Friday - April 30, 2004
You Reap What you Sow. Results of LtCol West
This website is not a high traffic area, but some
of my rants do get some notice at a modest level. The one that got the most
notice is my
rant about LtCol West.
If you'll recall, he's the reserve army
battalion commander that decided to torture and threaten Iraqi prisoners.
Despite the fact that this behavior is immoral, illegal and everyone in the
military knows it, I got a lot of emails from strangers (mostly due to a google
reaction to "LtCol West") and none of the respondents agreed with me that it was
wrong to torture prisoners.I'm
disappointed in my fellow Americans, my fellow military personnel and my fellow
Marine officers who told me that torturing prisoners is okay, so long as you
"save the lives of your men." How anyone can say that LtCol West saved anyone
is beyond me, but that was the claim.
Now, look at what has come
to
light.
American soldiers are seemingly guilty of torturing Iraqis. Want to know what
their defense is? They were collecting valuable information that saved American
lives. Hmmm. I wonder where they got the idea that this was a good
excuse?
While people across this nation, many with
military training who should know better, were proclaiming LtCol West a true
hero because he tortured prisoners, I was asking this question: If soldiers are
told to beat up prisoners while in the presence of an officer and they are
lauded for it, what will soldiers do when officers are not
present?
I guess we've learned our
answer. Soldiers who have been told that it's only a slap in the wrist if a
Lieutenant Colonel tortures people have seemingly decided that it's okay to
treat other people with indignity, torture, humiliation, threats of
electrocution, and other forms of maltreatment, just so long as military
intelligence is obtained.
Some of these
soldiers are claiming that they were never taught how to treat prisoners. This
is pure unadulterated crap. Every person entering the military is taught about
the basic code of conduct and how to treat prisoners. Even were they to find
some way to claim that they never received this training, there is no way any
human being can claim this as an
excuse.
I hope that the military puts
these people up against the wall and executes them. I'd like to recall LtCol
West and have him stand by and watch the result of his actions. Too bad his
trial is over. If we didn't have a law against double jeopardy, I'd like to put
his back up against a wall too.
This
is a disgusting display of the worst type of behavior and I want the most severe
actions to be taken to ensure that no one ever associates me with them, and
deter anyone in the US military from thinking that such behavior is
acceptable.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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