Hanging out the Troops (Hackworth Fails to Mention 17 Senators)

David Hackworth ^ | May 10, 2004 | David HAckworth

[Republican Red]

As an American citizen, I’m ashamed of the atrocities committed by Americans in Iraq. As a former professional soldier, I’m appalled not only by what has happened in the prisons there, but also by our military leadership. From the very top of the Pentagon down to the 320th Military Police Battalion, the brass have spent months covering up obscene behavior while placing the sole blame on Joe and Jill Grunt.

The damage to our country and our just war on terrorism is already devastating. And these war crimes not only diminish the sacrifices of our gallant soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, they place the troops at even greater risk. But I’m certain that these abhorrent acts wouldn’t have occurred had the right kind of leadership been exercised by the chain of command.

In 1951 in Korea, I was told by my commanding officer to kill four POWs and refused his direct order. I well remembered the Nazi generals’ sorry rationale for their despicable conduct: “We were just following orders.” I would get booted out of the Army before I went that route.

In 1965 in Vietnam, I saw a very connected intelligence captain torturing a POW with a field-telephone wire attached to his testicles and decided my personal belief system outweighed his father’s four stars. When I told him I’d shoot him if he didn’t cease and desist, the atrocity came to a screeching halt.

On both occasions, I knew I had the moral right. I’d been taught from the first day I put on a U.S. Army uniform that American soldiers don’t follow unlawful orders and that it was my duty to stop or report an illegal act. I also believed strongly that when dealing with POWs, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

The vast majority of our regular soldiers today are likewise well-trained, well-disciplined and have similar values. And they’ve conducted themselves during the occupation of Iraq in a manner that aptly reflects what America is all about.

But, unfortunately, this is not always the case with many Army Reserve and National Guard units that have been deployed overseas since 9/11. In fact, I’ve worn out several drums beating the readiness issue during face-to-face meetings with the top brass. As far back as 1989, I warned Secretary of the Army Mike Stone about the generally sad shape of our Reserve and Guard components. But while he listened up, little was done to correct the systemic problems.

And now, because Mr. Rumsfeld and too many of his generals are into a fast-fix mode, the Pentagon has been dispatching Reserve and Guard units to combat zones even when they aren’t good to go. For example, I know of two enhanced infantry brigades that were rated as not combat-ready by Training Center commanders but were still sent to Iraq because boots were needed on the ground.

Retired Master Sgt. William Lawson, who brought the atrocity story to SFTT.org, says the 800th Military Police Brigade is a prime example: “My nephew Chip, who’s been charged with war crimes, wasn’t trained to be a prison guard. He was a part-time soldier marginally trained for even conventional military police (MP) work. But Chip was such a good soldier that he was selected to escort Gen. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Staff, when Chip was guarding the vice president right after 9/11. Myers gave him both great reviews and his personal coin.”

“The bedrock truth about the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison is that they were so easily preventable,” adds SFTT (Soldiers for the Truth) Vice President Roger Charles, who researched this story for CBS News. “But that prevention required a recognition that the top people in the 800th were ill-prepared, incompetent and uncaring. The evidence clearly shows that the Department of the Army mafia was more concerned about protecting the image of the brigade commanding general, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, than holding her and her officers accountable for the terrible situation, which they allowed to fester for months.”

Speaking of Karpinski, she’s received only a mild slap on the wrist as the brass were circling the wagons. Not a good sign that our country’s commanders intend to own up to their respective roles in this catastrophic breach of human rights, which will have consequences we all will have to pay for many years to come.

Col. David H. Hackworth (USA Ret.) is SFTT.org co-founder and Senior Military Columnist for DefenseWatch magazine. For information on his many books, go to his home page at Hackworth.com, where you can sign in for his free weekly Defending America. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts.” © 2004 David H. Hackworth. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.

[Dane]

Hackworth, IMO, could aptly be described as the leftist version of the Dana Carvey character, Churchlady, except his "expertise" is supposedly in military matters.

[raptor29]

Hackworth could come out and state the truth about how the Clinton administration depleted the military numbers, which might be why we have to rely so heavily on 'poorly trained' soldiers and reservists. And Hackworth could come out and make a statement about women in the military and promotions that shouldn't have taken place, and the ramifications clearly showing up in this scandal. And Hackworth could come out and possibly mention gays in the military, given the nature of many of the 'abuse' photos. Hackworth could use his military credibility to raise these issues. But of course, that would undermine his real goal, which is simple self-promotion.

[DonaldDuke]

that Hackworth has that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" look about him...

There's more strange things about Hackworth, if who's getting to be editors of Defensewatch is anything to go by.

I hope he faces extreme legal consequences.

[RGSpincich]

Retired Master Sgt. William Lawson, who brought the atrocity story to SFTT.org, says the 800th Military Police Brigade is a prime example: “My nephew Chip, who’s been charged with war crimes, wasn’t trained to be a prison guard. He was a part-time soldier marginally trained for even conventional military police (MP) work. But Chip was such a good soldier that he was selected to escort Gen. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Staff, when Chip was guarding the vice president right after 9/11. Myers gave him both great reviews and his personal coin.”

What a crock, poor little Chippy (pictured below)is 37 yrs. old, is a trained prison guard with over 6 years experience and has been rejected by municipal law enforcement agencies for employ. Probably uncovered some psychological problems, like when he pretended an Iraqi prisoner was a 6 point buck without the rack.

