US troops mutilated: where’s the outrage?

I MUST respond to the letters from Edward Horgan and Miriam Cotton (Irish Examiner, June 20).

Where is their outrage? Two missing US soldiers’ bodies were recovered on June 20. They had been tortured and their bodies savagely mutilated. Explosives were placed around them in the hope that more Americans would be killed or maimed.

Oh, I am so sorry, the US has “humiliated, used barking dogs and draped women’s panties over prisoners heads”.

Sometimes they were even deprived of sleep. Can you believe that?

President Bush (not me) has always denounced alleged abuses by US troops who have been held accountable and prosecuted. Do the US abuses even come close to the atrocities al-Qaida has committed against so many Iraqis and other innocents.

The silence from Mr Horgan and the Irish media has been deafening. Will he and the media call for al-Qaida to investigate the atrocities, maybe have Osama bin Laden condemn them?

Mr Bush did not lie about weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The US intelligence services, as well as most European countries, supported the belief that Saddam had them.

The world knows Saddam used WMD against his own people and the Iranians.

No one wants peace more than the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines fighting this war against terrorism.

It’s nice to make platitudes about peace, but the fact is the terrorists aren’t interested.

Bill Hurley

59 School Street

Hyannis, MA 02601

USA