Accused soldier's dad blames leadership

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4072200,00.html

HYNDMAN, Pa. (AP) - Yellow ribbons adorned the front porch Sunday at the home of the first U.S. soldier to face a court-martial in connection with the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, 24, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, will face a court-martial May 19 in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Sunday in Iraq.

....

Earlier, his father, Daniel Sivits, said his son was trained as a truck mechanic, not a prison guard, and would have gotten in trouble had he not followed orders to photograph the abused prisoners.

``Apparently, he was told to take a picture and he did what he was told,'' Daniel Sivits told The Associated Press in an interview late last month. ``He was just following instructions.''

Sivits grew up in a military family and ``knows how to follow instructions,'' his father said.
<more>

Didnt the UCMJ , mean anything?
Illegal orders are still actionable.

pressure and orders when you are 24 or less with no worldly experience. Anyone with enough internal certitude follow internal integrity would probably not be in the military to begin with.

SCHINDLER'S LIST



Ralph Fiennes plays a chilling Amon Goeth in the movie, and plays him to the point that some
people have had trouble distinguishing him from the real thing.

Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindler Jews, famously said, "When you saw Göeth, you saw
death."



GENERAL MYERS TRIBUTE TO AMON GOETH

I served in the Marines for over 8 years and personally handled EPW's when I was 19. I never once saw any abuse nor even thought of dishing it out to an unarmed prisoner. The reasons were because most of us had morals and also our command would have never tolerated such heinous actions.
The abuse in Abu Gahraib took place because it was systematic and tolerated by the command structure. Everyone involved from top to bottom should be prosecuted and punished.

every one from bush to all the pvts connected to Abu Ghraib are guilty

Good to see one person emerge with dignity from the My Lei massacre. Wonder if there are any Hugh Thompsons among the 135,000 in Iraq? I wish I had some confidence that there were.

The Pentagon's investigation eventually suggested that nearly 80 soldiers had participated in the killing and coverup, although only Calley (who now works at a jewelry store in Columbus, Ga.) was convicted. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and Colburn proved crucial. But instead of thanking them, America vilified them. Many saw Calley as a scapegoat for regrettable but inevitable civilian casualties. "Rallies for Calley" were held all over the country. Jimmy Carter, then governor of Georgia, urged citizens to leave car headlights on to show support for Calley. Thompson, who got nasty letters and death threats, remembers thinking: "Has everyone gone mad?" He feared a court-martial for his command to fire, if necessary, on U.S. soldiers.

Gradually the furor died down. Colburn and Thompson lived in relative anonymity until a 1989 television documentary on My Lai reclaimed them as forgotten heroes. David Egan, a Clemson University professor who had served in a French village where Nazis killed scores of innocents in World War II, was amazed by the story. He campaigned to have Thompson and his team awarded the coveted Soldier's Medal. It wasn't until March 6, 1998, after internal debate among Pentagon officials (who feared an award would reopen old wounds) and outside pressure from reporters, that Thompson and Colburn finally received medals in a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial