Insult to injury. posted by Richard Seymour

Those troops in Iraq having a blast. They're making DVDs of themselves playing with Iraqi corpses and kicking mortally wounded prisoners in the face. Video footage obtained by the ACLU shows:

a bound and wounded prisoner sprawled on the ground, [showing] his bullet entry and exit wounds. At one point, a U.S. soldier kicked the prisoner in the face.

Army documents quoted a soldier at the scene as saying he "thought the dude eventually died. We weren't in any hurry to call the medics."

...

In another part of the video, a soldier grabbed the arm of a truck driver who had just be shot dead and [made] the corpse wave to the camera.

Well, according to the Pentagon:

"It didn't rise to the level of criminal abuse"

The Army considered it "inappropriate" rather than abusive. That "inappropriate" word is a favourite of school-teachers and social workers. It's what they use to describe behaviour that is slightly embarrassing or stupid. The Palm Beach Post, which put some sections of the video on its website, omitted the audio because of "profane language". So, they calculate that the surprising spectacle of soldiers in war cursing would be more shocking to its readers than the sight of their brave boys booting a man who has bullet wounds, is lying on the floor, and is about to die. Having to hear the word 'fuck' is less endurable for sensitive readers than having to see a dead Iraqi wave at them. I'd say that's revealing.