Military Serving Soylent Green
August 28, 2003
Damn...I was about to have some fun exploring the possibility that Maureen Dowd abuses males with a strap-on appliance and then something important unfolds. Rising to the defense of four U.S. soldiers in the process of being railroaded by their own military spared Maureen an exposé on her hatred of anything normal (temporarily).
A story that you will not read in any of America’s elite media is rapidly unfolding in Kuwait. Four American soldiers, accused by Amnesty International, have been charged by the U.S. military with abusing Iraqi PoW’s on May 12, 2003. Amnesty International misses the warm and fuzzy compassion of the former Hussein regime.
As reported outside the U.S., "The four military police from a Pennsylvania-based US army reserve unit are accused of punching, kicking and breaking bones of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the largest US-run PoW camp in Iraq." Maybe these four, in the tradition of Uday Hussein, were just trying to get a date Iraqi style.
The four Pennsylvanian soldiers, Master Sgt. Lisa Girman, Pittson; Staff Sgt. Scott McKenzie, Clearfield; Sgt. Shawna Edmondson, South Abington Township; and Spc. Tim Canjar, Madison Township response: "...they acted only in self-defense, and that the 44 prisoners being shipped into Camp Bucca...were rebelling." "A few of my MPs (military police) were assaulted by the enemy prisoners, and we had to use force to regain control, all justifiable," accused Staff Sergeant Scott McKenzie said in an e-mail to relatives.
And speaking of e-mail...without it, this story would still be locked in a vault. The U.S. military authorities have placed a gag order on those involved and refuse to even release the names of the accused. Well, at least the Associated Press is good for something.
Just so that you can feel the evil of the four accused: Girman, 35, a state police officer stationed in Monroe County, served in Desert Storm and was wounded; Staff Sgt. Scott McKenzie volunteered to serve in both Bosnia and Korea so married reservists wouldn't have to go; Sgt. Shawna Edmondson is a security officer at the University of Scranton and Spc. Tim Canjar is 21 years old and enlisted after 9-11. Real tough hombres compared to the abused Iraqis.
God forbid, but, "Some released Iraqi prisoners have complained of rough treatment such as being kept in tightly bound plastic handcuffs and blasted with loud music and strobe lights." Amnesty International finds this to be humiliating and "abusive treatment". In places like Maureen Dowd’s neighborhood, people pay big money to be bound and blasted..."Oh Maureen you’ve been a naughty girl".
Our four brave soldiers are "awaiting an Article 32 hearing, a military proceeding in which prosecutors lay out evidence of a crime and a commander decides whether to convene a court-martial." I guess you first have to be murdered like Johnny Spann before anybody will admit that these PoW’s aren’t pacifist protestors.
Oh yeah...remember Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann? He was the all-American boy murdered by that little girly-fundamentalist John Walker Lindh et al at the Afghan prison uprising in Mazar-e Sharif. As remembered by CIA director George Tenet, "The prison uprising--which had murder as its goal--claimed many lives, among them that of a very brave American, whose body was recovered just hours ago." Maybe Amnesty International is just pissed because we didn’t get a Mazar-e Sharif repeat at Camp Bucca.
We can expect Amnesty International (AI) to be a bunch of hypocritical whiners, but not the U.S. military. AI, another tax-free 501(c)(03) public charity, makes all the money it pays its people by hyping the "war crimes" of countries like America. But they were awfully deaf, dumb and blind when it came to the atrocities of the former Hussein regime. FYI, AI reported paying its top nine employees a total of $1,113,637.00 in salary and benefits (as reported on their 2002 IRS form 990). Who says bad-mouthing America doesn’t pay.
But what’s with the U.S. military command? Are they playing PC to a crowd of Upper West Side dilettantes or just trying to appease a bunch of Iraqi primates? This is war...there are no time-outs and hugs. Before these PoW’s were captured, they would have gladly tortured and murdered Americans for sport. Is the U.S. command so wimpy that they will prosecute soldiers under constant threat of death for roughing-up rebellious PoW’s?
These charges could set a dangerous precedent. If the U.S. military decides to actually prosecute the four accused soldiers, it will send a signal of indecisiveness to both our troops and the Iraqis. Faced with future insurrection, American troops may balk at decisive action in fear of prosecution...and die as a result. And the Iraqis will exploit this and every other weakness to their benefit.
These charges are ridiculous. Those in the military who pursue these charges are ridiculous. This is an insult to all who defend America and their families. It is a witch-hunt. But what do you expect from a military that court-martialed Brig. General Billy Mitchell in 1925 for warning the Pentagon geniuses that the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor.
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