US soldier beaten after reporting crimes: officials

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AFP

US soldier beaten after reporting crimes: officials
Tue May 25, 7:39 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US soldier who blew the whistle on his comrades over possible drug use and the deaths of three civilians in southern Afghanistan suffered a severe beating in retaliation, officials said Tuesday.

The soldier was beaten after telling authorities about illicit drugs and then, while recovering in hospital, recounted his comrades' alleged role in the deaths of three Afghan civilians, said two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The soldier was "beaten within an inch of his life," one of the officials told AFP.

<snip>

One soldier has been placed in detention in the case and authorities said last week the probe was launched this month after receiving "credible information" from the soldiers' unit earlier this month.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100525/pl_afp/afghanistanunrestusmilitarycrime

[chrisa]

1. The current military is too corrupt to survive.

It must be dismantled, and have its budget slashed in favor of social programs.

[Soylent Brice]

2. K&R

[happygoluckytoyou]

3. they are armed, they are patriots, they are human... and they are heroic

FOR THE ONE CITED GIVING A BEATING, THERE IS THE ONE WHO BLEW THE WHISTLE....
FOR THE ONES USING DRUGS, THERE ARE THE THOUSANDS FIGHTING FOR AMERICAN INTERESTS....

I DON'T ALWAYS AGREE WITH THE ADMINISTRATION'S USE OF SOLDIERS, AND THE WARS THAT THEY CHOOSE.....
BUT THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT SOLDIERS DO A JOB THAT IS DIFFICULT, AND THAT THEY DO IT WITH PRIDE AND RESOLVE

....when you train people to kill other people, to fight, to bomb, to stab, then you have to expect (sadly) a certain amount of violence in their actions

[ShortnFiery]

4. May our Higher Power Bless this brave young man and keep him safe from now on.

:cry:

[atreides1]

5. No

When you recruit gang members, drug users, and the scum of the earth, this is what you get.

No where in the training are there a classes that demonstrate how to properly shoot up, or how to beat someone into your squad, or how to randomly kill civilians.

"FOR THE ONES USING DRUGS, THERE ARE THE THOUSANDS FIGHTING FOR AMERICAN INTERESTS"

Personally I don't have any interests in Afghanistan, what are yours?

[Solly Mack]

11. +1

[Crowman1979]

12. +1

Added with the Christian Fundie/can't wait for Armageddon crowd, I'm not surprised by what our military has become.

[MadMaddie]

18. Another remaining legacy of the * administration

They lowered the bar to push their agenda.

[The Stranger]

6. Well, apparently, they're not.

[msongs]

7. following orders is no longer a defense against war crimes nt

[Dr.Phool]

8. Obviously, neither is giving them.

[wtmusic]

10. Not that simple.

There is a long, unresolved argument on that issue. It's a fascinating story.

For example, several Nazis were left swinging at the end of a rope because of what's known as Nuremburg Principle IV:

"The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_Orders#Nuremberg_Trials_after_World_War_II

[wtmusic]

9. The one who blew the whistle is heroic, the ones who beat him are animals.

You don't have to "expect" any of that shit.

You do expect them to know that giving them a gun is not a green light to shoot whoever the fuck they want.

My God, to see this stuff posted here is most depressing.

[TheMadMonk]

14. As a matter of fact, this behaviour is pretty much EXACTLY what is to be expected.

And will remain so, until a whole lot of attitudes in the US seriously change.

Snitches are considered (and treated as) the lowest of the low almost from the first day of school, even earlier with older siblings.

It's a habit so strongly ingrained that even the most violent of serial child abusers can with little effort turn it to their advantage to keep their victims silent.

On the battlefield the relationship/bond between platoon mates can be stronger than anything but parent to child. On furlough he might be the womaniser, brawler, gambler, drinker, even a kiddie fiddler, but out in the firing line, he's the man who will die for you, and who you will die for. And the subconscious or conscious feeling is that if you can't trust a person with your secrets, you can't trust him with your life.

It has to be the officers who prevent their subordinates from crossing lines.

Abu Grahib did not happen because of orders from above, for the prisoners to be treated badly. Abu Grahib happend because absolutely nothing was done to prevent the prisoners from being treated badly, the rest came naturally. The Stanford Prison Experiment and other like studies showed pretty much exactly what happens when the gaolers are left to set prison policy.

And I think unfortunately, the same has been writ large over the entire Middle Eastern theatre. American troops were welcomed in a lot of places early in the piece, but it very quickly soured, and it was as much over the behaviour of the troops as any larger concerns like bombarding their homes, or deliberately favouring one faction while hanging another out to dry.

The predictability of what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan is so high that it begars belief, that it wasn't deliberate top down policy. It has a certain Macheavelian genius and elegance about it, if the whole point of your presence there is to maintain a perpetual presence. It's a top down policy that relies on emergent behaviour arising from the bottom up. It insulates the policy makers from their handiwork and the fall guy will allways be lowest possible man on the totem pole.

And never an order as such to hang anything of substance on anyone higher up the chain of command. A simple insidious failure to police troop behaviour is all you need to get from being mobbed by children to today.

And it all at the bottom relies on two things. The truism that power corrupts and absoulute power corrupts absolutely and that a man will not snitch on his mates.

Expect the beatings to continue.

[panzerfaust]

16. "...to see this stuff posted here is most depressing..." Au Contraire

I think that it good that it is apparently now possible to post non-laudatory non-jingoistic observations about members of the US military on the forum.

There are many reasonable members of our armed forces - several of my friends, who are currently serving, I know to be - but, on the whole, the current volunteer force is not a representational cross section of the US population: which is why I have favored the draft since reading Galbraith's "How to Control the Military" wherein he points out the dangers of a non-civilian military.

[ronnie624]

13. 'Oh well, shit happens in war' = tacit approval of U.S. aggression. n/t

[Iowa]

15. You have been sold a bill of goods...

"they are patriots... and they are heroic"

The definition of patriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.

The notion that patriotism is necessarily virtuous is both flawed and dangerous; it always has been. The Taliban are patriots. Nazis were patriots. We should be devoted to humanity and to ideologies that further the interests of humanity... it makes absolutely no sense to unquestioningly offer up our devotion to political entities.

It is long past time that the notion of patriotism, as you appear to be using the concept in your post, should be dumped into the dustbin of history along with all the other man-made constructs that are used to control and manipulate the masses.

[panzerfaust]

17. Yep

Each side of any conflict has villains, criminals, patriots and heroes ... just be careful when discussing such things in mixed company - such as with Serbs and Croats.

[chrisa]

19. Unfortunately, untrue.

Many US soldiers could give a crap about Democracy, and would shoot their country's own citizens down in the drop of a hat if ordered to do so. They care very little about truth or morality - just doing what they're told. Out of 1 good soldier, there are 5 bad ones who do things like the soldiers did in this news story.

It's time to put an end to the corrupt American military (pull out of all countries, slash budget to a miniscule amount) before it grows into something we cannot manage and turns on us.

[New Dawn]

20. Just another example of the USA's "free and open" society.