The US military leaked pictures of Saddam in his pants to the Sun, and then "said the photos appeared to breach Geneva Convention rules on the humane treatment of prisoners of war".
Presumably, they said this in the sense of "ha ha, we breached the Geneva Convention *again*, and we don’t give a fuck. Now we’re going to go and murder some more Ay-rabs. God bless America. And journalists are evil".
"Calm down, dear!" "The US military" (however you define that term) almost certainly did not leak that picture. Probably some squaddie, or relative of a squaddie, thought they could earn a quick buck. That’s the American way, God bless them. I must add, that I can feel very little sympathy for the hurt(?) inflicted on a man by showing him in his undies when one considers that this was the man that gassed several hundred Kurds. Mind you, all that shrinks into nothingness when compared to the poor man having his nether regions licked by George Galloway – "the horror, oooh, the horror!"
David’s issue of sympathy for Saddam is a red herring. Nobody cares about that. What we care about is the Administration’s willful violation of the rules of war.
The fact that the Administration seems bent on demonizing the press is also very bothersome.
…and somewhat surprising, given that the Sun is arguably the most pro-Bush pro-war cheerleader across the whole of the British media.
Yes, but it’s a good story. I’m sure that picture sold papers. And Murdoch understands the modern world; international businesses are stronger than governments. Rupe is just showing the White House who’s boss.
Actually, the US should be upset, because someone has violated the Geneva conventions just as Saddam’s troops did during the war. The Pentagon knows that charges of hypocrisy stick, and are right to worry about them. I doubt the Sun cares about that. Photo of an ex world leader almost naked? Hard to resist really.
> someone has violated the Geneva conventions just as Saddam’s troops did during the war.
Well, no, not "just as". There are conventions and there are conventions. No-one in their right mind thinks that the don’t-photograph-people-in-their-underwear convention is as important as the don’t-torture-prisoners convention.
With modern cameras, it strikes me that the only way to ensure that photos like this could definitely never get out would be to allow Saddam absolutely no human contact. I hardly think that would be humane.