Iraq abuse charges dismissed

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Dereliction of duty and maltreatment charges against a US Marine officer charged over the abuse of an Iraqi prisoner who died have been dismissed.

Major Michael Froeder, 38, a Marine reservist on active duty, was accused of failing to intervene and provide medical attention to a prisoner who was dragged by the neck last year at a detention facility known as Camp Whitehorse. Froeder was in command of the camp.

The 52-year-old prisoner, Nagem Sadoon Hatab, died a short time later. An Army pathologist concluded he was strangled.

Major General Timothy Donovan, commanding officer of the Marine's Camp Pendleton, in California, decided last week to dismiss the charges with prejudice, meaning they cannot be re-filed.

<snip>
Remember Lt. Calley?

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/21/1097951801629.html

[knowbody0]

1. oh my God

i am so ashamed of the USA

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Notice it's an Aussie paper...

Doubt we hear much of it here in the states.

Unless we start demnding answers... But still, Dismissed with prejudice??? That is so much horse shit.

[ZR2]

5. Just wondering why this makes you ashamed.

Do you have some facts in this case that should be brought out ?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Did you read the piece? The justice system was pretty much circumvented

Lawyers who practice military law say such dismissals are unusual. Typically, the commanding officer will evaluate the charges after an Article 32 hearing, the US military equivalent of a civilian grand jury proceeding. Froeder's Article 32 hearing had been scheduled to start this week.

<snip>

Color me ashamed of our system gone awry as well.

[ZR2]

14. Yes I did read the article.

However the article does leave out a whole lot of information. Namely, the actual reason the charges were dismissed. It is possible you know, that the charges were dismissed because the person, while in charge of the center, was not even around when the incident took place. I prefer to deal with actual facts, not speculation.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. From the article:

"After considering all of the evidence, Major General Donovan determined the charges were unsubstantiated," Marine spokeswoman Captain Juliet Chelkowski said.
<snip>
Not announced publicly, the decision but was confirmed by the US Marine Corps today.
<snip>

That's probably all we're going to get unless there's a major outcry about this. The "unsubstantiated" claim seems to pale in light of Froeder's earlier testimony:

<snip>

Last year, Froeder testified at the Article 32 hearings for other Marines charged in the case and said he saw Hatab, reportedly a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, being dragged by the neck after he suffered a bout of diarrhoea and collapsed in a holding cell.

Froeder testified he did not believe Hatab was ill. Before he collapsed, Froeder said Hatab had "purposely" fallen twice into barbed wire "to make himself difficult on the Marine guards".
<snip>

IMHO, there's not a lot of speculation involved in coming to the earlier conclusions.

[Gelliebeans]

2. this is an outrage

[reprobate]

7. Love your picture. We were possessed by a chocolat point

himalayan for seventeen years. Laziest cat I've known. But he had no reason to move much, as much as he was waited on.

[Gelliebeans]

18. thanks

I fell in love with "ragdolls" a couple of years ago
the one on the left is a seal mitted and the one on the right is a seal point
Neither is a year old yet...11 and 9 mos
will both be average weight for a Ragdoll 15-18 pounds for females
They go limp in your arms when you pick them up.

[aquart]

4. Dismissed?

Because he had orders to do it?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. If there were, he didn't use it in his defense... Beside, who would admit

to the order? Hell it sounds as if even the guy's own lawyer was surprised by the decision and had no idea why it was dismissed.

<snip>
Lawyers who practice military law say such dismissals are unusual. Typically, the commanding officer will evaluate the charges after an Article 32 hearing, the US military equivalent of a civilian grand jury proceeding. Froeder's Article 32 hearing had been scheduled to start this week.

<snip>

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. Pentagon Rewards Generals, Corporations Tied to Abu Ghraib Scandal

Instead of reprimands or dismissals, one general tied to the torture and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison will probably receive a promotion and another has been recommended for a new command position. At the same time, both US corporations with direct ties to the abuse scandal have been rewarded with lucrative contracts valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, want to promote Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commanding general of US troops in Iraq, according to "senior defense officials" who spoke to the Los Angeles Times. Investigators have cited Sanchez for creating an environment that contributed to the torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.

A fourth star for Sanchez might not come until after the November 2 presidential election, however...Meanwhile, the Army’s chief of intelligence said this week that he thinks Major General Barbara Fast, formerly the chief military intelligence officer in Iraq, should be put in command of the Army’s intelligence school in Arizona. Lieutenant General Keith Alexander told reporters Friday he has "great confidence" in Fast’s ability to supervise the training of Army interrogators. The same investigation that cited Sanchez also blamed Fast for failing to properly monitor activities by CIA interrogators at Abu Ghraib.

In the private sector, the US government has awarded lucrative contracts to security technology and mercenary contracting firms tied to the Abu Ghraib scandal by General Antonio Taguba’s investigation.
CACI International, which provides interrogators to supplement the US Army’s intelligence and counterintelligence operations in Iraq, revealed last week that it has obtained contracts valued at $266 million....That announcement came less than a month after the US Army awarded a six-month "bridging contract" worth as much as $400 million to Titan Corp...

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1125

DU thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=911332

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. They take care of their own... Look at the repercussions of being a felon

for the Watergate crowd and the Iran-Contra stooges.

[rooboy]

11. Approx. 2000 Iraqis have been killed in Abu Ghraib...

according to Mark Levine (former assistant to Barney Frank - now hosts radio show on www.radioinsidescoop.com). He has a VERY reliable source in either the Pentagon or Capitol Hill (I forget which) who says this is being covered up and will emerge in the next few years.

[Judi Lynn]

12. This is unbearable. How could ANYONE believe this explanation?

From the article:

Last year, Froeder testified at the Article 32 hearings for other Marines charged in the case and said he saw Hatab, reportedly a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, being dragged by the neck after he suffered a bout of diarrhoea and collapsed in a holding cell.

Froeder testified he did not believe Hatab was ill. Before he collapsed, Froeder said Hatab had "purposely" fallen twice into barbed wire "to make himself difficult on the Marine guards".

If he HAD "purposely" fallen into barbed wire, can you imagine how terrified he must have been at what he perceived was going to happen to him? Would YOU want to fall into barbed wire? I can't believe Froeder thinks anyone's stupid enough to fall for that.

Maybe it's more like they simply don't have to worry, knowing they will be exonerated as long as something like _Bush is running the show officially, no matter WHAT they do. I believe _Bush and his cohorts prefer the worst happens to imagined "enemies" as it all adds up to a vicious image which should scare the bejezus outta the entire world. They'll see a whole society of monsters, if this behavior will serve to inform them of the U.S. citizens.

[mbperrin]

13. Faking the diarrhea was fiendish, too, wasn't it?

Next thing, these guys will be blowing up wedding parties and claiming the US did it!

[Karenina]

15. NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

And THAT my dear friends is what will take Amerikkka under. Egregious hostilities against sentient beings? WHO CARES WHAT YOU THINK. WHATCHOO GONNA DO ABOUT IT? Was *dimson wearing a wire during the debates? WHO THE FUCK are YOU to even ASK???

[classof56]

17. If *dimson pulls this election off, we won't dare ask anything.

ANYTHING!! Remember the 60s when we could Question Authority? Remember Orwell's "1984"? I am scared spitless. God help us all if we do not:

DEFEAT BUSH!!

[VegasWolf]

19. Can't prove nothin, nah, nah, na, nah! n/t

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional