Lynndie England, 2009 "Haunted" Edition: "I don't have a social life ... I sit at home all day"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Lynndie England Still Haunted by Abu Ghraib Scandal

Monday, June 29, 2009



KEYSER, W.Va. — More than two years since leaving her prison cell, the woman who became the grinning face of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal spends most of her days confined to the four walls of her home.

Former Army reservist Lynndie England hasn't landed a job in numerous tries: When one restaurant manager considered hiring her, other employees threatened to quit.

She doesn't like to travel: Strangers point and whisper, "That's her!"

In fact, she doesn't leave the house much at all, limiting her outings mostly to grocery runs.

"I don't have a social life," she says. " ... I sit at home all day."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529366,00.html?test=faces

[YOY]

1. People actually recognize her? She doesn't even look like that picture anymore.

Maybe in her little corner of the world they do.

Move to a different town where they know your name but can't pick it from a blurry picture taken years ago.

[rcrush]

4. She walks around with the cigarette and doing "the pose" all day

You'd think she'd learn

[Joanne98]

8. LOL

[YOY]

15. Can you blame her? Try it yourself. It's more addictive than Jazzhands.

n.t.

[Bobbie Jo]

26. ROFL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[BurtWorm]

32. It would truly suck if the high point of your life was Abu Ghraib

and it all went down hill from there.

:scared:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

33. Well carrying that leash around everywhere she goes doesn't help either. nt

[tekisui]

48. This American Life had a bit about her. It was really interesting.

She claimed that she just held the leash long enough for Grainer to snap the shot. He took pictures of her constantly. She said the real torture went on behind closed doors. SHe was stupid to allow herself to be photographed, yet says she was just a paper pusher, checking prisoners in. Says she didn't even go back into the holding cells, but did to pose in a few shots for Grainer.

[RaleighNCDUer]

52. Considering that she's been released and he's still in prison

I think there may be a good bit of truth to that.

[Matariki]

69. Heard that too. It was good - but she was clearly stupid

or at least lacking in any sort of normal, healthy empathy.

[catbyte]

2. Boo bleeping Hoo...

[Soylent Brice]

23. is there an echo chamber in here...

[Sydnie]

3. torture comes in many forms and she has secured a lifetimes worth for herself

Self inflicted wound.

[peace frog]

5. I'm having a hard time

working up any sympathy for her. Can't live with the notoriety, Lynndie? Change your name, move to another part of the country, keep you head down and nose clean. Otherwise, boo frickin' hoo, girlie.

[rcrush]

6. "I don't have a social life," she says. " ... I sit at home all day."

Why do I have something in common with this nut?

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Move to the city, change your name, color your hair, and try not to

torture anymore.

[Stevenmarc]

9. Lynndie I bet you could get a date on FreeRepublic

[CatWoman]

16. !!

:rofl:

[TahitiNut]

34. More like "clients" I'm thinking.

:shrug:

[Ganja Ninja]

78. Maybe she's not that desperate. n/t

[Dappleganger]

10. Karma

[Dennis Donovan]

11. I actually feel a bit sorry for her...

She became the poster child of Abu Ghraib, when what she did was minimal compared to what the interrogators REALLY did.

[DBoon]

28. yes, she was the easiest person to take the fall

as long as Cheney is out free, there is no justice

[TahitiNut]

35. Agreed.

Two-digit IQ and impoverished roots ... she was fodder.

[SpiralHawk]

39. "Sneer." - xVP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney (R)

[SpiralHawk]

40. "Smirk." -xCommander AWOL (R)

[Raskolnik]

42. Its a lot easier to convict a private than the son of a bitch in a suit and tie

that wrote the policy. I'm looking at you, Yoo.

[Lost-in-FL]

43. And the interrogators will get away with it.

Obama is giving them a free pass (but only time will tell).

[Raine]

59. She took the fall for the higher-ups

I don't know if I exactly feel sorry for her but she certainly was scapegoated.

[Ilsa]

12. Ask Cheney for some money for plastic surgery. Ask one of Cheney's

judges to change her name. I thought the criminals in charge would have taken care of their own, but then again, "There is no honor among thieves."

I do feel some sympathy for her. I suspect she isn't that smart and thought she was supposed to do the shit they told her to do. I guess she's another dumb criminal.

[YOY]

14. Like Cheney gives a shit about some podunk little woman doing his dirty work.

n.t.

[Ilsa]

27. I hear you. As bad as Cheney is, he's even more traitorous to US citizens

serving in the military, sending orders for the lower ranks to do his illegal work, then not giving them cover when they are in trouble. His lack of loyalty to anything other than himself and his personal interests is unnerving.

