The small-town girl who ended up on every channel (Lynndie England – Leash Girl)

The Baltimore Sun via SMH ^ | May 7, 2004 | John Woestendiek in Fort Ashby, West Virginia

[dead]

Lynndie England loved a good storm. During tornado warnings her mother would have to drag her back inside the house. Her teachers say she wanted a career as a storm-chaser.

Now, the perfect storm has found her.

From hometown hero to the reviled woman holding the leash . . . US Reserve
soldier Lynndie England with an Iraqi prisoner in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
Photo: The Washington Post

The petite 21-year-old army reservist from the quiet crossroads town of Fort Ashby in West Virginia is the most visible character in the controversy over the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. She is the thumbs-up girl, the pixie-ish, T-shirted soldier, smiling, pointing and posing for the camera with naked and humiliated inmates.

Soon after the release of the photographs, Terrie England was on the telephone with her daughter while watching television.

Full story ...

[GrandEagle]

HUMMMM The plot thickens...
Thanks for the info!

[AppyPappy]

We need to waste them hard, and publicly.

I don't mean to sound callous but I think our military has some more important issues to deal with right now. Our soldiers are being KILLED. These prisoners were being hazed.

[af_vet_rr]

Garner's former prison had UCMJ action taken against 12 of it's staff for doing EXACTLY the same to American prisoners as they were doing here. Garner's divorced wife had to take out 3 restraining orders against this POS. England is Garner's fiance...and she is now pregnant.

This is not proof, but pretty well leads to the conclusion that this had nothing to do with interrogation and all to do about a sick losers getting their jollies off at the expense of our nation, and probably at least one innocent Iraqi.

Wow, I knew she was pregnant and her fiancee was somebody else there...sounding more and more like a pattern. If she's not in jail then, be interesting to hear what she tells her child when they are grown "Mommy, what did you do in the war?"

I said it earlier, it was amusing how England's family was attacking Bush for criticizing those involved, and I kept thinking "smooth, attack Bush, get the attention off your precious little daughter". They sounded like liberals, try to blame everybody and everything but the individuals involved. Attack Bush over his service, say he doesn't know what it's like over there, as if that's some kind of excuse for sexually deviant behavior.

[af_vet_rr]

I don't mean to sound callous but I think our military has some more important issues to deal with right now. Our soldiers are being KILLED. These prisoners were being hazed.

What those Americans did to those prisoners will probably lead to even more killings of our soldiers, and that's something to think about, especially when they goto trial.

Putting that aside, how can we expect the Iraqi people to respect our authority and rule of law, if our own soldiers don't?

[AppyPappy]

What those Americans did to those prisoners will probably lead to even more killings of our soldiers

To turn your argument back, it would seem to me that keeping this info under wraps and not make it public would save American lives.

[JamesA]

Sacrifice for to Democrats who are highly offended...

[af_vet_rr]

To turn your argument back, it would seem to me that keeping this info under wraps and not make it public would save American lives.

Well...apparently during several of the investigations (or at least the first few months of them) it was kept under tight wraps.

Problem is, these photos were flying all over the place, not just the old-fashioned hand-to-hand network consisting of people giving them to each other in person, but the internet as well. It's out there, it's done, now the mess has to be cleaned up - you can't push something like this under the rug as much as some would like to. The pictures being shown outside of the US are very very bad. The media is giving us the watered down, blurred pics. If you go googling around some of the foreign news services, you'll see what I mean

The best way to clean this up, is to make sure that those who should be punished are punished, and make it just as public as somebody doing the same things here in the US/civilian world.

The spotlight is on us, and just how committed we are to things like the rule of law. If we are telling the Iraqis "your free from the atrocities of the past, you have actual rights, etc.", while the very same people (US military) who we say liberated them are breaking the laws, are doing things that they thought disappeared with the ouster of Saddam, they will have no confidence at all in any system we setup and they will be suspicious of our soldiers.

If they have no faith in us (the US), then they will have no faith in the systems we help setup. At that point the hundreds of soldiers killed, the thousands wounded, the billions we have spent, will be all for naught. Iraq will go right back to the way it was. All those Iraqis who have helped us, some will not do so or be afraid of us, and it could cost even more lives since people might not be so quick to inform on other Iraqis.

[AppyPappy]

It seems to me that you are saying that discussing this issue is dangerous for American troops.

[commonerX]

There is a thing called playing devils advocate. Understanding people by taking an opposing point and discussing the possible outcomes.

[commonerX]

""Well, if you have your way, we will probably both be taken prisoner in our own country and enslaved, so we can discuss it further then by tapping out Morse code between cells.

Judging by your use of words and snap judgments of other people's mental abilities, I wouldn't want to have to live by your wits.""

I am sorry the following post was meant for someone else.

There is a thing called playing devils advocate. Understanding people by taking an opposing point and discussing the possible outcomes.

The post to you should read as follows:

You are no better then a cold blooded murderer.

