a prominent photo from Abu Ghraib that showed the muscular Graner holding a detainee as if he were about to strike him in the face.

The witness said Graner cocked his arm while the picture was taken, and then he punched the detainee.

Asked how hard Graner hit the prisoner, Wisdom said, "If I was that detainee, I know that it would be very painful."

Wisdom said he was urged to participate in abuse, but that he instead reported it to his immediate superior.

"I was very upset," he said. "It made me kind of sick, almost. It didn't seem right."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=3&u=/ap/20050110/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_abuse_graner

[prodigal_green]

42. but...but...

don't boxers punch people every day? Some get paid a lot of money for it!

[Ripley]

19. Give me a "T"! T! Give me an "O"! O! Give me an "R"! R!

Give me a "T-U-R-E"! T-U-R-E! What does it spell? TORTURE!!! Say it again!!! TORTURE!!!

Yay Team USA!!! GO GO GO, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, WIN WIN WIN!!!

[tx_dem41]

20. If I were Graner, and heard my lawyer say that...I would realize that...

I was f**ked!

[Catfight]

21. Someone remind me what century this is again? The Retarded Ages?nt

[rkc3]

22. Next he'll be using the Chewbacca defense.

I'm surprised Graner didn't shoot himself after this was presented.

[underpants]

24. If Chewbacca does not make sense you must acquit

http://www.connect-dots.com/Poofs/chewbacca.html


Too funny I had forgotten about that.

[SillyGoose]

23. Give me a W, give me a T, give me an F!

what's it spell? :wtf:

"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?" Guy Womack, Graner's attorney, said in opening arguments to the 10-member military jury at the reservist sergeant's court-martial.

just when I think I've heard it all...:puke:

[hangtotheLEFT]

25. IT'S THE ABU CHEER!

Rah Rah, sis boom bah.
Masturbate now! Hezbollah!


Doesn't seem quite so cheerful. Is it just me (& MY 49%+ of the U.S.?!?!?!)

AND DARKNESS WAS UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH

[arwalden]

33. LOL!! -- Welcome To DU!!

That's a... unique... username! I like it!

-- Allen

[KansDem]

27. Let's compare...

more:
http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444

Where are the barking, snarling, teeth-bearing dogs in the first photo...?:shrug:

[jukes]

28. well, he has to say *something*

or plead his client guilty. this weakassed defense won't fool the court or the public.

unfort, graner is a common thug; his handlers will escape prosecution.

[proudbluestater]

29. Guy is lower than a snake's belly

How long would it take for a normal person to think about something as ludicrous as this for a defense?

[mtnester]

30. At first I thought this was a joke

but, sadly, it is not.

I thought I could not be appalled and disgusted anymore, but I was wrong.

[nickgutierrez]

32. Womack got his RW talking points a few months too late.

I thought the whole "they were just blowing off steam" excuse had already been shot to hell?

[underpants]

34. Here is Womack "The braintrust"

[Beware the Beast Man]

35. That is the most idiotic defense I have ever, ever, ever,

ever, EVER heard.

[Seemann For Congress]

36. Great!

So, when can we expect to see those pictures of George W. Bush and Trent Lott naked and piled on top of each other....you know, from their days as male cheerleaders???

[Disturbed]

38. The basic defense.

I heard Womack say on Hardball that his main defense would be that his client was following orders. The defense will try to prove that. This is sure to make Military and the Bush Junta pleased. Guess Womack hasn't studied any history and never heard of the Nuernberg Trials of the Nazis.

[xxqqqzme]

39. i'm beginning 2 wonder

if this guy even went 2 law school. Did he skip trial prep? Research? Were womack & gonzales classmates?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

40. That lawyer is an asswipe

This news item also appears on Yahoo

[bardgal]

41. I was a cheerleader, and I never did that naked, or with a bag on my head.

Or at gunpoint.

[prodigal_green]

43. I was a cheerleader

and while the team captain was a raging bitch (and would've been better off with a bag on her head), naked pyramids were never part of the routine.

[2Design]

44. so let us get the lawyer and the * admin in a cheerleading pile

* is a cheerleader - so it might be a good fit - they have to do it naked after having their orifices searched - just like the victims in Iraq

[DemoTex]

46. A good tri-lateral cheer-leading pile might include ...

Bu$h as "top-man," with bottoms Trent Lott and Kay Bailey Hutchinson. I know that is an ugly manage-a-tois cheerleader scene, but maybe Bu$h would let the pyramid rotate, every few minutes, with subs to keep it going. Victor Ashe could spell Kay Bailey, and Trent Lott might even get to be top-man, again, for a few minutes. Ar-nold could be on hand to rate the manhood, and subsequent penetrations.

[Calliope]

45. I can see the appeal request now

"But your honor, my lawyer was an idiot."