Posted on 11/21/2003 3:59:24 PM PST by O6ret
PRESS RELEASE
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Armed Services
Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Chairman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2003
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES LEADERS DEMAND INFORMATION CONCERNING LT. COLONEL WEST
Actions to Save Soldiers Were Proper Based on Available Information
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and John M. McHugh (R-NY)are calling on U.S. Army leadership to immediately provide a report on the investigation of Lt. Col. Allen West. West is charged with improperly interrogating an Iraqi prisoner.
Based on the information currently available to them, Hunter and McHugh believe that West's actions may well have been necessary to protect the lives and safety of his fellow soldiers and not the actions of a criminal, as he is charged. Hunter is Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and McHugh is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Total Force, which has jurisdiction over military personnel matters.
According to news accounts, the incident in question took place this pastAugust near Tikrit, Iraq, when guerrillas attacked U.S. soldiers underWest's command. An informant told U.S. authorities that a local policeman was involved. West ordered the policeman brought in, though he proveduncooperative. West has testified that he fired his pistol near the head ofthe Iraqi, threatening to kill him in an effort to obtain information to protect his troops. As a result of the tactic, the Iraqi provided information regarding a planned sniper attack on U.S. soldiers. Two insurgents were arrested, a third fled and there were no attacks in the area. West immediately informed his commanding officer of the incident. He is currently facing an inquiry to determine if there is cause for a court-martial.
"We are highly disturbed by media accounts that the Army is beginning criminal proceedings against Lt. Col. Allen B. West for taking actions in Iraq that he believed were necessary to protect the lives and safety of his men," stated the Congressmen in a letter to Les Brownlee, Acting Secretary of the Army. "To us, such actions if accurately reported do not appear to be those of a criminal," the letter continues.
In addition to the information previously requested, the Congressmen are asking to see a new report. "We are aware the Army has completed a preliminary inquiry regarding whether to proceed to a court martial and would like to review that report," said Hunter and McHugh in a joint statement. "Our interest is in justice. Based on what we know right now, it is more than reasonable to assume that Col. West acted in a manner proportionate to the threat against his soldiers."
BFD.
He got vital information out of the enemy. And even if he did not, he didn't hurt a hair on the enemy head.
Sorry, but if that is all that it took to make the enemy crap his pants, well the enemy isn't half as tough as you are.
And if all this is "unfair", so what? Life is unfair and the closer you get to the edge the more unfair it becomes.
BFD.
It won't work next time. What then? Kneecapping? Maybe shoot his wife in front of him? Of course, if he doesn't tell you what you want to hear, and especially if he's innocent...well, then you're going to have to "dispose" of the prisoner. He may not have been your enemy before, but he sure is now.
He got vital information out of the enemy.
Once again...not determined to be fact.
He got the prisoner to say things by threatening him with death. They may have been true. They may very well have not. Indeed, that is the way to bet. Interrogations made in such fashion generate false answers to questions far more often than they generate truthful ones.
And even if he did not, he didn't hurt a hair on the enemy head.
Except that now, the people who actually know how to interrogate the prisoner have 10 times as much work, because they are not going to be able to either build rapport or apply psychological pressure to get the prisoner to talk.
Sorry, but if that is all that it took to make the enemy crap his pants, well the enemy isn't half as tough as you are.
Allow me to detain you. Some of my assistants will beat you. I will threaten to kill you. After I make that threat, I will force you into a head down position and fire a pistol past your skull.
Trust me, you will not retain control of your sphincters. And you will say anything you think I want to hear. You won't care about the truth, you will only care about making sounds that get me to not shoot you.
And if all this is "unfair", so what? Life is unfair and the closer you get to the edge the more unfair it becomes.
"Life is unfair" does not excuse LTC West from having to obey the orders given him.
That is well and good. I was raised on such rules.
Pray tell, how shall we survive in this modern age when all rules have been thrown out the window.
How will we survive while respecting their civillians while they kill 3,000 of our civillians at one swipe?
The rules have been eradicated.
