11 US soldiers face Iraq charges

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Saturday, 16 July, 2005, 07:08 GMT 08:08 UK

11 US soldiers face Iraq charges

Eleven US soldiers have been charged with beating suspected Iraqi insurgents in custody, US officials say.
The charges were filed on Wednesday after a complaint by a fellow soldier, a US military statement said.

"None of the insurgents required medical treatment for injuries related to the alleged assault," the statement said without giving further details.
(snip)

The 11 soldiers have been charged with "violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice", the US military statement said.

"The army's criminal investigation division immediately began an investigation into the reported incident for possible criminal conduct," it said.

"The unit involved has been pulled off line to complete the inquiry and retraining."
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4688499.stm

[evlbstrd]

1. "The unit involved has been pulled off line to complete the inquiry

and retraining."
Just bring them home. Get them out of that hell.

[Bluebear]

2. Retraining?

:crazy:

[Erika]

3. Our troops frustrations are building

and spilling over.

[Qanisqineq]

4. I'm glad the one soldier had the courage to complain

Am I the only one that feels like the world is just falling apart?
Death, death, death everywhere. Torture, abuse, lying, families torn apart, PTSD, amputated limbs, bombings, hatred everywhere.
Was the world this bad 6 years ago and I just wasn't paying attention?

[Rose Siding]

10. I hope that soldier keeps his head down

[meganmonkey]

14. Don't lose faith

It can't last forever. It never does.

The world wasn't this bad 6 years agao, AFAIC, but I have to keep believing that it will be better in the next 6 years.

Don't give up! Destruction is not sustainable...

This too shall pass!

:hug:

[Voltaire99]

18. Yes.

Was the world this bad 6 years ago and I just wasn't paying attention?

It was this bad.

Under Clinton, the Iraqis were starved and bombed to death for eight straight years. Hundreds of thousands died. Children bore the brunt of it.

Under Bush, there is actually less death in Iraq. But it is terrible, as all will agree.

Even if the misery has merely taken another form today, I share your feeling: this is all awful, all unacceptable. American politicians have failed us. Both parties are to blame, and we must have broad, sweeping reform if we are to do better.

[saigon68]

5. More Thuggery by military sadists

Only a few frat pranks

Freedom is on the march.

[pocket]

6. for every one that gets reported

there are 100 jackbooted thugs that get away clean

[saigon68]

7. Wait til these "sweeties" get back to the ZI

And beat the crap out of their spouses--


Or kill some unsuspecting rustic on the street.

[wli]

8. be a little more realistic

High-level military officers frequently pride themselves on integrity and loyalty. When those two are brought into conflict (i.e. unethical orders from above) they get "very upset", but the lower ranks are compelled to follow orders largely blindly.

The net effect is that the lower-level officers get duped into committing war crimes by e.g. the commander-in-chief or Secretary of Defense as relayed by the highest-level commanders, and the generals etc. get very angry about what's going on during their watch they are "powerless" to prevent.

So IMHO the highest-level commands given are the ultimate offense against our troops, worse than all the deaths and cripplings put together. Those highest-level commands instantly turned our troops into either war criminals or traitors (check statistics on soldiers summarily executed; IIRC it's ca. 300. Check desertions, too).

Doing this to our military is far beyond unethical, and safeguards desperately need to be put into place to address this. The military (probably Joint Chiefs of Staff) deserves veto power in order to protect its conscience against unlawful and frivolous executive orders, as well as protection against micromanagement by "armchair generals" in high-level civilian offices (unfortunately the only obvious way to ensure this is broader review of dismissals and appointments). If this is too much autonomy for the military, one can require the Supreme Court to preside over such vetoes and add in more checks and balances (e.g. rigid requirements of congressional approval and/or referenda for military intervention). As things stand now, "resisting" executive orders to these effects threatens generals' jobs, soldiers' lives and liberties and mental health (it's been found that being forced to commit war crimes under orders causes post-traumatic stress syndrome), and is ineffectual in protecting either the military's conscience or this country's reputation.

The presidential privilege of commanding the military to pursue unjust wars must be decisively curtailed beyond even preexisting safeguards.

[Robbien]

9. Charges filed Wednesday but they wait till Saturday to release the news

Anyone surprised?

[zanne]

11. And this story won't exist on CNN...

or MSNBC, or Fox, or ABC, or NBC........

[NNN0LHI]

12. No but the new Harry Potter book is on sale n/t

[saigon68]

17. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[The Stranger]

13. Friday News Dump

[Pirate Smile]

15. 11 U.S. Troops Charged With Abuse in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eleven U.S. soldiers have been charged with assaulting detainees in Iraq, the military said Saturday, while three British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in a rare attack in the relatively stable southern part of the country.

Also Saturday, suicide attackers killed at least nine Iraqi forces in separate attacks in Baghdad and just south of Mosul as insurgents kept up their campaign against the nation's U.S.-trained security force.

Iraqi police also arrested a would-be suicide bomber in the capital before he could detonate an explosive belt among a crowd mourning the victims of an attack earlier this week that killed 27 people, mostly children, an official said. It was the second thwarted attack this week.

The U.S. military said in a statement that the charges against the 11 troops, who served in the Baghdad area but were not otherwise identified, were filed Wednesday after another soldier complained about the alleged assaults.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050716/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Au2y0mTj0G_LKBoneEpYUwms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[dxdem]

16. The insurgency being the way it is,

I'm suprised we haven't seen more attacks in the south. Soft underbelly...