Vatican calls prison abuse a bigger blow to U.S. than Sept. 11

[ze_dscherman]

ROME (AP) — The scandal of prisoner abuses by U.S. soldiers in Iraq has dealt a bigger blow to the United States than the Sept. 11 attacks, the Vatican foreign minister told an Italian newspaper.
In an interview published Wednesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo described the abuses as "a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam" and said the scandal would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity.

"The torture? A more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11. Except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves," Lajolo was quoted as saying in La Repubblica.

Lajolo said that "intelligent people in Arab countries understand that in a democracy such episodes are not hidden and are punished ... Still the vast mass of people — under the influence of Arab media — cannot but feel aversion and hate for the West growing inside themselves."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-12-vatican-iraqi-abuse_x.htm

[emad]

1. Pot calling the kettle black. Vatican cover-ups of child rapes

and child torture have been official Catholic policy for the last 40 years.

That's not to excuse the crimes alleged to have been perpetrated by US and UK army individuals.

But the Vatican poking its nose into this one is too disgusting for words.

[ithacan]

2. there's a huge difference

the pedophile issue was not policy handed down from the top. Yes, it was a coverup, but it did not reflect the official policy or values of the Catholic Church.

The Iraq torture situation, on the other hand, is a policy handed down from the top, and it perfectly reflects the policies, worldviews and attitudes of the Bush White House.

By the way, the more religious leaders who speak out about this the better, in part in order to put to shame the right wing pro-Bush fundamentalists of the "religious right" who will be on Fox justifying this as God's will...

[emad]

3. The paedophile issue if a direct order from the Vatican to

cover up the activities of the P2 Lodge, whose senior members have held high ecclesiastical office in the Vatican for the last 40 years.

The Iraq torture is horrendous because of the direct involvement of the BFEE.

It was Bush 1 who personally ordered the continuance of cover-ups of Catholic sex abuse scandals in the UK and in Europe.

Religious leaders who take the moral high ground on the curent Iraqi torture are only out to save their own asses.

[skooooo]

8. Just because you don't like the pope...

...doesn't make what he's saying in this case wrong.

I tend to agree with him.

[damnraddem]

9. Oh, no, this pot is always welcome to call that kettle black ...

and vice versa.

The sources may be disgusting; but any such nose-poking into each others' business is to be savored.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. The Church admits the Crusades were wrong the first time around

we should listen to them. And pedophilia was not official policy (doesn't hurt to say this 3 tmes in one thread) they are not "black" in any way.

[TahitiNut]

12. Not to mention the Magdalena Launderies,

:shrug:

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Actually, it's not even the abuse, it's the BFEE's REACTION to the abuse

.
.
.

If the BFEE had immediately arrested (they DO have that "material witness" thing, so it WAS doable) anyone even close to the scandal, freed anyone that had no direct ties to anything, and apologized profusely right off the bat, the Arab world would have had a complete different reaction IMO.

But no, the BFEE does all their legalese pontifications, which most Arabs would not even understand, and dilly-dallies around trying to wiggle out from responsibility.

Heck, even alot of US citizens are outraged at the Administration's handling of this mess.

But the BFEE don't care, they will wiggle and lie, and continue their killing spree.

(sigh)

[damnraddem]

10. It couldn't arrest everyone close to the scandal.

That would be like the FBI arresting all of the FBI and the Virginia State Police to boot.

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. I can't argue with that

.
.
.

But some sort of massive action would have made the World take notice.

We are all too familiar with the excuses of the US.

I don't think too many are fooled with the "investigation" we are seeing.

Just hope enough of the US voters recognize the scam for what it is.

November can't come soon enough.

The whole world is waiting . . .

(sigh)

[Tinoire]

5. They've got that one right. Too bad it's falling on deaf ears. n/t

[cap]

6. it's really necessary for the Pope to speak out

against the torture despite the Vatican's own record on pedophilia. We really need to keep the focus on terrorism and dampen any flames inciting a religious war.

Pedophilia is a crime involving thousands of innocents; a religious war would involve millions.

The Vatican is saying: The Crusades: been there, done that. Don't want to do it again. Imagine if the Pope was sounding like Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition -- inciting violence against Muslims. The World would go up in flames.

[Tellurian]

7. So, Bush's abuse scandal has eclipsed the trauma of 911...nt

[hunter]

13. I'm mostly Catholic...

And I agree with the Vatican foreign minister Lajolo.

Wanna fight?

[kayell]

14. No fight from me and I'm not Catholic or even Christian

I agree with him on this one.

9/11 destroyed our image of ourselves as invulnerable.

Abu Ghraib destroyed our image of ourselves as a fair and decent people.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. This whole damned invasion

was a bigger blow than 9/11; especially since Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11!