[YOY]

29. If you really want to understand Lynndie and where she came from read this.

http://www.coldtype.net/Assets.04/Essays.04/leash.pdf

I was pretty callous and judgmental about her until I considered some of Joe Bageant's words. In some ways she's quite pitiable.

[Ilsa]

55. Thanks, I'll probably read it. I have some pity for her. I think she was too

young and inexperienced and got in over her head while trying to be "a good soldier" and her bosses took advantage of that. Still, I would hope that some part of her humanity would have kicked in to make her question what she was doing. Butthen I remember the Stanford study and how people are predisposed to abuse once they get a taste of that power. I feel bad that her kid was separated from her.

[Nay]

13. Lynndie has a window of opportunity to examine her inner self, decide if

and what she should do to correct the errors she made, and go on the road against the war and all it represented. If she hasn't thought of that yet, then that tells me a lot about her, unfortunately.

[Bucky]

17. So she's single?

==:thumbsup:

[peace frog]

21. But she's breeding

already popped out one little kidlet with Graner, the other Abu Ghraib torturer.

[NeedleCast]

18. Welcome to the Repercussions of your Actions

Population, you.

[Sukie]

19. I wouldn't have recognized her from that photo.

She might be projecting her guilt to the point that people just figure she did something wrong somewhere. Actually, I think she deserves a second chance. But blow it again, and there won't be any sympathy from even those of us who are the definition of bleeding heart liberal softies.

[YOY]

22. She's a small town WVa gal.

They all know her in her little podunk. They ALL know EVERYONE ELSE in those towns. Read this: http://www.coldtype.net/Assets.04/Essays.04/leash.pdf ...Joe B says some interesting things about her...he actually pities her...because he knows where she's from.

All she has to do is leave podunk and start going by Lynn and not "Lyndie". Nobody ever heard of Lynn England the woman wearing jeans and a blouse looking for a job.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. She could totally get a job as Bill Bennett's dominatrix.

Just sayin'.

[izquierdista]

24. Numerous tries, bull

All she has to do is fix up her basement and put an ad on craigslist for Miss Lynndie's House of Punishment and Discipline. I'll bet Sen. Vitter would be the first one knocking on her door to have correction applied for being a bad boy. :spank: :spank:

[jaysunb]

25. There are no "strangers" in Keyser

so that bit is a lie.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

30. So correct...............n/t

[TahitiNut]

38. Well, folks passing through on their way to Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks NRA might stop.

:shrug:

[MountainLaurel]

61. No kidding

And considering the support she (and the whole unit, except for the whistleblower) got from the community at the time it all came out, I sincerely doubt that people are threatening to quit if they have to work with her.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

31. That's a shame. She's quite a catch. nt

[BuyingThyme]

36. Poor little rapist can't get a break.

[BulletproofLandshark]

37. At least she's still alive.

I'll save my pity for those from Abu Ghraib that are no longer with us.

[Lost-in-FL]

41. She has the power to change that and sitting at home won't do it.

Community service? Pushing for more investigations against the higher chain of command and showing she is sorry for what happened? Why in the hell she is sitting at home for??

[redqueen]

44. *She's* haunted?

That's rich.

[RaleighNCDUer]

53. Shouldn't she be? nt

[JI7]

68. no, she isn't haunted, she views herself as a victim , she isn't staying home

because she feels bad about what she did, but because of the reaction she gets from some who recognize her from those pics.

[redqueen]

75. Exactly.

Very well said, thanks.

[hfojvt]

45. "she sits. Alone. A guilty stare ..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlFVc7qDUog

[Canuckistanian]

46. Cheney should give her a job

After all, she did his dirty work and paid for it with a prison stretch and a dishonorable discharge.

He OWES her, big time.

[catgirl]

47. Serves her right (nt)

[angrycarpenter]

49. Kind of sounds like me and i didn't torture anyone.

Getting any job these days is tough. While there may some people who won't hire her because of her notoriety, I doubt it is the whole story. Were she simply an everyday felon, people would still be reluctant to hire her. Today even being a single mom is a strike against you in the job market. She also did not seem to be overly bright or personable.

Maybe Fox News is hiring.

[Lorien]

51. Same here. At least 15% of America can't find a job

and the vast majority of us aren't sociopaths.

