GI who exposed Abu Ghraib feared revenge

I wonder how much $$$$$$$ he got for the pictures?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1318092/posts?page=44#44

(AG) Mar: SSg Frederick's uncle William sent an e-mail message to retired colonel David Hackworth's Web. The NY Times describes Hackworth as "a retired colonel and a muckraker who was always willing to take on the military establishment." That e-mail message would put Mr. Lawson in touch with the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and help set in motion events that led to the public disclosure of the graphic photographs and an international crisis for the Bush administration. The Times reports on 8 May: (7)

The irony, Mr. Lawson said, is that the public spectacle might have been avoided if the military and the federal government had been responsive to his claims that his nephew was simply following orders. Mr. Lawson said he sent letters to 17 members of Congress about the case earlier this year, with virtually no response, and that he ultimately contacted Mr. Hackworth's Web site out of frustration, leading him to cooperate with a consultant for "60 Minutes II."

"The Army had the opportunity for this not to come out, not to be on 60 Minutes," he said. "But the Army decided to prosecute those six G.I.'s because they thought me and my family were a bunch of poor, dirt people who could not do anything about it. But unfortunately, that was not the case." (7)

The abusers at Abu Ghraib should've been hanged for treason in a time of war. Their 'frat boy' perversion and stupidity made it far harder to win the WOT and made a wonderful recruiting tool for terrorists.

This guy is a 'hero'. It's a shame the press couldn't see past its obsession with embarrassing Bush and to the greater good of letting military justice sort this out.

While the whole incident is/was over blown, this soldier did the right thing. He saw something that he thought was not in compliance with his understanding of the required conduct of his fellow soldiers ... and contacted the military investigators with his concerns.

Precisely. If the government takes the position that this is necessary to get the prisoners to cooperate, then the people in charge should take responsibility for it, not just let the grunts on the ground do it while they look the other way.

"I liked your bio page. Count me a sheepdog. Wife is a sheep learning to grow fangs.... she will be a sheepdog soon."

Thanks, if there had been a sheepdog (regardless of his rank )among that Abu Grahib group of losers, he would have put a stop to that nonsense before it turned into a permanent stain on the United States armed forces.

At least this decent soldier learned what was happening and passed the info to the army higher ups, which ended this sick prison guard behavior before it spun totally out of control.

"No he did not, see Polybius's post #17."

I wasn't aware of the information flow. If he only went to the CID then that was appropiate. Although for the vast majority of what I've seen even that was overkill. Most university treat their pledges far worse. Making a man sit in womens underwear is encouraged by liberals here in the US but is somehow evil in this case. Intimidating and yes even torture are acceptable in my book if its for the sake of critical information. If the prisoner doesn't have any information then by all means put them in jail and don't put them in panties.

Making someone jump off a bridge is murder. Putting a hood on them isn't. If these soldiers had been led properly this behavior would have ended the first or maybe the second time it happened.

A few days ago we saw another story of a CIA guy on trial and the testimony was that he was extremely angry at the terrorist. Good grief I think that should be a job requirement and not a black mark.

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