Is David Petraeus Dirty? Ted Westheusing Said So, and Then He Shot Himself

[Octafish]

Col. Westhusing was in charge of training the new Iraqi army and overseeing civilian contractors. He is remembered as a good man, a brilliant man who followed the Cadet Code: "I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.”

Is David Petraeus Dirty? Ted Westheusing Said So, and Then He Shot Himself

By Melina Hussein Ripcoco, Brilliant at Breakfast
Alternet.org
April 8, 2008

Ted Westhusing, was a champion basketball player at Jenks High School in Tulsa Oklahoma. A driven kid with a strong work ethic, he would show up at the gym at 7AM to throw 100 practice shots before school. He was driven academically too, becoming a National Merritt Scholarship finalist. His career through West Point and straight into overseas service was sterling, and by 2000 he had enrolled in Emory University to earn his doctorate in Philosophy. His dissertation was on honor and the ethics of war, with the opening containing the following passage: "Born to be a warrior, I desire these answers not just for philosophical reasons, but for self-knowledge." Would that all military commanders took such an interest in the study of ethics and morality and what our conduct in times of war says about our development as human beings. Would that any educational system in this country taught ethics, decision making, or even political science that's not part of an advanced degree anymore.

Ted Westhusing, the soldier, philosopher and ethicist, was given a guaranteed lifetime teaching position and West Point by the time he had finished with his service and his education. he felt like he could do more for his country by trying to shape the minds coming out of the academy that were the ones that would be military commanders. He had settled into that life with his wife and kids, when in 2004 he volunteered for active duty in Iraq, feeling like the experience would help his teaching. He had missed combat in his active duty and it seemed like an important piece for someone who not only philosophized about war, but who was also preparing the military's future leaders.

But more than that, he was sure that the Iraq mission was a just one; he supported the cause and he bought the information that was put in front of him. Considering that vials of powder were being tossed around hearings by the highest level of military commanders how could he not? This was a man who was so steeped in the patriotism of idealistic military fervor that he barely could fit in regular society. His whole being was dedicated to this path, and he was proud to serve his country.

Once in Iraq, he found himself straddling the fence between a questioning philosopher and an unquestioning soldier. Westhusing had thought he was freeing a country in bondage, keeping America safe from a horrible threat, and spreading democracy to a grateful people. But the reality of what was happening in this out of control war was too much for him. His mission was to oversee one of the most important tasks left from the war; retraining the Iraqi military by overseeing the private contractors that had been put in charge of it.

As the assignment went on he found that everywhere he looked he was seeing corrupt contractors doing shoddy work, abusing people, and stealing from the government. These contractors were being paid to do many of the jobs that would normally be done by a regulated military, and they bore out the worst fears of those who don't believe in outsourcing such vital work. He responded to the corruption that he saw by reporting the problems up the line, but the response from his commanding officers was disappointing. He had, for much of his career, idolized military commanders, and in that assignment he found himself with some of the military's most famous faces, doing the most important job, but he was terribly disappointed and alarmed to realize that they were greedy and corrupt themselves.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/81678/

Judged by his immoral actions and corrupt cronies, George W Bush does not abide by the Cadet Code.

[acmavm]

1. Abide by the Cadet Code? Not unless they have a chapter that

covers successfully going AWOL he doesn't.

[Octafish]

3. Bush went AWOL and Poppy and his CIA connected buddies got him off.

I loathe liars.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/12/132214/106

And cheats.

[gasperc]

2. nice question for today's hearing

[Octafish]

5. A Death Reconsidered - Was Col. Ted Westhusing's death in Iraq something more sinister than suicide?

Thanks, gasperc. The author does raise some excellent points.

Personally, I believe Col. Westhusing was murdered.

A Death Reconsidered

Was Col. Ted Westhusing's death in Iraq something more sinister than suicide?

Robert Bryce
The Texas Observer
February 08, 2008

Since last March, when I wrote a story about the apparent suicide of Col. Ted Westhusing in Iraq, I had believed there was nothing else to write about his tragic death.

But in December, I talked to a source in the Department of Defense who met Westhusing in Iraq about three months before his death. The source, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, was investigating claims of wrongdoing against military contractors working in Iraq. After a short introduction, I asked him what he thought had happened to Westhusing. “I think he was killed. I honestly do. I think he was murdered,” the source told me. “Maybe DOD didn’t have enough evidence to call it murder, so they called it suicide.” I contacted the source through Larry C. Johnson, a former employee of the CIA who specializes in terrorism and security issues, and who writes the “No Quarter USA” blog. Johnson and other bloggers have written extensively about Westhusing’s death.

