LTC Al West Responds to FR Article

Personal Correspondence | 13 November 2003 | Jeff Head

[in the Arena]

Great work Jeff.

Col. West has my deepest appreciation and highest respect. My prayers are with him and his family and all the personel in harms way...may they use any means neccessary to avert harm to themselves and the United States and inflict the big hurt on our enemies...

[Libertina]

Are we going to fight this war, or are we going to play patty-cake with our avowed enemies?
You are so right, friend!

[Badray]

Thanks for the update. Thanks for all you do.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Thanks for the update Jeff. Would you please convey to him that we know many retiree's of every rank and file who totally support him and tell him we "are" praying for him.

We are also praying for a positive outcome because the lives of troops depend on it. LTC West understands that, and so do we.

[snopercod]

According to Fox News, Col. West is testifying before the board NOW.

[Jeff Head]

He indicated he probably would today. I am waiting on an email from him...probably tonight or tomorrow. But he's incredably busy and focused and so I am surprized he is even able to corredspond.

[pabianice]

"The two principle duties of the officer are the safety of his ship and the safety of his men. These may be compromised only in war." (Division Officers Handbook, US Navy, 1928)

The US Army shames itself.

[The UnVeiled Lady]

As soon as I heard about Col. West, I wrote my congressmen, President Bush and a snail mail to Rummy.

we should all do so again.

This man deserves all our praise and thanks!!!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

We are both standing right there with him, I sure hope he senses it.

[Molly Pitcher]

Hoping and praying for a just outcome of this hearing. Linda Vester's show today was about Col. West, but didn't get to watch it all. His wife from what I saw did a fine job.

[First_Salute]

Yep.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I think she was outstanding.

[freekitty]

Our prayers are with this fine man and his family.

He is a great American.

[Bringbackthedraft]

I suspect that once this gains traction with the liberal media they're going to make a blown out of proportion Lt. Calley incident out of this. From what I can gather, he only applied the kind of treatment that would be expected by a captive in that region. "When in Rome etc....." Had I been in his position I would have done the same. Troops under your command are your first responsibility. (Yeah, mission first but you need troops to accomplish it.) Been there. Hopefully his OER rater feels the same.

[Hawkeye2]

Why should we observe the Geneva Convention? Hell, nobody else does! It's war for God's sake. What's with rules in war? The unit commander protected his men, and that's what matters...

What you may not realize is that this unit commander has put every U.S. service person who ever faces combat in greater peril.

In any combat situation, our greatest hope is that the enemy will be so demoralized when faced with the overwhelming superiority of our force, that he will immediately throw down his arms and surrender. If the enemy chooses to stand and fight, there will likely be more casualties on both sides.

When an enemy soldier is deciding whether or not to surrender, he considers what will likely happen to him if he does. If he is certain to face unbearable torture and agony, even death, he will be less inclined to surrender. As long as he is resisting and putting up a fight, our service personnel are at risk.

In WWII, many German units, at the end of the war, faced with certain defeat, chose to stand and fight, rather than surrender to the oncoming Russian Army. If they could hold out long enough, they would break to the rear in the hopes of being captured by the oncoming British or American forces. Under no circumstances would they want to surrender to the Russians. If they did, they knew they faced certain torture and death at the hands of their captors.

The bottom line is this: A lot more Russian soldiers died because the Germans refused to surrender. And they died simply because the Germans believed it would be worse for them if they surrendered.

The reason we must observe the Geneva Convention, regardless of what any other force chooses to do, is because we want the enemy to know that if they lay down their weapons and surrender to us, they will be treated humanely. We want them to have a great incentive to stop fighting. This will save American lives. That is, IMO, the single greatest reason why the U.S. must observe the Geneva Convention. The world must know if they fight the Americans, they will die. If they surrender, they will live and be treated humanely.

This unit commander's superiors, realizing what a terrible decision he made when he chose to torture this prisoner, are doing the right thing, and I hope he is found guilty. American lives are depending on it.

[Jeff Head]

Please, don't try and equate what LTC West did with what either the Soviets or the Germans did...or other tyranical forces have done.

This man was not tortured in the least. He was intimidated and scared into divulging information and it was done in a time-critical, combat situation where the info was critical to accomplishing the units mission and saving lives. In World War II, during the Battle of the Bulge and eslewhere, particularly in the Pacific, our forces did much, much worse and the enemy (outside of the Japanese) would still rather surrender to us than any other precisely because they knew we would not torture them indicriminantly and that they would receive humane treatment. Col. West did not make a practise of this with every priosoner, nor did he permanently mark or harm this prisoner. As a spy, this prisoner, under the Geneva Convention deserved to be shot.

Equating this occurance to the barbarity of other forces is so much of a stretch that is is not even in the same solar system IMHO.

The correct postulate that you set forth that we want enemy combatants to surrender rather than stand and fight (if they will...there are those who will not, just like the Japanese as a rule would not) is a good one, and I have no arguement with it. But, I do not believe that the level of treatment that this prisoner received impacts that in the least or adds danger to our forces. To the contrary, in this case it alleviated the danger.

Most Islamic fighters would laugh at the assertion that this level of treatment will cause the conscripts to fight harder. Those consripts are still more afraid of their own than they are of us...and with the hard core Islamic radicals (like with the Japanese fighters on the Pacific Islands) it will not matter anyway. They are going to fight us to the death.

[RaceBannon]

Semper Fi Col.

This old Jarhead would serve with someone like you anytime.

[Jeff Head]

Thank you my friend, both for your sentiments and ytour service to our Republic.

LTC West saw this post and responded to it. I will ping you to that thread.

Not only would I gladly serve under an officer like this...I would want my sons serving under the same.

[Darksheare]

We need ALOT more officers in boots like him.
I've seen WAY too many that are PC in action and behavior, to the point that they become more dangerous to their own troops than to the enemy.

[Jeff Head]

Ooops, sorry, I had my last post about the ping bass ackwards.

The thread I'll ping you to is the original article. This IS the response, LOL!