Critics: Light sentence may tarnish U.S.

modbee ^ | 1-25-06

[LouAvul]

DENVER (AP) - An unexpectedly light sentence for an Army interrogator who once faced life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general could tarnish the government and hurt human-rights efforts around the globe, critics said.

Prosecutors said during Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr.'s court-martial that his interrogation of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush "could fairly be described as torture" and had stained the military's reputation. During the trial, testimony showed he stuffed Mowhoush in a sleeping bag and straddled his chest.

If the tables were turned and an American general had suffered the same fate from interrogators in an enemy's hands, there would have been an uproar in the U.S., said Eugene Fidell, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Institute of Military Justice, a private group that monitors military justice policy.

"How is this going to look overseas?" he said.

[LouAvul]

Light sentence? It's war, morons! Any sentence for Welshofer is absurd!

[Vaquero]

Kill em all and let God sort em out...and to hell with this so called general who probably helped the Saddam regime bash out babies brains in front of the parents.

[Fenris6]

"These countries certainly are not (mistreating detainees) for the first time, but they're justifying it in a way they weren't able to previously," Musa said. "To be able to say 'See, now we're doing it the way the U.S. is doing it' takes the leverage away from the U.S. to say 'You have to reform.'

Right. As if there's some equivalence between accidentily killing someone during interrogation and deliberately sawing their head off with a sword.

[Westbrook]

This lunacy expresses quintessence of the Left.

• Punish an unintentional killing IN TIME OF WAR as though it were premeditaded murder.

• Let convicted cop killers and serial murderers free.

[wvobiwan]

American soldiers die because idiots like this whine about iterrogation methods. Torture and kill them ALL if it saves ONE American soldier's life.

[Paloma_55]

An unexpectedly light sentence for an Army interrogator who once faced life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general could tarnish the government and hurt human-rights efforts around the globe, critics said.

This is how it is written.

Highlight one side of the argument and lead with it.

[pissant]

The stinking traitors in the MSM are praying (to Gaia) that it tarnishes the US. They HATE this country and our warriors.

[frankjr]

"...could tarnish the [U.S.] government..."

Yes, becuase we were so loved by everyone before.

[JimRed]

...to hell with this so called general who probably helped the Saddam regime bash out babies brains in front of the parents.

He didn't kill anybody; he vas only giffing orders! < /sarcasm >

[sheltonmac]

Kill em all and let God sort em out...and to hell with this so called general who probably helped the Saddam regime bash out babies brains in front of the parents.

"Probably helped"? I guess we'll never know, will we? Are facts really that irrelavant?

[G.Mason]

"An unexpectedly light sentence for an Army interrogator who once faced life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general could tarnish the government and hurt human-rights efforts around the globe, critics said."

Sacré Bleu!

Does this mean that the Democrat Party, Al Qaeda, the UN, and the Euroweenies will not like us anymore?

[Redleg Duke]

He should have gotten a commendation and now he deserves an apology from the JAG!

[Publius6961]

Critics: Light sentence may tarnish U.S.

Or it May Not.

Depends on whether you're a predator or prey.
I vote for predator, in today's mass-murdering sandmaggot world.

[NonValueAdded]

He stuffed him in a sleeping bag and sat on his chest? Oh, the horror! And here all the while I thought torture was wood chippers, electric shocks to the genitals, vats of acid, and submerged Olsdmobiles.

[Brilliant]

Late Monday, a military jury ordered a reprimand and forfeiture of $6,000 in pay, and restricted him to his home, office and church for two months. The sentence will still be reviewed by Fort Carson's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon.

I'm a law and order kind of guy. I do think that was a light sentence. I think he should get jail time. Of course, it's ridiculous that foreign nations (like the Europeans) criticize us for this "light" sentence, when their own criminal justice systems are as much or more tolerant of criminal behavior. Wasn't it the French who allowed a guy who murdered his live in girl friend to roam free for decades because they did not want to extradict him to the US? And didn't the Germans just release some terrorist who murdered a US soldier while trying to hijack an airplane? They aren't in a very good position to criticize.

[Alberta's Child]

The bigger question here is why this guy was on trial in the first place. A country whose basis for war in Iraq turned out to be blatantly incorrect has no business charging its soldiers for "crimes" that are committed in the process of cleaning up the mess.

[kentj]

Oh gee I hate that when that happens.

I have seen it before.

"You have kilt hem" - "Well you pressed me" from FireFox the movie.

Now tell me really what good would questioning prisoners be if nobody had ever died from it? - As a matter of US policy I think that every tenth diaperhead questioned should be "pressed" (even into a sleeping bag, trash bag or a wood chipper)

[WV Mountain Mama]

Absurd. They already hate us and are trying to kill us every chance they get. What are they going to do? Really, really hate us and really, really try to kill us ever chance they get? It's a freaking war, people die...

[mikeus_maximus]

[to the author of this "piece"]...Or, it will signal to pinheads who think the way you do that we fight seriously.

[yankeedame]

An unexpectedly light sentence for an Army interrogator who once faced life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general could tarnish the government and hurt human-rights efforts around the globe, critics said.

So? I mean, what's the problem? According to "the critics" the whole world thinks the U.S. is a pile of dog doo-doo anyway.