SNIP...

While most of the evidence points to the simplest conclusion—suicide—there are several oddities about his death that deserve further consideration.

Foremost, why would Westhusing shoot himself behind the ear? Most suicides by gunshot occur when the victims place the muzzle of a firearm in their mouth, under their chin, at their forehead, or to their temple. Westhusing’s death, according to military reports, was caused by a gunshot behind his left ear. Dr. Lawson Bernstein, an expert in forensic and clinical psychiatry who is based in Pittsburgh and has worked on numerous suicide investigations, told me that he had never seen a case of suicide by gunshot with the wound behind the ear. “If I was part of any coroner’s team, I’d be looking at this as something else,” he said. “It sounds like an execution.” He went on to say that it’s “an unusual mechanism” for suicide and that in his mind there are two possibilities: It’s not a suicide, or “it’s someone trying to make it not look like a suicide.”

There are questions about Westhusing’s use of a bodyguard. Westhusing’s family contends that a bodyguard employed by a military contractor protected him. They say that a few days before his death, his bodyguard was allowed to take personal vacation. If that is the case, then it bolsters their view that Westhusing met with foul play. The problem is that it’s not clear that Westhusing had a bodyguard. Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman worked with Westhusing in Iraq. Bateman said he attended a meeting on June 4, 2005, that was attended by only two other people: Westhusing and Petraeus. Bateman, now working at the Pentagon, told me he never saw any evidence that Westhusing had a bodyguard. He added that it wouldn’t make sense for Westhusing to have a bodyguard. None of the other colonels that Bateman worked with had bodyguards, and he said that only one of the generals that he was in contact with in Iraq (Petraeus) had a bodyguard.

CONTINUED...

http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2682

With chemicals and who knows what else, modern professional killers can create the needed circumstances to drive someone to suicide. From what I've seen, block-letters are the method-of-choice for forging a suicide note.

[emperor124]

11. what I don't get is

If this was staged, how come they would write such a scathing suicide note? It directly implicates the higher-ups of incompetence and corruption. Maybe they thought no one would pay attention to it?

[Octafish]

22. A flip on an adage. 'He who accuses himself, excuses himself.'

The note was written in block letters, probably easier to forge than a person's regular writing. If planted, it also would have to contain enough "truth" to it to sound plausible. So, a guy who's "crazy" enough to take his own life might say anything. And that would give plausible deniability to the higher-ups.

My feeling is that Westhusing was alluding to another officer, perhaps his direct superior or another colonel or even a brigadier general. Going from his voice and demeanor on the teevee, Petraeus appears squeaky clean.

PS: A hearty welcome to DU, emperor124! Thank you for caring about Col. Westhusing and the truth.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. EXCELLENT article.

[donkeyotay]

15. Went on to achieve bigger and better things -

"...Westhusing was also close to the seat of power. When he was in Iraq, Westhusing worked for one of the most famous generals in the U.S. military, David Petraeus, who at the time was head of the Multi-National Security Transition Command–Iraq. Petraeus has since gained another star on his uniform (he now has four) and has become the commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq."

[ShortnFiery]

4. Many of us have tried to get the story into the M$M without success.

Yes, beyond all else, this may have been "a letter" leaving his suicide suspect. :scared:

We will not ever know "the truth" but Ted Westhusing did not deserve his fate and was, IMO, a man with greater integrity than the over-promoted (hyped) General "Peaches" Petraeus.

*BTW not that it should matter, but I'm an Army Vet and I've met my share of General Officers where upon I base my above opinion.

[Octafish]

7. They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit...

Bush and his cronies are so far removed from the word "Integrity," they may as well be orbiting a star 14 billion light years from the sun. In fact, Bush and his crowd are worse than traitors -- they've betrayed their country and all humanity.

Know your BFEE: They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit...

Thank you for the heads-up, ShortnFiery. Please let me know how I can be of service in getting our Representatives aware of the situation.

[atreides1]

6. Bush didn't go to West Point

Petraeus did, but it seems that the Cadet Code doesn't mean much to him either! Just an opinion.

[Octafish]

8. Because he worked for -- associated with -- Bush's generals?

Perhaps Col. Westhusing thought it was his Duty to come to the defense of his country. From the Sneer on down, the chain of command was saying Iraq was going to attack the USA with nukes, automated drones carrying sarin and everything else in the bucket.

