U.S. commander says he threatened to shoot Iraqi detainee to get information -Lt.Col. West

AP | 11/19/03 | JIM GOMEZ

[Arpege92]

I had heard a statement from one of the soldiers who was present at this interogation and he fully supports Col. West. One of the reporters had asked him if he would have done the same thing that Col. West had done, and the soldier replied with a no....he said he would have shot the prisoner.

I fully support Col. West for his courage and willigness to keep all soldiers from getting killed.

[STFrancis]

Interesting, nowhere in this article does it say that he actually got information out of him that helped PROTECT his troops.

[joesnuffy]

What Col West did was nothin compared to things done by us in other wars...

It aint Sunday School kiddies...its war...its nasty its brutish its killing and maiming and
its interogation teams that do nasty things to terrorists to extract information necessisary to keep our kids from getting killed

This guy and his buddies when interogating our kids were torturing..beating..cutting..burning..sodomizing...executing...etc...and not just for information..even after they extract information..simply cause there isnt anything on cable tonight...

I am surprised that he folded just because the Col fired a pistol near his head...instead of through his kneecaps..

Col West is a hero..and those who are going after him..would just have soon had our kids killed instead of an Iraqi made a little uncomfortable...

These perfumed princes..PC remfs are the ones who should be on trial...or demoted..for not caring enough about our people to even consider firing a pistol near some poor Iraqi terrorist...

HEY! Rummie wake up...do something...or suffer the sink in morale from your officers who will have to second guess everything they or their subordinates do from now on...least they too loose their pensions...

Better to not fight too hard ..or push too hard...might get in trouble...mediocrity rules..

[StonyBurk]

Well Bob Barr says Lt.Col West is No heroe-- I would agree
but only if the US Army would agree he is about 110% more
affective as an interpreter than the complicit do nothings
the Army has been using. Point is his acitons SAVED American
and Iraqi lives. If he isn't a heroe-- Neither is he guilty
of any crime.

[harpu]

So, that leads to the questions; "did we get the information we were seeking?", and, if not, "why didn't he shoot the lousy bastard?"

[Jacquerie]

If we wish to destroy the morale of our fighting troops, go ahead, continue the prosecution and find LTCOL West guilty. The next act should be the withdrawal of said troops because they will fight effectivly no more. Make rat dreams come true.

[RusIvan]

U.S. commander says he threatened to shoot Iraqi detainee to get information that could save his soldiers ===

Good commander. He threatened to shoot but he didn't. SO what now they want from him?
Russian commander colonel Budanov in Chechnya interrogated possible sniper which he caught and then just stangled by his bare hands that sniper. They put him in prison for 3 years. The majority of russians think it was too much and his trial was just political PR.

[KC_for_Freedom]

The answer is that he did get information that helped keep his troops from a planned attack. (And I agree we ought to get a lot tougher, I would only shoot and leave for the vultures anyone caught installing a bomb or mine in a roadway, or anyone caught in the act of attacking a convoy or aircraft. The rest you can interrogate.)

[gov_bean_ counter]

How much longer can a nation bring Marque of Queenbury rules to a street fight without being absolutely destroyed?

[joesnuffy]

MEMO TO DONALD RUMSFELD:

FIRE GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO
4TH INF. DIV. COMMANDER IN IRAQ
STUPID DECISION TO “PUNISH” LTC WEST
FOR SAVING MEN’S LIVES DAMAGES
MORALE – “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”
UNDERMINES WAR EFFORT
DUMP ODIERNO NOW!

Of all the idiotic, morale-destroying moves we have seen made by an Army general since the Vietnam war, the stupid and self-defeating decision by Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno to punish and humiliate a highly-respected battalion commander in the 4th Infantry Division for violating “political correctness” (when he tried to save his men’s lives), is one of the worst.

LTC Allen B. West ought to get a medal and promotion rather than be threatened with a “choice” of resigning his commission (three days short of retirement) or facing court martial and up to eight years at the Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks.

What was West’s “crime?” Why, he fired his pistol near – not at – near the head of a captured Iraqi terrorist to get him to “talk” about an impending guerrilla attack on American troops. If West had not resorted to that expeditious tactic, many of his men might have died as a result.

But what was “dumb-ass” Odierno concerned about? The captured prisoner’s “sensibilities,” and not the safety of our own forces. Like the serpentine Gen. Wesley Clark, Odierno “made his stars” sucking up to former President Bill “I loathe the military” Clinton. No wonder this general is trying to cashier LTC West, when he should be out catching Saddam Hussein instead.

RUMSFELD NEEDS TO GET INVOLVED – NOW!

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could give the entire American forces in Iraq a much-needed morale boost by firing Odierno from his command and relieving the generals’ staff of moronic JAG advisors. They have done more damage to the war effort in Iraq than a dozen terrorist attacks could do.

