MPs Angered by Prisoner Abuse Charges

MPs Angered by Prisoner Abuse Charges
By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - As National Guard Sgt. Dean Fox watched televised images of Iraqi prisoners being abused by U.S. military personnel, he was furious. While Fox and other MPs who served in Iraq (news - web sites) were outraged at the allegations of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, there had been earlier indications that other soldiers were not doing things by the book.

"I thought, `Well, I'm glad I'm home, because this is just another nail in the coffin for the United States over there," Fox said. "It's just going to turn more of the Iraqi people against us."

Fox, a member of the 211th Military Police, returned home to Clyde, in the western Mountains of North Carolina, in February after nearly a year in Iraq. Before that, he spent seven months guarding prisoners in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

"I heard other MPs talking," Fox said. "They weren't with us, but they were actually sort of bragging about it, that they shot a guy with a beanbag out of a 12-gauge shotgun. I said, `Why did you go and do that?' And they said, `Just because.'"

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040504/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_abuse_mps&cid=519&ncid=1480

folks... this is the tip of the iceberg

And one thing I will tell you, the sergeant is right in one sense

Most troops do not do this... but this is Mai Lai, and I hope that the army overall does not sufer through the Mai Lai effect.

Scapegoat

This picture of Lieutenant William Laws Calley has a caption that reads, "Scapegoat: a person, group, or thing that bears the blame for the mistakes or crimes of others." In 1971 Calley was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least twenty-two Vietnamese civilians in connection with the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. His conviction was later overturned.



"Was Your Family all Together for Thanksgiving?"

This drawing by Tom Francis Darcy originally appeared in the November 28, 1969 edition of Newsday. This depiction of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam accompanied an editorial criticizing American military action.

http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/13047/mcms.html

I was in Iraq last year and our SOP was treat the Iraqi's with respect. We did that, and they responded very well, except of course for the ones shooting at us.

""We are not allowed to get physical with them unless for some odd reason they were trying to attack you," he said.

I find this statement open to more than one interpretation.

Mai Lai and group evil. I will have to reread that chapter,
there are probably some similarities to the current situation.

I highly recommend it to anyone interested in evil.

I don't agree with everything he says, but it is very thought-provoking.