Going what he wrote home -- not his "suicide note" -- the guy felt he was working with war profiteers, the KBR Halliburton Blackwater types, who were doing jobs formerly done by the Army. For some reason, he seemed to have cleared USIS from his suspicions.

If he hadn't died, Col. Westhusing could take the stand today and detail what he knew about corruption in Iraq. It would, I believe, make crystal clear how Bush's illegal and immoral war had served to enlarge the trust funds of Bush and his cronies.

[peekaloo]

9. sad

"suicide" my arse.



the dark hearts and diseased minds seem to be the only "winners" of this fiasco.

[Octafish]

10. Blood Money

T. Christian Miller puts it into words better than I:

Blood Money

by T. Christian Miller

Man of Honor

While his fellow soldiers prepared to unleash one of the most spectacular land assaults in modern military history, Col. Ted Westhusing was studying old wars. He was in the final months of writing his doctoral dissertation at Emory University's department of philosophy in the spring of 2003. His topic was honor. As the Third Infantry Division charged into Iraq, Westhusing pored over ancient Greek texts like those once preserved in Baghdad's libraries, comparing them to modern Civil War novels and accounts of valor in America's more recent wars. He was an archaeologist carefully sifting the history of human violence: Achilles' savagery at Troy, Gen. Robert E. Lee's compassion to an underling at Gettysburg, Gen. Matthew Ridgway's turnaround of the Eighth Army's retreat in Korea. He sought an understanding of what the Greeks called arete- skill, excellence, or virtue - because Westhusing wanted to know, exactly, what honor meant for the modern American soldier. "Born to be a warrior, I desire these answers not just for philosophical reasons, but for self-knowledge," he wrote.

Westhusing stood out on Emory's leafy green campus, which is not far from downtown Atlanta. He was twice as old as some of his fellow graduate students, with a buzz cut that grayed at the temples. They showed up for class in shorts and flip-flops, Westhusing in slacks and loafers. They stayed out late at campus bars,Westhusing had a wife and three children. They were younger, but he was faster. Intensely competitive, he had a physique as lean and hard as an ax head. He could often be seen jogging through the hilly neighborhoods around campus in camouflage and combat boots, a full rucksack strapped to his back. He challenged his fellow students to race. "I'm ten years older than you, man. You wouldn't last five minutes in the army!" he'd shout as he ran past. And he finished his dissertation in three years - a year or two earlier than most students. The story about his dissertation defense was campus legend. Supposedly he had walked into the room in full dress uniform, took a seat in front of his advisers, and placed his sidearm wordlessly on the desk in front of him. It was apocryphal, but it spoke to his Pattonesque reputation: bullheaded, self-assured, and packed with military bravado.

Westhusing's unwavering belief in the United States made him a maverick in another way. In a department of professional skeptics, Westhusing was a believer. He saw things in black and white, true or false, right or wrong. There was no room for relativism in Westhusing's world. He was a deeply faithful Catholic who attended Mass nearly every Sunday. His ardent, unalloyed patriotism burned brightly in the coffee shops and classrooms of the mostly liberal institution. He loved his country, loved serving it, loved defending it. "We have the finest fighting force to ever exist, and we will get the job done, no matter what it is," he said.3 Some found his conviction exhilarating. Westhusing got into fierce debates with fellow students, leaving newspaper clippings in mailboxes with comments circled in pen. He loved arguing about Aristotle and Epictetus, Kant and Wittgenstein. "He enjoyed being the voice of dissent.He definitely had a strong contrarian streak," said Aaron Fichtelberg, a fellow student who went on to become a professor at the University of Delaware, when we spoke ofWesthusing in the fall of 2005. Others found him rigid and inflexible. It was almost as if he wasn't interested in digging too deeply into the issues, afraid of the moral ambiguities he might find. One of his fellow graduate students suggested a reading by liberal philosopher Martha Nussbaum that questioned the value of patriotism. Westhusing refused even to attend the discussion group. Instead he sent a typed three-page response criticizing the article. "There were clearly things that Ted was not willing to question. One of them was patriotism," Fichtelberg told me.

Westhusing stood out in the military too. He had graduated third in his class at West Point. He became a Ranger and special forces instructor with the legendary Eighty-second Airborne, serving in some of the world's hot spots: East Berlin before the wall tumbled, Central America during the proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.He loved working with soldiers in the field, but it wasn't enough.He thought he could have more influence by training America's next generation of officers. He decided to teach at West Point.