[Obamanaut]

50. Help me understand the way FOX news is dealt with here. If we

deliberately select Foxnews on the internets, it is ok. But if we come upon it in the waiting room of a doctor's office, we must seek to have it changed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5912138

If we say that Fox lies all the time, then am I to believe anything in this article?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

57. Fox is seeking to assemble "collateral damage"...

...and she's most certainly NOT "collateral damage."

Most of the "Fox Fans" see her as a victim, a soldier who was only following orders.

And even though it's W-A-Y too late to bang that drum, Fox is bangin' it anyway.

:patriot:

[emulatorloo]

67. Look near the headline, it is an ASSOCIATED PRESS story. Fox is just hosting it.

Lynndie England Still Haunted by Abu Ghraib Scandal

June 29, 2009
Associated Press

[Obamanaut]

76. My point is this. Folks are usually vilified here for citing FOX

as a source, or for even admitting they watch or use FOX. Yet, if there is a story that they seem to like, or titillates them, using that source is ok.

Regardless of the origin of the story - AP, UPI, or any other set of initials - the poster was obviously reading FOX. But because so many here hate Ms England, the act of reading FOX got a pass, just because the article was tasty enough to get the hate juices flowing.

Reading the posts, one gets the impression that Ms England herself is disliked, with the dislike not limited to her despicable actions.

[rucky]

54. My heart goes out to her

victims.

[Skittles]

56. Lynndie girl

don't sit at home, go out and do some volunteer work - with very disadvantaged people.....learn some empathy and if you've changed, let people see it

[KG]

58. doesn't she have a brat to raise?

boy, she looked like she was having the time of her life in those pics. best keep this psychopath away from society.

[Gwendolyn]

60. Maybe she can get some hints and tips on coping from Karla Homolka. n/t

[arcadian]

62. I feel bad for her, I've spoken to her lawyer.

He's a liberal Dem and Lynndie is also a Democrat. She got the shaft. It's sad that so many here would condemn her.

[hayu_lol]

63. Try and keep in mind that she and her cohorts...

were 'more or less' trained National Guard troops. The only troops in that prison(and the others)should have been RA troops especially trained for duty with foreign prisoners.

What she got was the sentence due to those Lts and Capts. and Majors who should have been supervising and did not.

She is as much a victim as the prisoners in many ways.

[alarimer]

65. There was a piece on This American Life about her this week.

She was basically a fall guy. That asshole Graner was the real menace. Not to mention the higher ups.

She didn't seem very bright and didn't seem to really have a lot to say about larger issues. But I do think she, at least, was basically a scapegoat. Graner, however, is not and is serving a much longer sentence, deservedly so.

[ThomWV]

64. I rode over to the town she is from in part to see what kind of place could raise a child like that.

I was riding my motorcycle all over this state anyway and so during one of my two rides over to the eastern panhandle I made it a point to pass through Fort Ashby, which is where I read she was from. It was a pleasant enough small town. I saw no signs of abject prover ty, like you find in the southwest part of the state and in some parts of the middle. In fact it seemed to be a very nice little community. Actually I had another reason for wanting to go there, to see a restored fort from the post colonial period. So it was part of a desire I had to learn the state's history and see some of the places relevant to its development that sent me there but as I said, I wanted to see what sort of place could raise a monster. The answer was that any place can.

[Forkboy]

66. Good. She should take the honorable way out.

[Contrary1]

70. She's not sorry about anything, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for her:

Well, maybe she is sorry about one thing: "I can't even hunt squirrels no more, because I'm not permitted to own a firearm".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192701/Why-hell-I-feel-sorry-says-girl-soldier-abused-Iraqi-prisoners-Abu-Ghraib-prison.html

[Iggo]

71. I saw what you did to those people, Lynndie.

Fuck you and your social life.

[Hugabear]

72. She's lucky that she's not sitting in prison for war crimes

This woman, her co-horts, and everybody in her chain of command who was involved in this should have been prosecuted for war crimes. I have no sympathy for her at all. NONE WHATSOEVER. Especially, as someone else pointed out, there are MILLIONS of Americans who also can't get a job, who've never committed a war crime in their life.

Maybe she could get a job over in Iran. I hear there's a need for people with her specialty over there.

Or perhaps she could become a consultant for the next season of "24".

[MajorChode]

73. I think she has a great future as a Femdom

I doubt she'd have too much trouble finding rich guys that would pay for the same treatment she dished out on the unwilling.

[Hello_Kitty]

74. Meanwhile, Rumsfeld and Cheney are living like kings.

I wonder if Lyndie makes that connection.

[BlooInBloo]

77. Good. Fucking torturing piece of shit.