[commonerX]

""Judging by your use of words and snap judgments of other people's mental abilities, I wouldn't want to have to live by your wits.""

Snap judgments, If you read your own post, you judged a whole group of people.

I wouldn't want live by you wits, three quarters of the worlds population would be dead.

[BOOTSTICK]

When the Islamofacists apologize for 9-11, i'll stop laughing at the Prison photos.I say "God Bless her", it's time to cut the crap, she did nothing wrong, as did her fellow MP's. This whole story reeks of hypocrisy. Anyone remember what happened to the major Al Quaeda operatives caught in Pakistan, and Afghanistan? I remember plenty of Free Republic posters snickering about how those prisoners were to be treated once turned over to Egyptian Security Technicians, and how those folks would not be interrogated by US forces, since the foreign interrogators can get away with much more abuse. How quickly some forget.

[MinuteGal]

Something else is goofy about that picture. It looks like a JC Penney dressing room in the womens' formal clothing department.

Leni

[Snowy]

The only problem I see is the presence of a camera. The prisoners are dangerous animals. I don't have feelings for them because they want to kill me and my family. From what I understand, the prisoners were causing problems. You have to do what you can to protect yourself and prevent future disturbances. If it were up to me, the prisoners would all be dead.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Oh, so you are there. Thank you for not slandering me with your usual references to Nazis or Stalinists.

Of course, your invective renders your response as ineffective as I'd expected.

Rant on, legendinyourownmind.

[commonerX]

""Wake up! We need to torture these people for about twenty years so THEY WILL FEAR US. They will never love us, much less respect us.""

Rant on, legendinyourownmind.

Good thing you will never be in charge of anything or anybody that matters.

[commonerX]

""Wake up! We need to torture these people for about twenty years so THEY WILL FEAR US. They will never love us, much less respect us.""

Rant on, legendinyourownmind.

Good thing you will never be in charge of anything or anybody that matters.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Well, again, your presuppositions betray you. I am indeed in charge of many and of much, although whether or not you acknowledge that fact is immaterial.

To clarify, "these people" was intended to mean the terrorists, not innocents. When noncombatants are killed or tortured, the perpetrators should be punished (and they will be).

But the following question is valid: "Are you (or am I, for that matter) willing to go over into a place like Iraq and face an enemy that shoots you in the back while smiling innocently?" Few are willing to do so. You may have been in that situation in combat. If so, then hats off to you. I have not, and do not wish to be. That we have people who are willing to is to their credit. I am loathe to second-guess someone who is in a combat situation, particularly guerilla combat.

Contrary to what you seem to have convinced yourself of with a minimum of information, I am not a monster. But think as ill of me as you like, if that is how you get your jollies. I am sure that nothing I could say or do would convince you to believe anything other than what you choose to believe already in your own little pretend vacuum.

Now, as I have work to do, and people to supervise, and meaningful things to accomplish, I will leave you to play mindgames with yourself. But my strong suggestion is this: If you have time to prolong this meaningless exchange, then volunteer to go fight in Iraq.

[af_vet_rr]

It seems to me that you are saying that discussing this issue is dangerous for American troops.

At least one American paid the price :

story at Yahoo

This is probably what Bush and the others wanted to avoid, from a PR point of view - giving the islamo-fascists something else to use against us in the PR war. If they just decapitated him and gave some generic statement, people in other countries would be horrified (we would hope), but instead they say "the Americans did such and such, so we are doing this in revenge". The palestinians do this all the time. I would not be surprised if the decapitation, or rather the message with it, is approved of by some in this country (those who think the palestinians, iraqis, etc. are oppressed).

As far as what should be done about the American "guards" (as the collection of mechanics, paper pushers, wife beaters, etc. is known even though it's pretty clear now they should not have been in those positions), I'm thinking let's force them to watch the video of the decapitation over and over for a few days. Let them think about it. Yes, I will admit, there was a good chance he would have died anyways. They just gave Al Q a reason to go public with it.

[af_vet_rr]

You have to do what you can to protect yourself and prevent future disturbances. If it were up to me, the prisoners would all be dead.

I would do a few things differently.

I would examine the report that was supposedly made by Army officers, saying many there are innocent, and I would weed those out if any turned out to be innocent.

I would then immediately begin hearings against those guilty or considered a threat, and hand out punishments to fit the crime or danger posed by them, upto and including the death penalty.

I certainly would not engage in homosexual conduct or other deviant sexual practices with them, nor would I allow those below me to engage in them.

Finally, I would go back and revisit just what the hell the chain of command was there, find out if/why military personnel were taking orders from civilian contracters (who themselves didn't appear to be under direct supervision). At some point some pretty illegal orders were given and were not questioned.

Along the way I'd find out where their commanders went wrong (things of that scope don't happen unless somebody up the chain, even if only one rung, know). I'd also find out why some of those people were "guarding" prisoners, when they were clearly not fit to fill that capacity.