There he returned to his devotion: honor. For Westhusing, honor was what set the soldier apart from the rest of society. It gave a soldier meaning, the military strength, and society structure. At West Point he became one of the army's top ethicists, contributing to military journals and grappling with the toughest issues of modern war. Emory was a chance to deepen his knowledge. He learned ancient Greek and modern Italian. When he graduated in 2003, he was one of only fourteen out of eighty thousand officers in the army with a PhD in philosophy.

CONTINUED...

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/86/0316166278/chapter_excerpt23492.html

Bush and his cronies are not good Americans. Thanks for standing up to what they are, peekaloo.

[Coexist]

12. that is so sad.

[Octafish]

19. Email indicates Cheney involved in Halliburton deal in Iraq

The guy who had "other priorities" when he was asked to serve the War Party during Vietnam wanted to be around when his golden ship sailed in.

Email indicates Cheney involved in Halliburton deal in Iraq

By Joseph Kay
8 June 2004
Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author

This week’s issue of Time magazine cites a recently released Pentagon email indicating that Vice President Dick Cheney was directly involved in the selection of Halliburton for a major contract in Iraq. Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton until he left the company in 2000 to join the Bush campaign.

The article—“The Paper Trail: Did Cheney Okay a Deal?”—quotes an email sent by an official for the Army Corps of Engineers, saying that the contract for construction of oil pipelines in Iraq was approved by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith “contingent on informing WH tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP’s office.” The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for allocating contracts, and thus the email suggests that Halliburton was awarded the deal in coordination with Cheney’s office.

The email—dated March 5, 2003—was obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative group that has joined in lawsuits against Cheney over the vice president’s secretive negotiations in formulating the administration’s energy policy. The contract was given to Halliburton three days later without any bids from other companies. In total, Halliburton has contracts in Iraq potentially worth over $17 billion.

Cheney has previously denied any involvement in the contract process, telling NBC’s Tim Russert in September 2002, “I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government.” A Cheney spokesman denied that the email implied any direct involvement of Cheney. Rather, what was involved was simply a “heads-up” to the vice president about a potentially controversial decision that had already been made.

Cheney continues to receive deferred compensation from Halliburton. Last year he received $178,437. He is also reported to hold more than 433,000 stock options in the company, which he received as part of the $20 million “golden parachute” he was given upon resigning as CEO in 2000.

Regardless of the level and extent of Cheney’s direct involvement in the Halliburton deal, the new email highlights an important fact about the war in Iraq and the subsequent “reconstruction”: the companies that are benefiting from the billions of dollars being spent every month have the closest ties with the individuals responsible for launching the war.

CONTINUED...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jun2004/hali-j08.shtml

May he be healthy enough to stand trial and whatever comes next.

[donkeyotay]

14. Kick for the memory of Westhusing, lest we forget

the profiteering, the lack of accountability, and that the bush administration has given new meaning to the phrase "failure is not an options: as at every turn those involved have been promoted. Wonder if anyone at the hearing will ask Gen. Petraeus if they've looked into any of the corruption yet.

[Octafish]

23. Federal No Bid Contracts On Rise ($207 Billion in '06) - Use of Favored Firms A Common Shortcut

It's a good bet things are worse in "off-the-books" Iraq.

Federal No Bid Contracts On Rise

Use of Favored Firms A Common Shortcut

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 22, 2007; A01

Under pressure from the White House and Congress to deliver a long-delayed plan last year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security's counter-narcotics office took a shortcut that has become common at federal agencies: They hired help through a no-bid contract.

And the firm they hired showed them how to do it.

Scott Chronister, a senior official in the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement, reached out to a former colleague at a private consulting firm for advice. The consultant suggested that Chronister's office could avoid competition and get the work done quickly under an arrangement in which the firm "approached the government with a 'unique and innovative concept,' " documents and interviews show.

A contract worth up to $579,000 was awarded to the consultant's firm in September.

Though small by government standards, the counter-narcotics contract illustrates the government's steady move away from relying on competition to secure the best deals for products and services.

A recent congressional report estimated that federal spending on contracts awarded without "full and open" competition has tripled, to $207 billion, since 2000, with a $60 billion increase last year alone. The category includes deals in which officials take advantage of provisions allowing them to sidestep competition for speed and convenience and cases in which the government sharply limits the number of bidders or expands work under open-ended contracts.

Government auditors say the result is often higher prices for taxpayers and an undue reliance on a limited number of contractors.

