Private Terrorist Hunt

[Kitsune]

Found this link on Fark and found it really suspicious, if not very strange.

California Man goes on Private Terrorist Hunt

On Wednesday, Bennett, 28, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for torturing Afghans in a private jail while on a private anti-terror hunt not sanctioned by U.S. officials.

Bennett and a former Green Beret, Jonathan Idema, were convicted of entering Afghanistan illegally, making illegal arrests, establishing a private jail and torturing their captives. A third American who said he was filming a documentary about America's war on terrorism received an eight-year sentence.

Its possible to leave the country, set up a jail, and start beating people? All on your own? Insane.

[lookout123]

yeah that one has been going on for a while. the guy said he had a personal mission given to directly from donald rumsfeld.... sounds like the guy was just plain nuts.

[Kitsune]

I'm pretty impressed by the possible madness involved. How do you get the private funds together to do this? How do you find your way into a war-torn country on your own? And how do you get the weapons over there?

You gotta be pretty messed in the head to pull off a stunt like that.

[lookout123]

it's the same type that work as bounty hunters over here. if they go to iraq, they probably figure no one will care if they wack a few iraqi's in the process. in can't be that hard to get into iraq. thousands of "insurgents" are doing it on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by Kitsune

I'm pretty impressed by the possible madness involved. How do you get the private funds together to do this? How do you find your way into a war-torn country on your own? And how do you get the weapons over there?

You gotta be pretty messed in the head to pull off a stunt like that.

Just call the guy George Jr. junior and you've got the mindset. Just call his supporters a microcosm of the American people who have watched the past 4 years unfold with scarsely a murmered comment and no protest of the use of their tax dollars for such an immoral cause. Just call his little gang a subset of the men in our official military who tortured prisoners in Iraq. I don't see why you are so amazed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Nick Berg came up with the funds to go to Iraq and attempt to start a communications network,......or something.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Nick Berg came up with the funds to go to Iraq and attempt to start a communications network,......or something.

Lind came up with the money to go to another country to shoot Americans didn't he?

[OnyxCougar]

I was watching a documentary on Kent State and I wondered why we dont have protests like that any more?

What happened? When did we stop caring?

Edit: I don't mean "Why don't we have protests that National Guardsman fire on unarmed students". I meant "Why don't we have protests to let our government know when something is wrong wrong wrong?"

[glatt]

There are protests like Kent State (without the shooting) all the time.

[Elspode]

All together now...

"Four dead in Ohio,
Four dead in Ohio (howmanymore?)
Four dead in Ohio"



I think we *do* have these sorts of protests, only now, instead of being concerned with our dead and our civil rights, we now protest the IMF, trade agreements, and eating animals. I think people have decided to use large-scale protest against what are perceived as the root causes of world confllict rather than the actual conflicts themselves.

Sure, we have protests against the war, but the real window-smashing, car-burning bashes are reserved for things like the WTO meetings.

[glatt]

And it wasn't too long ago that there was a thread about a protest that turned painful.

http://www.cellar.org/showthread.php...hlight=protest

Originally Posted by OnyxCougar

I was watching a documentary on Kent State and I wondered why we dont have protests like that any more?

What happened? When did we stop caring?

Why indeed? I was a freshman in college when Kent State happened. Those were amazing times. The moment the news of Kent State went out on the air waves, the entire country became galvanized. I think popular support for the Vietnam War ended with the deaths of those 4 students, little older than children, really. Almost every college and university in the country was shut down by student protesters. My own university was no exception. People from all over the country converged on my particular college campus. I showed up as usual for my job at the student union grill, and it was overwhelming. We cooked everything we had available and in the middle of this our manager came out and told us to stop charging people for food. The juke box kept playing, "come on people, now smile on your brother. Everybody get together, got to love one another right now..." I cooked until the last bit of food was gone at 2:00am and then went out to join the other protestors on the front lawn of the university administration building. We slept there until dawn in sleeping bags, and then got up in time to prevent university officials from entering the building. It was all non-violent. We simply all joined hands and formed human chains across the entrances to the building. Later that day there was a massive protest march in downtown Denver. We shouted to the onlookers, "Join us! Join us!" And, by God, they did! Middled aged ladies and old men and mothers with small children stepped off the sidewalks to join our ranks. The outrage over the deaths of those kids was that great.