We know there were plenty of times in Vietnam when Viet Cong prisoners were “encouraged to talk” by a lot more than a pistol round fired close to their head! Some of those same lieutenants and captains who allowed “rough treatment” to elicit vital military information, went on to become generals themselves.

Obviously Odierno wasn’t one of them. In fact, we don’t recall seeing that political sycophant anywhere in Vietnam during the years we fought there.

This general has to go. NOW! And if Rumsfeld continues to let West “twist in the wind,” maybe it’s time for President Bush to get himself a new defense secretary. This one has let his arrogance and indifference to the troops in the field reach new heights.

When Brit Hume questioned “Rummy” on Fox News Sunday as to whether he couldn’t just “overrule” Odierno’s dumb move, the defense secretary grinned his crocodile grin and allowed: “They tell me that’s the case.”

Then he shifted into his usual “double-speak” with an empty assurance that “the Army is addressing this,” promising that the case will “move along in its normal order.”

Well, isn’t that just great! One of our best battalion commanders in Iraq gets relieved and threatened with prison over some bullshit charge. The officer’s wife, a cancer-survivor, suffers in agony back home, and all Rumsfeld can do is mumble “at some point it [the case] could come to me.”

Get your head out of your butt, “Rummy.” You are acting like an utter fool. You have already cost your boss, George Bush, critical support in the veteran’s community, and if you continue to screw up, you are going to end up on the unemployment line.

AN OFFICER THE TROOPS CAN RESPECT

LTC West, an African-American and devout Christian (not the sanctimonious Jimmy Carter “born again” for political expediency type) told Art Moore of World Net Daily: “Without God and my Savior Jesus Christ, I would have cracked a long time ago.”

Well, that’s two strikes on him. His race and his religion. “Strike three” came when West showed leadership by risking his future to save his men’s lives. Shouldn’t the “pygmies” who now seek to deprive him of his career end up losing theirs?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone in the U. S. armed forces and the journalistic community owe a well-deserved “salute” to Rowan Scarborough of the Washington TIMES. It was Scarborough that broke this story in the first place and then stayed with it like a bulldog. He is the best military writer in America.

Military Corruption

[Arpege92]

Isn't a leader supposed to put the lives of the men and women under him FIRST? That's what Col. West did....he has sacrificed his career so that the lives of soldiers could be saved. Col. West is a HERO and it burns me to know that this man was reduced to tears. GRRRRRRRRRRR

[snopercod]

flag

[Just Lori]

WHAT CAN WE DO?????

[F16Fighter]

"Prosecutor Capt. Magdalena Przytulska said West should be tried, saying his actions implied that 'we're no better than the enemy we're fighting.'"

Memo to Capt. Przytulski:

Just get it over with and switch sides now. You're a disgrace to the flag and the honorable men who fight a satanic enemy.

[kattracks]

If we were no better than the enemy we're fighting, the prisoner would have been tortured unmercifully, until he gave the information, then he would have been killed.

Apparently, Capt. Przytulski can't see the difference.

[KC_for_Freedom]

How much longer can a nation bring Marque of Queenbury rules to a street fight without being absolutely destroyed?

Answer, not much longer. Dumb prosecution. We need to keep the pressure on. Our troops are the most human that exist in the world, but they should not forget we are in a street fight.

[sarasmom]

LTCol. West did what he needed to do.He had boots on the ground, and I will not second guess his decision.
I thank him for doing what he did.It saved lives.
As every military Officer and NCOIC knows, sometimes doing what is needed and critically called for, will be punished.
The trick is to make sure that when you choose to ignore regulations and the UCMJ, the reason you did so can be explained and forgiven.
It is often wiser to ask forgiveness,than to ask permission.
By his own words, he knew what he did was "wrong", in the sense that he knew he would "pay" for his actions.
I pray he gets nothing more serious than a verbal reprimand.
Immediately followed by letter of commendation.
God bless him.

[Poohbah]

LTC West punished soldiers who violated standing orders regarding treatment of prisoners.

He then violated those same orders himself.

He now demands an exemption from the consequences of violating orders.

This man is no hero. He is a hypocrite.

Obeying orders is not optional in the armed forces. I fail to see how so many "conservatives" do not understand this point.

[TigersEye]

This PC war stinks. We don't take prisoners and now they are coming back and bombing and shooting us up. Now we're prosecuting officers because they're 'not nice' to the enemy? Islam is a peaceful religion?

This is a war Mr. President! I want to see smouldering turbans. I want to hear about dead terrorists and I want terrified terrorist sympathizers begging to tell us what we need to know to kill more.

We deal with this on their ground or we deal with it on ours. If we have to deal with it here the alphabet stupes better stay out of the way.