US Army interrogator to surrender to custody

[NNN0LHI]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-08-11T223941Z_01_N11304465_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-SOLDIER.xml&archived=False

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. Army interrogator who deserted his unit several months after returning from Iraq said he will turn himself in to military custody on Friday.

Sgt. Ricky Clousing, 24, sneaked out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 2005 after a tour in Iraq where he said he witnessed a U.S. soldier shoot and kill an Iraqi civilian and saw people detained for weeks at a time without any evidence.

Investigations into whether Marines unlawfully killed 24 people at Haditha in November, and accounts of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in March are just a few high-profile examples of the U.S. military's "abuse of power" in Iraq, Clousing said on Friday.

"My incidents that I witnessed are a larger picture of the daily devastation of occupation," Clousing said at a news conference surrounded by members of Iraq Veterans Against War.

"We Americans have found ourselves in a pivotal era where we have traded humanity for patriotism."

[Lerkfish]

1. "we have traded humanity for patriotism"

how accurate, how sad.

[cali]

2. Would have been better

if he'd substituted the word nationalism for patriotism, but it's a damned good statement.

[tanyev]

3. Or something like "distorted patriotism".

[Selatius]

5. I don't even recognize much of a difference anymore

Nationalism is often confused for patriotism even though the definition of nationalism is more apt to describe the phenomenon of rallying around the government. A true patriot rallies around his principles, not his government if he feels it is wrong.

[sproutster]

4. I LOVE that line -- Its so true