Soldier says he was ordered to drown Iraqi

[Bluebear]

FORT CARSON, Colo. - One of four soldiers charged with pushing two Iraqi civilians into a river, where one of them drowned, says he was ordered to do so and told what to say to officials looking into the death, an Army investigator testified Wednesday.

Spc. Terry Bowman said he "was told by his chain of command what version to give" investigators, Sgt. Irene Cintron of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command said during a teleconference from Iraq as the military convened a hearing to determine whether the soldiers will be court-martialed.

Bowman said he had been ordered to push the men into the Tigris River, Cintron said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040728/ap_on_re_us/soldiers_charged_4

[daleo]

1. Bad link, or scrubbed real quick

Document Not Found, when I tried it.

[Bluebear]

2. Updated

[daleo]

3. This sounds kind of damning

"The soldiers' commanders, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman, Maj. Robert Gwinner and Capt. Matthew Cunningham, were punished last spring under Article 15, which allows punishments without a court proceeding or public record. Rep. Joel Hefley (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., has asked for congressional hearings into why their cases were handled differently than those of the soldiers."

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. Works for me... here's more of it

" Marwan Hassoun said he tried to help his cousin swim to safety, only to lose his grip as the soldiers watched and laughed. "They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage," he told the AP several weeks ago."

-snip-

Marwan Hassoun said he watched the soldiers push his cousin into the water and then he was pushed in, Cintron testified. He said he could hear his cousin screaming.

"He said it was eight meters (24 feet) deep and at no point did he feel the bottom of the river," she said. She described the drop from the bridge as 10-12 feet.

After he got out on the bank, Hassoun said he could hear the soldiers above laughing as they drove away. He said he went back to a checkpoint "soaking wet from the river" and reported what happened, Cintron said. His cousin's body was found two or three miles downriver.


SHOVE IT! - Drop Bush Not Bombs! - Hero Kerry AWOL Bush
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[UpInArms]

5. it would have been a better court-martial if he had

disobeyed orders.

:cry:

[olddem43]

6. It is not a defense to say you were just following orders -

That was made clear in the Nazi war crime trials. Soldiers are not required to follow illegal orders. I know it's hard not to but those are the rules, and our soldiers should know them.

[kodi]

7. we are reliving a nightmare i thought long since quieted.

"following orders?"

what the hell kind of people would do that?

[frylock]

8. nazis and evidently some u.s. military personnel

well I'm proud to be an 'merikan
where at least I know I'm fraaa-heee
to push Iraqis into rivers
and laugh with joy and glee

[Columbia]

11. Slight correction

Solders are required to NOT follow illegal orders. It is their obligation and duty to disobey them.

[scarface2004]

9. next...

we had to burn the village in order to save it!!

[Columbia]

10. Bullshit

Following orders my ass. These guys are just sick and twisted. Burn their asses.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Here's a photo of Zaidun. He was 19 years old, and going to be married

soon, and was saving his money for his married life.



The truck he was driving:



His mother wrote a letter to:

Mr. George Bush president of the United States of America,
Mr. Tony Blair prime minister of the United Kingdom,
Mr. Jacques Chirac president of the republic of France,
Dr. Adnan Pachachi president of the Interim Governing Council,
Mr. Paul Bremer American civil adminstrator of Iraq,
Mr. Kofi Anan general secretary of the United Nations,
The Director of the Red Cross Organaziation,
The Director of the Human Rights Organization,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Very, very sad.

I wouldn't suppose the soldiers were ordered to laugh as the man drowned.

How much viciousness can one world bear?

[JSJ]

13. support the troops

[JDPriestly]

14. This is the result of Republican immorality.

Since the so-called Reagan revolution, the Ayn Rand philosophy has dominated in the Republican party. If you've ever read one of her books, you know that she was a total materialist. She rejected and ridiculed the spiritual values of love, community and nurturance. She has a lot of disciples in the Republican Party. Some are open about it like Greenspan, and some keep it a secret and claim to be Christians. I don't need to name names, but that includes most of They worship the almighty dollar over all. For them, wealth is the measure of worth, etc.

I can't tell you how happy I am that the Democratic Party is finally coming out and resoundingly rejecting Ayn Rand and her ideology this time round.