I Don’t Believe What I’m Hearing; Has the army got its head up its collective tushie or what?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exclusive commentary by Jon Connolly

The Pentagon, actually staff judge advocate for the 4th Infantry Division, has charged Lt. Col. Allen B. West with communicating a threat and aggravated assault during an interrogation and has requested an Article 32 hearing as prelude to a possible court martial. Don’t these lawyers understand we’re at war?

You can bet your life -- which is exactly what the troops in Iraq do every day -- it’s literally a crap shoot who lives, who dies, or who is wounded.

It’s not like West actually harmed the prisoner … he just scared the truth out of him and, as a result saved some American troopers lives and effectively slowed down the terrorism around Tikrit.

According to Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times, West told them in an e-mail this week that he was desperate to gain information to protect his soldiers. They face almost daily attacks as they work to impose security around Saba al Boor, near Tikrit, Saddam‘s hometown.

The story continued, “West’s lawyer, Neal Puckett, said the prosecutor has offered Col. West two choices: quit now, short of his 20-year retirement eligibility ,,, or face criminal proceedings that could lead to a trial. The assault charges carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.

“Puckett is a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who, as a judge advocate and military judge, handled more than 1,000 criminal cases. He said it is not unusual to suggest an officer quit rather than face charges.”

The Army relieved West of his battalion command, which effectively ends his career.

The way I got the story is: West troops were unable to get information from an individual (an Iraqi policeman turned in by an informant) who supposedly had made a comment that ‘more Americans were going to die.’ One can only suppose that the colonel took this personally since he was the battalion commander.

The Iraqi was not forthcoming so West drew his weapon, explained to the man that he was a poor shot and fired a round into a nearby barrel … the man was somewhat chastened, but still not forthcoming … so West fired another round a bit closer to the man, noting that his marksmanship was improving and he MIGHT be able to put the next round between the man’s eyes.

That noticeably loosened the man’s tongue and “West said the detainee then provided the names of two accomplices and told of another planned sniper attack the next day.

"I have never denied what happened and have always been brutally honest," said Col. West. "I accept responsibility for the episode, but my intent was to scare this individual and keep my soldiers out of a potential ambush. There were no further attacks from that town. We ... apprehended two other conspirators (a third fled town) and found out one of the conspirators was the father of a man we had detained for his Saddam Fedeyeen affiliation.

"(The Iraqi policeman [the detainee]) and his accomplices were a threat to our soldiers and the method was not right, but why should I lose 20 years of service or be forced into prison for protecting my men?"

The military has seen fit to put professionals and reservists in harm’s way and, since they’re fighting a no-holds-barred insurgent war in which the ‘bad guys’ don’t play by the rules of the Geneva Convention, it behooves the leaders to make the extra effort to save the lives of their troopers … particularly given the fact that troops continue to die almost daily.

Lt. Col. West did what was right and did what was necessary to save his troops … he should not be punished because the stuffed shirts in the judge advocate’s office and the Pentagon failed to support him.

I've written an article on this:

A Hero of the War

Too many in America and, indeed, in the world as a whole seem to have forgotten the realities of war. Speaking to military cadets a few decades after the end of the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman reminded them that, “war is all hell.” Several decades of antiseptic combat and, in particular, a decade of Clinton-style ‘warmaking’ have caused far too many Americans to believe that war is a combination between a video game and an episode of Law and Order, where individuals getting hurt is a sign than something is going wrong and the ultimate goal of war is to ‘bring the enemy to justice.’

As an extension of this mentality we expect our soldiers to act like policemen and so, it would seem, do some of their commanders.

US Army Lieutenant Colonel Allen B. West is under threat of Court Martial for his actions in Iraq. Already he has been removed from his command, an action which will probably end his career. What is his crime? Did his incompetence cost the lives of his men? Did he lose a battle? No: far from it. Col. West is a distinguished officer, a holder of a Bronze Star. His actions in the incident in question probably saved the lives of some of his men. His only supposed ‘crime’ is that he ‘assaulted’ an Iraqi prisoner by firing a pistol in his general direction.

Soldiers cannot operate with the same restraints as FBI Agents. War is different than law enforcement. There is less room for regard for the rights of others. In some cases, there is no room for the lives of others.

