Exactly how many soldiers do we need to prosecute for doing their jobs before soldiers decide it just ain’t worth it any longer?
Longtime readers of this newsletter know of the incident and railroad job done on Lt. Col. Allen West some years ago for SCARY a captured Iraqi policeman who was involved in a plot to ambush Col. West’s men. If you’ve forgotten the details or are a new subscriber, click HERE
Well, here we go again. I’m reprinting below a column on a similar incident which came out today. I have verified the accuracy of this story with the Army captain’s attorney…the same man who defended Col. West a few years ago.
There is not a defense fund established yet, but I’m working on that. In the meantime, there is a Brushfire Alert-like call-to-action at the end of this column which I hope all News & Views readers will join. And I’ll keep you posted on this injustice as events continue to unfold.
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Let’s Just Boil Our Military Officers in Oil, Shall We?
by Dr. Laurie Roth
January 16, 2009Most sequels I don’t like but now we are to be treated again with another Groundhog Day movie, where things repeat themselves every day without end. It wasn’t enough insanity and betrayal, as a nation, to shred and force into retirement war hero, Lt. Col. Allen B. West, serving bravely in Iraq several years ago.
You may recall, Lt. West had intelligence that a captured terrorist knew where snipers were hiding that were primed to kill off his men. This guy wouldn’t talk after several attempted interrogations by Allen’s troops so like any of us wanting to save lives and get to the bottom line, he faked him out by shooting at the ceiling and threatening him if he didn’t talk. The guy did finally talk and, for you very sensitive touchy types, the terrorist was fine. In case you want the important conclusion to the story…Allen’s men were all saved.
However, the politically correct illness that grows like cancer through parts of the military, our media and members in congress, freaked out. He went through public and private hell as his brilliant and popular war record was tarnished, shredded and he even faced potential court martial and prison. Why? For scaring a terrorist in a war zone into talking and saving his men. I know. I interviewed him many times over the years.
Eventually after a long and public fight, he was forced into early retirement after 22 years of loyal and brave experience. Here is the epilogue on this man.
You might wonder, after losing all he did, if he dried up and became an alcoholic and lost all hope. Not Allen. He went on as a civilian to serve our troops in Afghanistan. He was training and supporting our military even as a civilian contractor.
After this continued service he came back and ran for Congress and almost got elected this last year. It was a very tight race and he plans to run again much to our excitement. Lt. Col. Allen B. West is a rare breed. We need him in Congress and continued leadership.
I had hoped against hope that this kind of nightmare would never again happen to our brave officers in harms way…WRONG!
Ground hog Day #2: Let’s Shred Capt. Roger Hill
Capt. Roger Hill was accused of detainee abuse, dereliction of duty, a mock execution and other charges related to he and his first sergeant, Tommy Scott’s alleged behavior with dangerous detainees.
This all started when, last August, Hill obtained intelligence that several Taliban agents were working in his own unit and on the base. They had excellent intelligence that even tracked these enemy spies to Hill’s own assistant. The word was that they knew and were finding critical military information about strategy, movement and plans. They quickly obtained the identified enemies and detained them.
Now, as idiocy and politically correct military rules would have it, there was a 96-hour window in which they could hold detainees, then, send them up to battalion. However, they had to request that and get a response from battalion within the 96 hour period. Allegedly there were issues between Hill and the battalion command so there was no response received. Hill was in an impossible situation, follow the 96-hour rule and let Taliban enemy spies go to kill his troops or keep them. Like any good soldier trying to fight – and win a war….oh yeah and stay alive – he kept them.
Interrogations began and, as with Lt. Col. Allen B. West, “Fake out threats” were used to get these guys to talk. Rounds were shot in the air and statements were made to scare the enemy into sharing critical info they were suspected of having. Again, for you extremely sensitive, human rights types…after this incident was over, and they were finally handed over to a U.S. Army physician and inspected, they were in fine shape. Faking the enemy out to get info in a nightmare, war situation isn’t the same as cutting off fingers, breaking their bones and raping them! This was a dangerous war zone, not a special on Oprah.
In case you ever so concerned human rights crusaders would like to know, Roger Hill was an award-winning soldier. He received a Bronze Star for valor and three Army commendation medals. He was highly respected and loved, just like Lt. Col. Allen B. West…award winning, brave and loved by his men. Oh yes, there is that small pesky detail, both were in a dangerous war zone!!!
For a whole, detailed outline of this case regarding Capt. Roger Hill, look up P.J. Tobia’s article, Dec. 14th, 2008 issue of the WashingtonPost.com. It is exhaustive and excellent.