However, I am willing to listen to any reasoned argument, unlike our enemy.
It's been done before. We won anyway.
How will we survive while respecting their civillians while they kill 3,000 of our civillians at one swipe?
OK. Your attitude seems to be that we must exterminate all 1.2 billion Muslims in order to win.
Then you'd spend the remainder of your life praying that we didn't miss any.
Prove it.
The answer is very simple.
Unity of purpose.
There is one reason why ememies of America feel that they can attack us without fear. They know that we have leaders among both parties that would sell us out for money. There are not 25 American Senators that I would trust to sell me a cookie. They are scum. There has never been more scum in our Congress than there is this very moment. These are the allies of our ememies. They know that these scum will undermine our leadership at their first opportunity, because each of them wants his job, and feels that the only thing they lack is money enough to get there.
Look at that unprincipled RAT John McCain. I would trust Tom Daschle before McCain; an opportunist of the worst order. Without his father's name Lincoln Chaffee would be a towel boy in a gay bathhouse. Dont forget the Grand Wizard from West Virginia. Did you ever see him shake hands with Lying Lieberman?
When America is united in purpose, as we were during WWII, there is no force that can resist us. The UCMJ can be changed if necessary, but whatever it states is what should be followed without exception. If you want to insure that America is safe from terrorism, make sure that the people that you put in office are there for your reasons and not theirs.
Nam Vet
SIGH.
"God fights on the side of the heaviest artillery."
If it comes down to that, we will win. What that will make of us, I don't know. I do know it won't make us LOSERS.
Once all the terrorists are dead we can go back to b!tching against one another.
If you make your policy one of random brutality towards Muslim civilians, then it will come to that.
But don't be too sure of winning.
All they'd need would be 20-30 nukes planted in America, and a couple tossed into the upper atmosphere, to send us back to the Dark Ages. And there are a lot of nations out there that wouldn't mind giving them the means to do just that.
We might kill them all.
But the America you allegedly support and defend would be gone, and whatever replaced it would probably be intolerable to you.
What that will make of us, I don't know. I do know it won't make us LOSERS.
It'll make us morally equivalent to the terrorists.
Maybe you can rationalize away having to kill 1.2 billion people because you're too lazy to do what's right.
Negligent genocide. That's a new one on me.
That would be true of you or me. Once you accept death all else is a joke.
However, it does not ring true that every last terrorist you drag in is as tough.
Anyway, we have gotten a little off-topic.
I would release Col. West, with a commendation.
Obviously, you feel otherwise.
"It is a difference of opinion that makes a horse race." :)
You didn't get my point. I will explain it...AGAIN.
After you perform a fake execution on that terrorist, he will understand that it is fake, and the next time will not work.
However, it does not ring true that every last terrorist you drag in is as tough.
After the first trip through the fake execution, it will not work on that terrorist again.
Do you really think that interrogations are one-time events?
Please instruct me on what is right.
Surrender?
That was a serious question.
If we won't fight the terrorists, how shall we appease them? What will it take to get them to stop killing us?
Other than killing them, that is.
You weren't talking about fighting the terrorists. In Post #103, you wrote:
How will we survive while respecting their civillians while they kill 3,000 of our civillians at one swipe?
Now, with that in mind, I will explain something to you. Read the following words very carefully.
TERRORISTS ARE NOT CIVILIANS!
Was that clear enough for you, or did I use too many syllables?
I also resent that "maggot" comment.
As far as I am concerned YOU are a MAGGOT.
Been there and done that. Terrorists shoot at Americans. Civilians don't. Not that hard to figure out. BTW, we are winning, without playing the "let's beat up someone on the say-so of an informant who may be a liar" game.
I also resent that "maggot" comment.
Tough. You asked for it. You're the one who deliberately mixed up the meanings of simple words like "terrorist" and "civilian."
As far as I am concerned YOU are a MAGGOT.
Why don't you take your silly-a$$ opinion and use it as a suppository. I'm sure it'll fit neatly next to your head.
Maggots laugh at you.
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