Army Agent Testifies at Drowning Trial

[Rose Siding]

FORT HOOD, Texas -- U.S. soldiers ordered two Iraqi men into the Tigris River merely to teach them "a lesson" for violating curfew, a witness testified at a court-martial.

Only one of the two Iraqi civilians got out alive, authorities said Tuesday as the military trial got under way for Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, aggravated assault, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators.

But several platoon members insist that they never meant to cause harm and dispute that a young Iraqi drowned in the river.

"We were showing them a lesson not to pass curfew," former Sgt. Alexis Rincon told a jury of six Army officers.
.......
Prosecutor Capt. Tom Schiffer told the jury the Iraqis were traveling with plumbing supplies from Baghdad to Samarra when their truck broke down close to an 11 p.m. curfew.

The young men were detained by U.S. troops, Schiffer said, quoting Perkins as saying "any curfew violators are getting wet tonight." He said the Iraqis were driven to the river's edge and pushed in.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-soldiers-drowning,0,7484335.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[bowens43]

1. This asshole needs to go to jail.

[sui generis]

2. wasn't it not just a "wet" river but choked with raw sewage?

I believe that's the real reason they wanted to push them in - to make them stink like human shit and have to use rationed water to clean themselves instead of drink.

Oh yes, brother needs to go to jail. Throwing people into raw sewage is a good way to kill them even if they don't drown.

[TahitiNut]

3. Stanley Milgram demonstrated that such abuses are inevitable.

Authoritarianism breeds violations of human rights. People within such authoritarian subcultures don't accept responsibility for their behavior. That's the problem!

[Richard Steele]

4. In full agreement KICK!

[UpInArms]

5. more "frat-boy" pranks? Give me a freakin' break

here is a link to the original story:

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/archives/2004_01_01_healingiraq_archive.html

approximately 7/8ths of the way down the page

Thursday, January 08, 2004
An Iraqi family's tragedy

In the name of God, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful.

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,

Dear Sirs,

I write to you in a very distressed state of mind and that may burst my emotions and passions because of the weighty calamity that struck me and my husband after losing our oldest son who was at the tender age of nineteen years. He was looking forward with eyes full of hope and optimism to a bright and eventful future, especially after being engaged to marry a relative of his very recently. He moved forward with all his energy to build their future life with firm and confident steps. But Fate stood in his way and seized him unexpectedly leaving a bleeding wound in the hearts of his parents, his fiance, and his friends and family. Please allow me to tell you my story...

On Saturday the 3rd of January 2004, my son and his cousin were travelling back to our residence in Samarra, they were driving a small cargo truck belonging to a third party from which they earn their livelihood in a country torn by wars and sanctions. Yes, they were back from Baghdad yet misfortune followed them from the beginning, their car broke down on the road which caused a delay in their arrival to Samarra when the curfew hour was just about to start in the city...And this is where the first chapter of the tragedy takes place. An American army patrol stood in their way, and after they went through the whole procedure of searching my son and his cousin, and inspecting the cargo load, they tied them up both and led them to an area about three kilometres from the scene and...in front of one of the gates of the Tharthar dam where water flows at its strongest rate and to my son and his cousin's horror, they ordered them to jump into the water, it was midnight and the cold was unbearable, when they hesitated, they were pushed by the soldiers. Unfortunately my boy cannot swim, even though swimming at this time of the year wouldn't have helped. Yet my sons cousin survived miraculously after he got stuck in a tree branch to give us his account of this tragic event which could have went untold. He tried saving my son, but the water current was stronger than him...After days of search we found my sons jacket floating with the stream, it shall remain with me as a memory and a symbol of the injustice brought against him by soldiers of the United States of America's army, who came to our country under the banners of human rights and democracy only to send my son to his demise on his wedding days...

...more...

[ThorsHammer]

6. And people wonder why the 'insurgents' are upset?

[saigon68]

7. HERE'S THE THUG--- and HIS SPIRTUAL BROTHERS

Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy E. Perkins arrives for his court-martial at Fort Hood, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005. Sgt. Perkins is facing charges stemming from an alleged assault and drowning of an Iraqi detainee near Samarra, Iraq (news - web sites). (AP hoto/LM Otero)




Juergen Stroop (third from left), SS commander who crushed the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Warsaw, Poland, between April 19 and May 16, 1943

[Southpaw Bookworm]

8. I say we teach him a lesson

By throwing his ass in jail for life. Or, even better, sending him into the neighborhood where this man died so that his family can have at him.

Do you think he'd learn the lesson that it's not OK to treat people as if they weren't human?