What Is The Bottom Line Now?
After the Article 32 hearing, the Army finally offered to Captain Hill and First Sergeant Scott lesser versions of the original charges. In their plea bargain Captain Hill had to forfeit one-month of salary with a forced discharge from the Army under the heading OTH – Other Than Honorable.
Let’s be ever so sensitive. I’m sorry, I’m losing it!
How is it that a decorated war hero like Captain Hill was charged in the first place??? So what that he held the dangerous Taliban terrorists past the 96 hours. He had strong intelligence showing their intentions and information to harm and kill his troops.
Even now, we have President-Elect Obama saying he will shut down Gitmo; why, because of the “rights” of terrorists. Never mind that our military and leadership at Gitmo didn’t torture high up detainees. Never mind that over 63 released detainees went back to being terrorists, again! Pressure Interviews in cool rooms with weird music aren’t the same thing as torture, oh sensitive ones!
Why do Islamic terrorists intent on killing us have to be treated gently and kindly? Why can’t we use pressure and even fake out threats to get much needed info to save lives? In talking just recently on my show with Van Hipp, the former Deputy Secretary of the Army, he suggested we use sodium pentathol (truth serum) to get info from the lying terrorists being held.
It’s not that I don’t have empathy for terrorists and their precious feelings but I have much more concern for the lives of our troops and citizens. Let the bad guys cry to Mommy or Muhammad in a cool room and let our military use all the fake out strategies they need to get the life saving info and keep a city from blowing up!
For now, let’s do the right thing regarding the latest victim of insanity, Captain Roger Hill. Let’s write to the Secretary of the Army and respectfully request an Honorable Discharge for the Captain, not Other Than Honorable!!! Help him regain some of his stolen honor, honor he deserves. Ask Secretary Pete Geren to Honorably Discharge Captain Roger Hill.
Secretary Pete Geren
Department of the Army
Office of the Secretary of the Army
107 ARMY PLFNTAGON
Washington, CD 20310-0107Let’s stop persecuting our brave military officers in times of war!!!
Posted on January 16th, 2009 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
Would be nice if you knew (post deleted by editor).
Sorry, “Get Your Facts Correct.” You do not get to use my blog to anonymously slime an honorable man who devoted 20 years of his life to protecting his men and his country.
I have a question for you:
“The Ends Justify the Means”?
Isn’t this the core idealism within fundamentalist belief systems that leads people to become a terrorist? Isn’t a terrorist a person that uses cruelty to terrorize people in achieving their ends?
Here is a different Idea to think about:
“There are no ends, only means.”
“The hammer shapes the hand, mind and heart of those who wield it.”
These principals are easily obscured by fog of war. Here is a description of kind of an incremental step away from the use of brutality and cruelty in our execution of this kind of foreign policy where we have absolute power of death over huge populations.
I am not in favor of punishing individuals who faithfully do there best in life and death situation no matter how much training for that situation they have. Even if they know, understand and “violate the UCMJ”. However I don’t think the system should reward them or allow them to continue there career in the same area of responsibility. I would apply this same principal even in systematic cases like Abu Graib. Find out where the discipline in the chain of command broke down. Remove all those involved up the chain of command and relocate them out of the combat zone and attempt to rehabilitate their humanity. Most important make sure none of the participants gets rewarded.
Training people to kill is an endeavor fraught with unintended consequences.
I wish the best of luck to that 1% of our people who have to deal with these realities directly.
Ric
“I am not in favor of punishing individuals who faithfully do there best in life and death situation no matter how much training for that situation they have. Even if they know, understand and “violate the UCMJ”. However I don’t think the system should reward them or allow them to continue there career in the same area of responsibility.”
Giving CPT Hill and OTH discharge IS punishment. The stigma will stick with him the rest of his life. Allowing him to resign with an honorable discharge is NOT a reward.
As a postscript to the LTC West situation, LTC West’s immediate superior, Colonel Kevin Stramara, testified at his Article 32 hearing. When asked, “If you had to choose between following the rules and saving American lives, which would you choose?” COL Stramara responded, “I don’t know. I’d have to have some more details.”
After LTC West obtained the information from the prisoner, he reported the details of the incident to COL Stramara. COL Stramara didn’t deem it important enough to forward to his superiors at 4th Infantry Division Headquarters. Then he shows up at the Article 32 hearing gives the standard non-commital response DOTS (depends on the situation).
Knowing this, you gotta LTC West even more credit for doing what he did. He had to have known that his boss was a lame ass excuse for a leader, and he still did what he felt was right even though he had to have known that COL Stramara was gonna throw him under the bus to save his own ass.