I am pretty sure this is a war crime

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11061831/

How U.S. used Iraqi wives for ‘leverage’

Suspected insurgents' spouses jailed to force husbands to surrender

updated 2:39 p.m. CT, Fri., Jan. 27, 2006

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of “leveraging” their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family’s door telling him “to come get his wife.”

The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.

The U.S. military on Thursday freed five of what it said were 11 women among the 14,000 detainees currently held in the 2½-year-old insurgency. All were accused of “aiding terrorists or planting explosives,” but an Iraqi government commission found that evidence was lacking.

Iraqi human rights activist Hind al-Salehi contends that U.S. anti-insurgent units, coming up empty-handed in raids on suspects’ houses, have at times detained wives to pressure men into turning themselves in.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. So what?

No one (in the US, at least) seems to care. No nation has yet to file charges, and Congress apparently doesn't give a rat's tail about what the Junta does. Why bother even pointing such things out?

(I really, really wish I could use the sarcasm tag here. I really do. Alas, it is not sarcasm when stating the unvarnished truth.)

[wildbilln864]

14. Hell I remember hearing about them taking and using kids....

the same way. Nothing done there either. :shrug:

[gratuitous]

2. Be all that you can be

The few. The proud.

See the world.

Aim high.

Yes indeed, such an honorable and noble profession. The greatest in the world. Best equipped, best armed. None better. Death before dishonor and all that. How can you possibly dishonor someone who would kidnap and hold hostage a young mother with a nursing baby?

[Pavulon]

8. Doofus, that is not army infantry or marines

doing that it is intelligence operatives, people that make up a fraction of the armed forces community. The people that carried that out were probably officers or attached to some other tla.

[gratuitous]

9. I refer you to the story's lede

"The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of “leveraging” their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show." (Emphasis supplied.)

Just to reiterate: "The U.S. Army." That's "The U.S. Army." In case you don't read very quickly, I'll type it slowly: "The U.S. Army."

Now, what were you saying about a "Doofus"?

[lazer47]

11. That is called Grouping,,Doofus,,,

when you blame all of the U.S. Army for the crimes of a few right wing extremists war criminals

[Pavulon]

10. The US Army

is composed of hundreds of thousands of people. The vast majority of them have no will or ability to do any thing like this.

Those who do interrogate prisoners are supposed to follow a manual, which is public and not classified. That is not a job you get out of boot.

Not following the manual can lead to formal charges. IF, and I say IF, a person did those things they can be charged with a crime.

The VAST majority of the Army has no contact with prisoners and in my personal experiences are generally good people.

You are using a very broad brush.

[gratuitous]

13. Bummer

Because the people in uniform using my tax dollars to do these things are inviting retribution from all over the world, and the people carrying out that retribution don't seem to be too picky about whether they get the perpetrators of these atrocities or their countrymen. And the perpetrators couldn't possibly carry out their war crimes without the passive support and active connivance of the hundreds of thousands of other people also in the service.

And I sure as the world see damn few investigations of these atrocities and even fewer prosecutions. And not a damn one of them has convicted anyone with a commission, as the tribunals are composed of friendly "brothers in arms" giving every possible break to the accused and never allowing a word of direct testimony from the victims. If that's what passes for a prosecution, then "military justice" is as big an oxymoron as "military intelligence."

[wtmusic]

15. Whoopee..."formal charges". Here's what formal charges led to at Haditha:

"On April 17, 2007, the Marine Corps dropped all charges against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz in exchange for his testimony. Seven other Marines involved in the incident have also been granted immunity.

On August 9, 2007, all charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt and Capt. Randy Stone were dropped. On October 19th, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt's commanding officer decided the charges should be lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

On September 18, 2007, all charges against Captain Lucas McConnell were dropped in exchange for immunity and his cooperation with the investigation.

On March 28, 2008, all charges against LCpl. Stephen Tatum were dropped.

On June 17, 2008, all charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani were dismissed by the military judge citing unlawful command influence. The Marine Corps has appealed that ruling."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_killings

For murdering 24 civilians in cold blood.

[DCKit]

3. Horrible, but it pales compared to the child rapes they allowed...

in order to get the detainees to talk.

Nothing we've done in the M.E. these past eight years passes any smell test.

[Rebubula]

7. Not challenging you...

...but can you provide a link to the child rape allegation? Though I distrust our government, I have known too many Marines and Soldiers to believe this...but I have been disappointed by my fellow man many times.

[DCKit]

12. C'mon, you're sitting in front of a computer...

and I don't see why I should be doing your research for you.

[KansDem]

16. Seymour Hersh first reported on this...

Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."
--more--
Daily Kos

You might also want to read this:
Washington Post

[Lars39]

17. Seymour Hirsch:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/14864

[Solly Mack]

4. It is a violation of the GC...but the US government isn't exactly adverse to violating

the Geneva Conventions

From 2006
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/14/kidnap/

"
Congress has demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hand over a raft of documents to Congress that could substantiate allegations that U.S. forces have tried to break terror suspects by kidnapping and mistreating their family members. Rumsfeld has until 5 p.m. Friday to comply.

It now appears that kidnapping, scarcely covered by the media, and absent in the major military investigations of detainee abuse, may have been systematically employed by U.S. troops. Salon has obtained Army documents that show several cases where U.S. forces abducted terror suspects families. After he was thrown in prison, Cpl. Charles Graner, the alleged ringleader at Abu Ghraib, told investigators the military routinely kidnapped family members to force suspects to turn themselves in.

"There was no response" to the letter, a frustrated Shays told Salon. "We are not going to back off this." (snort)

[chrisa]

5. Seeing as our own CIA is the master of terrorism...

This is just one war crime of many.

[sam sarrha]

6. torturing family members in front of suspects ..? actually the person they want is in hiding, try'n

to flush him out

nothing new here.. move along
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=13285
"Jul. 14, 2006 | Congress has demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hand over a raft of documents to Congress that could substantiate allegations that U.S. forces have tried to break terror suspects by kidnapping and mistreating their family members...snip"