"The rapid growth in no-bid and limited-competition contracts has made full and open competition the exception, not the rule," according to the report, by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/22/AR2007082200049.html

Adlai Stevenson pegged it: "Corruption in public office is treason."

[EFerrari]

16. Illegal arms dealing. I remember a news item in the NYTs

that said a high ranking aide of the good general's was linked to illegal arms sales.

And then, I could never find it again. :(

[Octafish]

24. Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

You've a great memory, sfexpat2000.

Could this be the article?

Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

By JAMES GLANZ and ERIC SCHMITT
The New York Times August 28, 2007

BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 — Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here.

The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005, American officials said Monday.

There is no indication that investigators have uncovered any wrongdoing by General Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, who through a spokesman declined comment on any legal proceedings.

SNIP...

Over the past year, inquiries by federal oversight agencies have found serious discrepancies in military records of where thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces actually ended up. None of those agencies concluded that weapons found their way to insurgents or militias.

In their public reports, those agencies did not raise the possibility of criminal wrongdoing, and General Petraeus has said that the imperative to provide weapons to Iraqi security forces was more important than maintaining impeccable records.

SNIP...

But now, American officials said, part of the criminal investigation is focused on Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, who reported directly to General Petraeus and worked closely with him in setting up the logistics operation for what were then the fledgling Iraqi security forces.

That operation moved everything from AK-47s, armored vehicles and plastic explosives to boots and Army uniforms, according to officials who were involved in it. Her former colleagues recall Colonel Selph as a courageous officer who was willing to take substantial personal risks to carry out her mission and was unfailingly loyal to General Petraeus and his directives to move quickly in setting up the logistics operation.

SNIP...

The enormous expenditures of American and Iraqi money on the Iraq reconstruction program, at least $40 billion over all, have been criticized for reasons that go well beyond the corruption cases that have been uncovered so far. Weak oversight, poor planning and seemingly endless security problems have contributed to many of the program’s failures.

The investigation into contracts for matériel to Iraqi soldiers and police officers is part of an even larger series of criminal cases. As of Aug. 23, there were a total of 73 criminal investigations related to contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, Col. Dan Baggio, an Army spokesman said Monday. Twenty civilians and military personnel have been charged in federal court as a result of the inquiries, he said. The inquiries involve contracts valued at more than $5 billion, and Colonel Baggio said the charges so far involve more than $15 million in bribes.

CONTINUED...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/world/middleeast/28military.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

As with everything monkey touches, it just gets worse.

[EFerrari]

25. That's it! You are tremendous!

:yourock:

eta: There are some reports that, although coded, "stick out" at you. This one did for me because it came in the run up to the first time this bastard lied to Congress while I was with Code Pink in their effort to have a discussion with Nancy Pelosi about him. We're going to find out that this boy scout is dirty as hell, of course.

[donkeyotay]

17. Or it could of had to do with the detention center at the Baghdad airport

On June 5, at a USIS meeting at the military complex surrounding Baghdad International Airport, Westhusing expressed anger at construction delays, funding shortfalls and delays in training Iraqis.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/004022.php

Actually, construction delays would probably not lead to suicide, but this might:


The apparent murder of a "high-value" detainee, held as part of the search for weapons of mass destruction, is another blow for the Bush administration, still reeling from the Abu Ghraib jail abuse scandal.

Dr Izmerly was on the coalition's original "200 list" of suspects from Saddam Hussein's regime, and his death happened just two weeks after the US military began its own secret inquiry into the prison west of Baghdad. Last Friday the Pentagon admitted it was now investigating eight more suspected murders.
. . .

The first Red Cross letter arrived last May, but the family was still no wiser as to where the US was holding him. After six months, they were allowed to drop off some winter clothes at al-Taji, a US military base north of Baghdad. There were three telephone calls. But their attempts to visit him got nowhere.

Finally, Rana and her elder sister, Nuha, 27, and brother, Ashraf, 21, discovered that their father was being kept at the US base at Baghdad international airport. On January 11, they managed to see him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/may/24/iraq.usa3

[Kurovski]

18. K&R. (nt)

[MinM]

20. Did Security Contractors Kill Colonel Westhusing?

Is David Petraeus Dirty? Ted Westhusing Said So, and Then He Shot Himself | War on Iraq | AlterNet

Larry Johnson: Did Security Contractors Kill Colonel Westhusing?

Murky CIA Activity at Military Outposts | AlterNet

[Cleita]

21. Really sad.n/t

[lonestarnot]

26. "...how could he not?"