U.S. Discharges Troops for Abuse in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/kuwait_us_soldiers&cid=540&ncid=1480

KUWAIT CITY - The U.S. Army discharged three soldiers for abusing prisoners at a detention center in Iraq (news - web sites), a U.S. military spokesman said Monday.


The three soldiers, all from Pennsylvania, were scheduled to face courts martial this month but opted instead to submit to a nonjudicial hearing, in which their conduct was judged by a commander without a jury, Lt. Col. Vic Harris said.


Brig. Gen. Ennis Whitehead III, the acting commander of the 143d Transportation Command, found the three soldiers had maltreated prisoners at Camp Bucca, southern Iraq, on May 12. He demoted two of the soldiers and ordered that all three forfeit their salaries for two months. All three were also discharged.


The general found that Master Sgt. Lisa Marie Girman, 35, of Hazelton, Pa. knocked a prisoner to the ground, "repeatedly kicking him in the groin, abdomen, and head, and encouraging her subordinate soldiers to do the same," Harris said.

more

[Don Claybrook]

1. Let me see if I understand the moral of the story

If a soldier wants to get out of Iraq duty, they only need to commit human rights abuses? Do I have that about right? And human rights abuses will only get you NJP (Captain's Mast, as they called it when I was in the Navy)? Let's see, I got NJP for allowing underage sailors to drink at my apartment when they were 20 and I was 21, and these guys get it for kicking the shit out of prisoners. Something seems really out of whack here.

[tabasco]

2. Sounds like the E-8 should have been court-martialed

An E-8 (master sergeant) kicking a prisoner and encouraging subordinates to do the same. I agree a court-martial is appropriate for her. I'm sure they got dishonorable discharges. They'll have a tough time getting jobs as prison guards now. Asshole MPs.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

11. I think none of them got dishonorable discharges.

The article details the type of discharge for each of the accused. "Other than honorable" might not mean the same as dishonorable. "Under honorable conditions" was declared for one of the accused. They all got away with torturing prisoners.

[Just Me]

3. Yikes!!! No charges being pursued?

Why?

[ze_dscherman]

6. Maybe because of this

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/archive/covers/0,16641,1101031229,00.html

[Just Me]

9. Are these particular individuals "honored" in that article?

Does an article in one magazine dictate that individuals who assault and batter another person are not to be held accountable for their individual actions?

[arcane1]

4. "you've come a long way, baby"

glad to know that the military has finally reached equality, and the female soldiers are free to be violent sadistic assholes just like the men-folk have been doing for millenia

[Fridays Child]

5. For the other side of the story...

Army reservists' families say soldiers charged in Iraq were targeted unfairly

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

By Joe Smydo, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Relatives of four Army reservists from Pennsylvania who are accused of beating and abusing Iraqi prisoners say they fear their loved ones are targets of a vendetta.

They say they believe the four, all military police officers, previously have had run-ins with commanders at the Camp Bucca internment center near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, and that mismanagement of the camp had sent soldiers' morale into a tailspin.

Master Sgt. Lisa Girman, Sgt. 1st Class Scott McKenzie, Spc. Timothy Canjar and Sgt. Shawna Edmondson are members of the 320th Military Police Battalion based in Ashley, Luzerne County. They were charged with dereliction of duty, assault and other offenses after members of another unit reported seeing the four abuse prisoners during a transport May 12, said Col. Rick Thomas, spokesman for Army Forces Central Command at Fort McPherson, Ga.

More at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03245/217277.stm

[atreides1]

10. Yes But They Have No Proof...

There may be some merit to this, but unfortunately for these soldiers
they failed to keep records of the mismanagement, or their alledged
run-ins with the commanders at the internment center.

And does anyone really expect the families of these soldiers to come out and say, "why yes they did abuse Iraqi prisoners, but didn't everybody?".

One of the lessons that I learned in the army is to always keep a record of anything that is out of place, or incidences that occur,
it was known as CYA.

These reservist just did not learn the lesson and it's too late now.

[MrPrax]

7. Yikes...bad precedent

If you really really want to get out, just bash the hell out of an Iraqi civillian?

I hope that a nonjudicial discharge has some 'penality' attached other than being Stateside, out of harm's way and never allowed back into the Services...

[RebelOne]

8. They need to do some jail time.