The Town the Torturers Came From

[MountainLaurel]

Excerpt from a book coming out called "Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things," about the community that spawned the Abu Ghraib soldiers.

http://www.alternet.org/books/147350/the_town_the_torturers_came_from

[Jim__]

1. Have you read the book?

If so, how much of this does the book attribute to the town these people came from? It seems like American soldoers when they were told to torture prisoners, tortured prisoners. It's not really that surprising, especially for troops in a war zone. Many of them were probably away from home for the first time, in a very hostile environment. They did what they were told to do. I don't know how many soldiers refused to follow such orders. Does the book talk about that?

We're all heroes when we're sitting at home on the couch. Far fewer heroes in the line of fire.

The real crime here is that the government ordered these things. And those of us who were not soldiers, should not condemn the soldiers who did the torturing, but should have forced the government to change its policy.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Not yet n/t