[Republican Red]

I don't watch MSNBC but many freepers saw the uncle's interview this morning. from post #354 by ampat on my above reference earlier thread:

The uncle (Lawson) of Staff Sgt. Frederick was interview by MSNBC today. Among those he contacted are: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Mark Dayton, Bill Nelson, Ben Nelson, Joe Libermann, Robert Byrd, all democrat members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also contacted J. Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Warner (R-VA, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee). He said Byrd's office replied they don't respond to emails of less than 500 words. Rockefeller's office replied that since the uncle wasn't immediate family, he could't help. The rest sent form letters suggesting they would pass the info on to the military for investigation. So much for surprises and keeping things secret. So far I haven't seen this story on any other news shows. I'm not surprised, but I'd expect Fox News to cover it.

354 posted on 05/10/2004 2:03:39 PM EDT by ampat (to)

[Dane]

To everybody, hackworth supposedly has a column coming out tomorrow on Joe Farah's World Nut(whoops excuse me)Net Daily.

[TrueBeliever9]

Send all comments to: teagles@hackworth.com

Header on his website should read X-soldier

[Askel5]

=== but I've always thought that Hackworth has that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" look about him...

Now there's a Litmus Test certain to backfire on the Log Cabin party.

[marron]

You don't go to war with the army you ought to have, or wish you had. You go with the army you have. If that means drawing on reserve and guard units, thats what you do.

Feel free to blame previous congresses and previous administrations for being in a hurry to spend the peace dividend. But waiting until we rebuilt the army to pre-Gulf War levels wasn't an option. Hackworth's remark that "Mr. Rumsfeld and too many of his generals are into a fast-fix mode..." is not really much of a criticism. It just means that Rumsfeld is doing what he has to do with what he has to work with. Thats precisely why we like him, those of us who like him.

Hack goes on to share his reminiscences of abuses he refused to take part in during past wars, which should be a reminder that such things happen in every war. The temptation has to be resisted in every war. This one is no different.

If some dogface somewhere shot a German soldier in his custody, that is wrong, its something he has to live with after the uniforms come off, if his officers knew about it they should have been courtmartialed, but it does not follow that the Nazis should have been left to rule from Berlin, or that our moral authority to oppose them was lost. If Hack's superiors wanted to shoot a prisoner rather than walk them back to the rear, thats wrong, but it doesn't follow that Seoul should be a Chinese garrison. We expect our soldiers to be men of character, and while that means you don't commit atrocities, it also means you don't lose sight of your moral war aims.

[Quilla]

Excellent point that the media will never mention. Let's not forget to thank Al Gore for his involvement - it was his reinventing government scheme that covertly reduced the many our military assets.

[monkeywrench]

"Hackworth, IMO, could aptly be described as the leftist version of the Dana Carvey character, Churchlady,"

YES!!

[ken5050]

Thanks..that's gonna be very interesting when it comes out..

[r9etb]

Thanks..that's gonna be very interesting when it comes out..

You forgot to close your sarcasm tag....

[LADY J]

"Among those he contacted are: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Mark Dayton, Bill Nelson, Ben Nelson, Joe Libermann, Robert Byrd, all democrat members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also contacted J. Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Warner (R-VA, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee)."

Hopefully we will soon see a complete list of those who were contacted.

These holier than thou- shocked that the Bush administration kept the horrible secret from them need to be exposed and confronted.

They kept this to themselvesin order to shoot Rummy down in public. All they wanted was face time so they could appear to be so indignant at the 'outrage'.

[ken5050]

You're way too cynicle..viewing it fro the perspective of one,( and this is NOT meant as a criticism) who follows this stuff carefully. 90% of Americans don't..This willget shaped, massages, and filter down..The Dems are running hard to the left, startignto get into an ant-military, American troops comit abuses..mode. That's whyW.'s speech today was a marvelous respone..the vast % of the middel of the electoral, where the battle will be fought, and won, are pro-military, ahve a huge admiration for the American troops, and are concerned abotu security, and in their gut they know that Bush is beter for the job; that there's a reason whty there hasn't been another attack...and why this race won't be that close..

[hgro]

Hackworth has lost what few marbles he had. He is a bitter man and worse, a liar.

[Dane]

Separated at birth?

[Republican Red]

From Rush Limbaugh Friday May 7, 2004:

Hillary May Regret This
By Rush Limbaugh
May 7, 2004

We joined Hillary Clinton's questioning of Donald Rumsfeld during Friday's program which you can hear, along with my expert commentary, in the audio link below.

In the first part of Hillary's question, right before we came out of the break, she was saying that you don't need these pictures to be revulsed. That just reading descriptions of these pictures is enough to revulse anybody.

I'm going to tell you, folks. Mark the date, May 7th, 2004. She and others who say that are going to regret that they said it. I will say no more. I'm just telling you there's a good chance that if we learn all there is to know about this, that describing this as revulsing is going to be really offensive to some people.

[rrrod]

agree.....over the last few yrs he has seemed "off" to put it mildly

[aft_lizard]

This is what I emailed the Hack and posted on his online guestbook:

As a veteran of Iraq and disabled with a brother still over there and many friends, I just want to tell you Hackworth to go to hell. How far would you go to get this President you so vehemently hate? How far would you go in opposing a war you hate? How far would you go in getting a few senior officers?

You are a disgrace, your actions in releasing the pictures of the abuse is reprehensible. You impugned the military court martial, the president and soldiers in Iraq and the war. Does it make you feel good that your personal hatred of all things Bush may lead to the deaths of hundreds of good hard working soldiers? Does it make you feel good that America is now viewed even worse now? You know what I am saying, because you know that arrests were being made investigations were already under way and the pictures ere already well known to the military and were being used as evidence. The one and only reason you had for releasing them was for political reasons. I know many, many soldiers who now consider you there worst type of enemy, the kind who says they are out for them, butr it turns out you are just out fo yourself. Thank you, and go to hell.

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