I think that back then we still felt we had the power to change things. Now everyone seems resigned to the status quo and has given up.

[tw]

Originally Posted by OnyxCougar

I was watching a documentary on Kent State and I wondered why we dont have protests like that any more?

What happened? When did we stop caring?

One must remember how long it took for American to finally concede that the president was lying. Gulf of Tonkin was a lie. Our own in-country reporters were desperately trying to report the facts honestly. In some cases (ie Luce of Time Magazine), those reports were outrightly rewritten to change the facts. Basic historical facts - absolutely nothing secret - in the Pentagon Papers were kept from the American people.

Ironic back then how many called the NY Times and Washington Post communist sympathizers only because we now know they told the truth.

Three years ago, I was bluntly against the Iraqi war because little facts - the details - did not conform to what George Jr was saying. This same person who looked at the details during the invasion of Kuwait and could not understand why Americans were not clamoring for war. This same person who posted during the Iraqi invasion that I could not get enough facts when others here were complaining about information overload. I learned from Vietnam and therefore cannot get enough details.

Back during Vietnam, I was one of those who were brainwashed by administration rhetoric - but kept asking questions. For example, I read every issue of Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report from 1954 to 1969 looking for details on the 1955(?) Geneva Convention. This was the political solution for Vietnam. However, (I suspect) because America subverted the terms of that political solution, then Americans were denied the details. I did not learn about that Geneva Convention, properly, until the Pentagon Papers finally revealed the whole story. Part of the problem with Vietnam - we only took the administraton spin and refused to demand the details. So much in denial that we even tried to prosecute American patriots who finally leaked the Pentagon Papers.

Here is the point. I say the George Jr administration lies because too many details contradict what he says. Already this iraq war is getting worse because those details (and not the administration spin) was correct.

But again, we go back to Vietnam. Those details said in 1967 that the war was wrong. The 1965 book "Making of a Quagmire" made the disaster called Vietnam so painfully obvious. Just another reasons why the Vietnam Memorial in Washington pains me so much.

It took from 1965 to 1972+ for Americans to finally concede the facts. Why? We tend to believe the first thing we are told (the administration spin) rather than put everything into equal perspective. So again, if Vietnam is a lesson, then it will take four more years of George Jr - and things will get much worse - before many Americans conceded to the facts in those details.

Those details say that George Jr is moving and building capital equipment and resources for the invasion of Iran on or after 2006. Unfortunately, that war will probably be nuclear. These details have negative consequences too severe to ignore. Already Iraq is going the same way as late 1960 Vietnam. We may have to burn the villages to save them. And just like in Vietnam, the American public will take about 4+ years to finally concede it was a mistake. The lessons of Vietnam says that college campus unrest will happen in 2008 if George Jr is reelected.

Scary how much in the Pentagon Papers now applies to the invasion of Iraq. Those who fail to learn the lessons of history - at minimum read the Pentagon Papers - are doomed to repeat history. College campuses today are about same as they were about 1966/7.

Anyone who currently supports the war in Iraq would be well advised to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in D.C. It is absolutely over-powering. My father was career military and served two tours in that god-forsaken war. I did not easily join the ranks of protesters, believe me. That memorial is overwhelming. When I visited it, I had to literally sit down and cry. I cried for all the men who had died senselessly, I cried for the waste of my own father's patriotism and courage and heart - all for nothing, for a game politicians chose to play. It's the same political game today; 1,000 dead and counting in a pointless war instigated by a man who never had the courage to fight for his country himself.