It is said that for many years afterwards Bill Clinton would regularly recall the name of the sole Iraqi killed in the reprisal raids he ordered in 1993 after it was revealed that Iraq had tried to assassinate former President George HW Bush. Some on the left take this as a sign of his humanity and compassion. I take it as a sign of his stupidity, weakness, and cowardice. Iraqis who served the former regime invited their own demise. Moreover, had Clinton responded effectively to the attempted assassination of a President it is virtually certain that he would have killed at least some of the people who continue to organize resistance today. War is the application of organized violence to serve a political ends. Of course people die in war: that is to be expected. We should not apologize for the fact or seek to evade it. If anything, we should encourage it. There is no room for sentimentality or weakness in combat.

Let us review the incident in question in some more detail. An Iraqi policeman with knowledge of an upcoming attack on American forces was captured. Despite hours of interrogation he refused to say anything. When West was summoned to the scene, with an attack imminent, he threatened the Iraqi with death if he refused to answer. The Iraqi, believing that an American would not be allowed to do such a thing, continued to refuse to answer. West and another man then took the Iraqi outside and West fired his pistol over the man’s head. The Iraqi then provided information which foiled an attack.

As a result of these actions, the Army sought to cashier Colonel West, demanding that he resign just a few weeks ahead of his 20th year of service and surrender any further benefits. When he refused to accept any deal, they charged him with aggravated assault.

This is an outrage. Those of you who read my work regularly know that I wouldn’t have cared even if Colonel West had shot the man to compel his obedience, but the fact is that he didn’t. He didn’t hurt or kill anyone. In fact, he saved the lives of his men. Such actions ought not be condemned, but praised.

Forget disciplining Lieutenant Colonel West, he should be promoted and given a medal for his quick thinking and courage. I realize that Colonel West has said that he doesn’t wish to be lauded for his actions and he feels that the honor belongs to his men, but that is simply the characteristic modesty of a true hero. Besides, given the disgraceful way that the Colonel has been treated to date, promotion and decoration is the least that he is owed.

This is a real war and we need real men to lead us. By all accounts, Colonel West is just the sort of man. Aggressive, tough, and unwilling to buckle under pressure. He and others like him are the real heroes and military leaders that we need.

In every major American war the combat leaders at the end of the war have been almost totally different from those at the beginning. Who was George Patton in 1940? Who was William Sherman in 1860? Who was Nathan Bedford Forrest before his war? Great fighters seem to rise from obscurity when the country calls. When Patton died in 1945, his wife Beatrice declared, “He will come again, when a solider is needed.” We are in the process of finding our Patton.

We are putting together the team of soldiers who will win us the war. We have found warriors in General Peter J. Schoomaker, the new Army Chief of Staff, in Lieutenant General William Boykin, the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, in Major General Jim Mattis, who commanded the Marine contingent in Afghanistan and the 1st Marine Division on the march to Baghdad, and in countless others who have risen to high positions during the past year because of their exceptional skill and fierceness. I mention these names because two of them (Schoomaker and Boykin) would never have ended up in their present positions were it not for the war. Schoomaker was actually called back from retirement to lead the Army and Boykin was personally promoted by Secretary Rumsfeld. They are the leaders of a new Armed Forces that will win the war.

Now I am not saying that Colonel West is a Patton, or even a future Army Chief of Staff. I am incapable of making such a judgement. However, it would be a travesty to deprive the Republic of his services at a time such as this. We need officers who know how to fight the enemy, not ones who got an A+ in charm school.

The Army relieved West of his battalion command, which effectively ends his career.
The way I got the story is: West troops were unable to get information from an individual (an Iraqi policeman turned in by an informant) who supposedly had made a comment that "more Americans were going to die." One can only suppose that the colonel took this personally since he was the battalion commander.
The Iraqi was not forthcoming so West drew his weapon, explained to the man that he was a poor shot and fired a round into a nearby barrel ... the man was somewhat chastened, but still not forthcoming ... so West fired another round a bit closer to the man, noting that his marksmanship was improving and he MIGHT be able to put the next round between the man's eyes.

That noticeably loosened the man's tongue and West said the detainee then provided the names of two accomplices and told of another planned sniper attack the next day.

Unbelievable.
The prosecutor in this case has been Clintonized for our protection.

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