A Silence in the Afghan Mountains (National Guard Special Forces in detainee deaths)

LA Times ^ | September 24, 2006 | Kevin Sack and Craig Pyes

[lentulusgracchus]

It will take their dying moment for a liberal this committed to hating our military to get it.

And people talk about the ends of history summoning themselves. I'll bet that's where the Greeks got the idea for tragedy.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

You're right.

[gcruse]

Its commander had nominated each of his men — as well as himself — for medals for valor

<snort>

[2banana]

Its commander had nominated each of his men — as well as himself — for medals for valor

Which, of course, is untrue. The ODA commander was recommended by his company or FOB commander for any award or medal. But what usually happens is that this commander tells the ODA commander to write something up as he is usually too busy.

Just another liberal swipe at our military...

[roughman]

My e-mail reply to Kevin Sack LA Times:

Kevin, what a terrible piece of reporting. You are on an agenda and it sickens me. You use anecdotel
statements, heresay statements and out of context statements, by team membes, to create an illusion of war hungry baby killers (see Vietnam). I was in A-stan with Special Forces 2003-2004. I interrogated prisoners and cared for prisoners: including suicide bombers fresh in from Pakistan. In the annals of warfare, no POW's have been more humanely treated. We had nothing to hide and infact, were interrogated by a commission from Army HQ, Pentagon. The rules of PUC detention, interrogation were clear and adhered to, albeit with disgust sometimes. I was a police detective, in civilian life, and had more leverage interrogating a homicide suspect, than I had with vile , determined terrorists. I was treated much worse in survivial school interrogation, than these terorists were. Thing is, you do not want to acknowledge that the lines between terrorists and criminals are non-existent in A stan or Iraq for that matter. Are there rouge individuals in the US Army? Of course. But to think that entire teams and bases, including Gardez, which had other Govt. agencies and conventional units assigned, would conspire to conceal the horrific mistreatment you describe is preposterous. Not one word in your hit piece describing the good treatment given to these detainees, such as Halal meals, Prayer mats, hygiene better than they have ever known in the backwaters of A-stan etc. Yeah, you might get your Pulitzer, you have made your Faustian pact, but somehow, some day, I pray you will be
humbled by events and squirm and plea for protection from the men, whom you have maligned.

[vetvetdoug]

immersed in icy water and deprived of sleep for days at a time
Any Civil War Reenactor will tell you that he does that every winter for fun. I smelled a hit piece the minute I saw someone from LA writing an article about the war and about a unit from Alabama. This guy's hit piece is a hit piece on several levels....against the South, against the war, against the military, against Bush, and so forth. These POS are so predictable.

[Tulsa Ramjet]

"...deprived of sleep for days at a time??! Oh, the horror, the horror ...."

That happened to me in college crammin'. I oughta sue.