Posted on 11/06/2003 4:44:20 AM PST by Jeff Head
The following is Lt. Col. Allen B. West's own candid comment regarding the situation he faced in Iraq, as reported by the Washington Dispatch on November 5, 2003:
"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. "Colonel West takes personal responsibility for his actions. He makes no bones about it, he threatened this Iraqi spy bodliy harm to get information from him. And that is what he was, a spy working within the Iraqi Police Force that has been established and supported by the coalition authority. As a spy, under the so-called rules of war, I believe he could have shot the man. Perhaps that is an angle that should be explored.
In either case, Colonel West's actions no doubt saved the lives of Americans...the lives he is principally responsible for...and that was his motivation.
He understood that while he may have violated the rules (and he admits to and takes responsibility for this as well)...he also understood he was going to do what had to be done, in a war zone, to save the lives of the men under his command.
The rules were written by men and women sitting in safe seats far away from combat and the brutal reality of the moment. For the most part they are good rules and should not be violated. But there are times when the SHTF that you have to do what you must to save the lives of those you are responsible for, American lives, and accomplish the mission. Colonel West knew his greater responsibility and he performed it, regardless of personal cost. The trait of a true leader in my book.
President Truman incinerated tens of thousands of Japanese to save hundreds of thousands of Americans...and in so doing he also saved millions of Japanese. In today's world and PC nomenclature this might be considered a war crime...a violation of the "rules". But back then it was heralded by the soldiers as a God-send...and by Americans back home as what had to be done to end the war. People who had seen for themsleves the cold reality of four years of World War.
That generation is dying out and it seems we have forgottent their experiences and the lessons.
The reality is, that by scaring this man in the fashion he did...West not only saved American lives...he saved the lives of Iraqis as well.
God bless you Colonel West...you've got my back any time!
Charlie Mike.
I stated my opinion.
As near as I can figure, SSG matches up with PO2 which is what I held as I was reluctantly separated -- but that is neither here nor there.
When I was in the Nav, we prayed and hoped for officers that were more concerned about the mission and us than they were for their careers. And believe me, I do know about the ones who weren't.
This man looks like he was willing to break some rules to protect his men. To my mind, that means he is doing what an officer is paid to do. Even if that means he gets his nuts in a cracker later.
You disagree. So be it.
I stand by my original remark.
Not under US law.
Remember Bob Marasco. Creighton Abrams faced being relieved of his command had he continued the murder charges against him, 5th Special Forces Group commadber Robert Rheault, and several others for having executed North Vietnamese double agent Thai Khac Chuyen, who had knowledge of the planned forthcoming US invasion [oops, I mean *incursion*] of Cambodia, after being told to do so by their CIA co-supervisors.
Once the snakeeaters let it leak that their legal defence was going to be that they had undertaken the *Operation Menu* pre-invasion reconnaisance probes of Cambodia, then a neutral territory in which the conduct of such operations, on the orders of the president, was at least technically a war crime for which responsibility could be placed all the way to the top, to include impeachment hearings, all the charges were dropped. Though of course, no one was bothering to so prosecute the North Vietnamese stationed on the Ho Chi Minh trail.
At least not in any of the wars in which we've been involved since 1945, none of which we've won.
Perhaps it's time to win one for a change.
-archy-/-
We'll know if in the next three or four months the enlisted men and junior officers of LTC West's battalion start filling in the blanks in the story.
Indeed, I reckon the December 2003 or January 2004 issue of Soldier of Fortune magazine will be a particularly interesting one....
I think he is from one of the Carolinas (may be wrong)
I'll be watching the newspaper stories from those states for hometrown story references. Thanks.
In order to secure the release of LT Cdr Bucher and his men, the United States Government signed documents admitting that we had conducted germ warfare against the North Korean population.
I was not happy with the precedent set, but I most certainly am not displeased with the results.
But at the time, there were concerns that once the NK's had that signed governmental *confession,* they'd then execute the Pueblo's crew as *war criminals.* I'm just glad it didn't work out that way, and it's sad that the Pueblo episode was to a large extent overshadowed by the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam.
-archy-/-
No.
Just wary of people placed in positions of command, who have no problem keeping their brains in neutral, and "just following orders"; or rules.
Take a quick count of those on this thread willing to serve beside you on (2?) and those who would not (everybody else?).
There's a message there somewhere.
Of course you could be right and everybody else wrong. There is a name for that condition.
Yes.
If anybody in my family or someone I care about is under your command.
Being led by an idiot is not a good thing.
Some people are educated way beyond their intelligence.
The military enables the most pathological and incompetent of people.
In private industry, you would be a legend in your own mind, always "right", and socially isolated.
Concerning the islamo/homicide/suicide crazies, it should be clear to anyone that there is no effective conventional defense against the idiots. They aren't conducting a war, they are in the process of destroying the human race.
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