Posted on 01/21/2006 11:39:54 PM PST by ansel12
By Nicholas Riccardi, Times Staff Writer FT. CARSON, Colo. -- A military jury late Saturday night convicted an Army interrogator of negligent homicide in the death an Iraqi general who had been stuffed face-first in a sleeping bag. After seven hours of deliberations the six-member military panel opted not to convict Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr. of murder, which would have carried a life sentence. Instead, the panel ruled that the death was a negligent homicide, a finding that caries a maximum three-year term in a military prison. The panel also found Welshofer guilty of dereliction of duty. ADVERTISEMENT Welshofer, 43, is the highest-ranking officer tried for murder in a case alleging abuse of detainees in the Bush administration's war on terror, according to human rights monitors. Welshofer stood mute as the verdict was read, swallowing silently. His sentencing is expected soon. The verdict in the court martial, came hours after Welshofer's defense attorney contended that his client was heeding an August 2003 e-mail from the office of the U.S. commander in Iraq. The e-mail cited by the defense was from Capt. William Ponce, and said, "The gloves are coming off, gentlemen .... We want these individuals broken. Casualties are mounting." In a reply to the e-mail, Welshofer wrote that the military needed to loosen its standards, which he said were more useful during World War II. "Today's enemies, especially in southwest Asia, understand force, not ... mind games." Welshofer was rebuked for suggesting violations of the Geneva Convention. But two weeks later, a Sept. 10 memo from the top commander in Iraq authorized several new interrogation techniques, including one that Welshofer says gave him permission to stuff Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush in the sleeping bag, bind him with an electric cord, straddle his chest and cover
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Before the civilians go off, listen to the veterans,I'm glad for this conviction.
I'm kind of worried that this will be viewed by the arab world as a whitewash. Really bad for the goodwill we've been trying to build with these people.
Silly sleeping-bag routine.
Who dreamed that up?
Oh yea, I forgot...
His superior officer is a woman.
Figures.
The "New Army."
This ain't your father's Army fellas.
What's the difference between killing the guy this way, or any other way? He was the enemy, and he got killed.
XR7 wrote:
"Silly sleeping-bag routine.
Who dreamed that up?
Oh yea, I forgot...
His superior officer is a woman. "
---Maybe she was used to being "bagged over the head" on dates, and thought it wouldn't hurt the iraqi general either. :)
Maybe the interrogation technique was written backwards, or he was dislexic. Instructions were to put feet into sleeping bag first, , but was written or read: Put head into sleeping bag first"
I don't understand , we sent a officer to prison for letting a prisoner die during wartime, I think the world will at least realize this might be the cleanest guerrilla war ever fought.
If I was the judge, I would suspend the sentence.
You have to figure out what you are judging.
I'm just saying what I would do.
Sorry to have troubled you.
That's pretty pathetic. There's zero honor in killing someone by sitting on them in a sleeping bag. That defines weakness and incompetence.
I didn't realise there was honor in taking a human life.
There’s honor in taking a life to defend yourself or others. Not in incompetently suffocating your prisoner.
I wholeheartedly concur with the court's findings. You don't suffocate people in your custody. We need to demonstrate that we are a civilized society, even if the Muslim world refuses to get it.
Righteous sentence on the accused. Ref the quote above. I would like to see the entire e-mail for its full context, but taken at face value I would say there's a commander somewhere who wrote those words that gave this man a green light to go overboard with his interrogations. That's a culpable offense in my book.
No trouble. I'm just saying what I would do. In a war zone, an American soldier killing someone on the other side. Even if guilty of a crime, I would give them a suspended sentence. But that's just me.
The poor Iraqi General wouldn't have died hadn't it been for the "Evil Bush," and his illegal war for oil.
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