I guess now anyone can torture our soldiers, just cry and say you're sorry

[bigtree]

. . . and we'll let you go? No, only Americans are above the law- can murder with impunity- free from judgement or serious consequence. Protecting freedom and all that.


US officer guilty of killing Iraqi general during questioning

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1692642,00.html

A US army officer was guilty of negligent homicide in the death of an Iraqi general during an interrogation, a military court ruled on Saturday. Chief warrant officer Lewis Welshofer is the highest-ranking army officer tried on murder charges arising from the Bush administration's campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was found not guilty of murder and faces up to three years in prison when sentencing takes place today. The court heard that Welshofer caused the death of Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush by putting him head-first into a sleeping bag, tying electrical cord around him, straddling him and covering his mouth. Welshofer was also found guilty of negligent dereliction of duty, which carries a sentence of up to three months. He was acquitted on charges of assault by a jury made up of army officers.


Army Interrogator Who Killed Prisoner Pleads For No Jail Time

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1692642,00.html

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- An Army interrogator is apologizing for killing an Iraqi general by stuffing him head-first into a sleeping bag and sitting on his chest. Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer was convicted on Saturday of negligent homicide. At Fort Carson on Monday, Welshofer fought back tears as he pleaded with a jury not to separate him from his wife and children by sending him to prison.


Jury: No jail time for officer charged in death of Iraqi general

http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=fa7f1356-0abe-421a-011a-ead87ffb2067&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

FORT CARSON (AP) - A military jury of six officers on Monday ordered a reprimand for an officer once facing up to life in prison for the death of an Iraqi general during an interrogation session.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. also was ordered to forfeit $6,000 salary and was restricted to his place of work, worship and barracks for 60 days. The sentence now goes to the commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon, who can order a lighter sentence or set the whole verdict aside, defense attorney Frank Spinner said.

Welshofer, 43, had originally been charged with murder, but instead he was convicted on Saturday of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty that carried a penalty of up to three years and three months in prison, a dishonorable discharge, loss of his pension and other penalties.

He was acquitted of murder and assault charges. The murder charge could have brought a life sentence.

[mike_c]

1. goddammit THIS is why American soldiers MUST be sent...

...before the ICC. Justice will never be had in America.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[mike_c]

8. and I hate freedom, too....

:rofl:

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Mnemosyne]

6. .

:popcorn:

[bigtree]

7. he was just protecting freedom

by putting him head-first into a sleeping bag, tying electrical cord around him, straddling him and covering his mouth.

Tortured men do tell tales. That's why torture, especially the severe types, have been found to be counterproductive and usually cause the target to say anything to stop the abuse. That's the military's own stated conclusion, from the old manuals to the new.

[alfredo]

4. I think the ones who need to go before the ICC are the ones who

ordered the torture.

[bigtree]

5. he was an officer

how high up do we go before we assign responsibility?

Officer ranks in the United States military consist of commissioned officers and warrant officers. The commissioned ranks are the highest in the military. These officers hold presidential commissions and are confirmed at their ranks by the Senate. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps officers are called company grade officers in the pay grades of O-1 to O-3, field grade officers in pay grades O-4 to O-6 and general officers in pay grades O-7 and higher. The equivalent officer groupings in the Navy are called junior grade, mid-grade and flag.

Warrant officers hold warrants from their service secretary and are specialists and experts in certain military technologies or capabilities. The lowest ranking warrant officers serve under a warrant, but they receive commissions from the president upon promotion to chief warrant officer These commissioned warrant officers are direct representatives of the president of the United States. They derive their authority from the same source as commissioned officers but remain specialists, in contrast to commissioned officers, who are generalists.

http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/insignias/officers.html

[alfredo]

10. He was a Warrant Officer. They are a special breed. I wasn't saying he

shouldn't be punished. He should, but we shouldn't be satisfied with a few low level officers being taken to task. This murder may have never happened if torture wasn't policy.

[bigtree]

11. I agree with that

He was a Chief Warrant Officer sent to Iraq to torture Iraqis, under commission from the Office of the President. He was a torture 'specialist'.

[alfredo]

12. When I was in the military, the Warrant officers

were the good guys. Not many of them were lifer types.

[bigtree]

13. not this guy

not his detachment. They were, as you noted, ordered to commit these interrogations. But this was a barbaric act, especially considering that Iraq posed no threat to our country outside of harm to our soldiers who had been directed to illegally invade and occupy Iraq. What would have been the rationale for such an act at that time, or any other for that matter.

I wouldn't put this 43 year old man in that group of yours. Especially not now. Not that he allowed himself to be lowered to this type of torture of someone in his captivity.

But he'll be restricted to his job and church for 60 days as punishment. Then he's free to go. I wonder how that squares with those known innocents in Iraq and elsewhere whose lives we disregard as we indiscriminately detain, torture, and bomb wherever, and whoever we please.

[alfredo]

14. the bush junta has corrupted everything.

[hatrack]

9. Ah! He used the Mrs. Alito Defense!

I can see this becoming a whole brave new world of legal tactics!

Get moist - get off!

:puke:

[bigtree]

15. still pissed

U.S. regime account:

Welshofer had the former Iraqi Republican Guard officer -- who already had been beaten repeatedly by Iraqi captors -- bound, gagged and placed inside a sleeping bag before the 19-year Army veteran sat atop the man’s chest.

Welshofer wanted Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush to provide information about Iraqi insurgency operations and possibly concealed weapons of mass destruction.

Mowhoush stopped breathing while Welshofer was sitting on him. Witnesses for the defense said the Iraqi detainee had an irregular heartbeat that contributed to his early demise. The autopsy report said he suffocated.

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=January&x=20060124121546sjhtrop0.2885858&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html


Suffocated. Ever been face first in a sleeping bag? There should have been a demonstration using a member of the defense.