Abu Ghraib Dog Handler Is Unrepentant

[WhiteTara]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=1754425&page=1

The "I was just following orders" defense doesn't hold up. I thought that soldiers took an oath to do the right thing, not just what they are told.

ORT MEADE, Md. Mar 22, 2006 (AP)— An Army dog handler convicted of tormenting Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison with his snarling animal was unrepentant about the abuse charges at his sentencing hearing, telling a court-martial jury that soldiers aren't supposed to be "soft and cuddly."

snip

Prosecutors said Smith had let his unmuzzled black Belgian shepherd Marco bark and lunge at several prisoners for his own amusement. One of the photographs that exposed the Abu Ghraib scandal shows his dog straining on its leash, just inches from the face of a cowering prisoner.

snip

Master Sgt. Shannon Wilson, who directly supervised Smith at the kennels in Fort Riley, Kan., where Smith's unit is based, testified that Smith was an exceptional soldier whose infractions didn't amount to abuse.

"Anything short of being bit is a psychological deterrent," Wilson said.


The defense also argued that Abu Ghraib was a dangerous, chaotic place where policies were so murky that even the colonel who supervised interrogations testified he was confused.

more

[The Stranger]

1. Maybe he should be tied up and have an dog lunge at his face repeatedly.

Then we could see about being "soft and cuddly".

[spag68]

2. dog handler

may be unrepentant, but we are missing the big picture. Who told him to use these methods? Doesn't anyone remember the me lai incedent in nam, or any of hundreds of other incedents? I had many friends that came back in bad mental condition because of what they did. Either we are an honest honerable society or we are not. We must not only defeat the scourge of the neocons, but we have to make sure the dems. don't carry in the same policys.

[WhiteTara]

7. Yes, Donald Rumsfeld should be on trial

but we can't seem to find the cajones to make that happen. :sigh:

[Drum]

3. These guys just don't get it!

I think that everyone who set up the Geneva Convention POW guidelines---now considered "quaint" by this WH---were interested in the humane treatment of their OWN troops if captured. If this bunch of bunglers who run things now were ever in conflict with another REAL army (instead of just bullying people they'd already "liberated") they it might occur to them that their stance and permissiveness of torture and abuse gravely endangers any of our military personnel that are taken prisoner.

Is this so hard to get? It's not about cuddly...it's about protecting our own and, again, a quaint notion: fighting war with honor.

[saigon68]

11. Congratulations YOU DO GET IT

Unlike so many posers and freepers here, you do get it. I am continuously attacked by these cowards who want to "EXCUSE THE CRIMINALS"

They joined because they didn't have jobs

They joined because the economy is bad

They joined because they wet the bed etc.

The coddle the troops group at DU will be pissed at your post.

I for one am not

It is very insightful

[Drum]

19. By your avatar and signature, I take it you are a veteran?

It it's so, I'm honored to get an answer from someone who's been out there. I form my opinions on military personnel the same way I do with all others: more as individuals or from aspects of legal fact (vis-a-vis the original post.) So I don't generalize about why anyone enters a career in the services (nor, for that matter, those in law enforcement, attorneys, actors or teachers.) So thanks for your presumption of the person behind my message...you're square-on.

As you mentioned, my disdain is measured out more for the top of the command structure/hierarchy/ Through their desperation for evidence to justify their phony invasion, they've put a whole lot of service-people in a hard place by sanctioning abuse AND have invited nasty reprisals from a lotta pissed-off people. The leaders of any group are responsible for the folks they oversee...the WH, Pentagon, and senior brass should be ashamed for voting for their careers over the honor of the US and the safety of those under their command.

It's hard for me to fathom how and why such bad policy as the US policies on prisoners (and the less-legitimate-sounding "detainees") got that way. This is a place where politics, governance, and decency all got very soiled, and higher-ups should answer for it.

Thank you saigon68, for the reply.

[spag68]

4. dog handler

Please don't lay all this at the feet of this man. We don't know the entire picture of what was put in his mind. A vast majority of our military men and women are honerable, but the trainers are very good at picking out soldiers who can be susceptable to mind controll too.

[sattahipdeep]

5. We are what we think we are.

And for those of you who support this Thug- go fuk yerself.

[northzax]

6. well, I think he's about to learn about that, from the other side

I bet the guards at Leavenworth are real cute and cuddly.

[Bunny]

8. Have fun in the stockade, asshole.

:grr:

[MrPrax]

9. "inches from the face"

Kinda like that rat cage Winston had in 1984...

[dailykoff]

10. Why would he be?

a) He was told that Iraqis are terrorists,
b) His boss admits telling him to do the dog stuff,
c) He thinks he's a loyal American and doing "the right thing."

It ain't the dog handlers who are guilty.

[atreides1]

12. You follow illegal orders

It makes you just as guilty as the person who gave you those orders. I was in the Army for 13 years, and unlike this crew we were made to take classes on such quaint things as the Geneva Conventions and the Laws of Land Combat. As far as the "brain washing" crap, please, yes the military breaks down the street or farm mentality, and they take away a little of the "I and Me", but then they build you back up. You don't get promoted into a leadership position for being a robot, at least I didn't.

The man was wrong, plain and simple.

And for those here that keep supporting this type of soldier, let me give you a reminder, the German people held the Waffen SS in high regard also, and were able to look beyond the atrocities that they committed as well.

[Solon]

14. Using that as a Justification is stupid...

a) He was told that Jews are terrorists,
b) His boss admits telling him to pull the lever,
c) He thinks he's a loyal German and doing "the right thing."

It ain't the Camp Guards who are guilty.

This is the Nuremburg defense, and guess what? Those pricks got a short drop and a sudden stop because they just followed orders, just as they deserved.

[dailykoff]

20. Guilty of dog handling, yes. Guilty of murder, no.

But if you want to compare Abu-Ghraib to Auschwitz-Birkenau I'm with you.

[WhiteTara]

21. it ain't ONLY the dog handlers who are guilty n/t

[hedgehog]

13. I shudder for our POWs in the next war we get into

We've certainly lowered the bar for civilized treatment of prisoners!That's what all the Bushies just don't get. There's no way to guarantee good treatment for our POWs, but if we don't set the standards, we don't even have the right to demand good treatment.

[GodlessBiker]

15. If they did this to our soldiers, we'd be pissed to all hell.

[Big_Mike]

16. Doesn't matter. What he did was at least prejudicial to good order and

discipline, the bedrock of military legal basis.

His actions, along with the actions of those other imbeciles, impacted operations.

For that, they all should fry.

Also, I noticed that the IG cleared Karpinsky of everything EXCEPT dereliction of duty. When is her court? Smoke her ass like a cheap cigar.

I have not seen the IG report on Sanchez. Waiting for it.

[arwalden]

17. We Have No Moral Authority To Protest Similar Treatment Of American POWs.

... we've lowered the bar. We've set the new global standard. Pre-emptive invasion and torture.

Write a song about THAT, Lee Greenwood!

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. Hell, ur pRetzeldent ain't repentant about killing innocent Iraqis . . .

.
.
.

whaddya expect?

and y'all elected him TWICE!!

don't gimme that selection thing, which I grant is probably true

but the Bush Gang could have never achieved that if there were not so many stupid voters

And your electoral system allows huge monies to be pumped into campaigns, allowing:

well no

actually GUARANTEEING that the rich will rule you

And they succeeded, and are quite successfully continuing their goal of global conquest.

(sigh)