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(Part one here.)
Think soldiers in the US Army aren't capable of bad behavior? Think again. Before jumping into any discussion of accusations of crimes leveled at US military members, one should probably keep the following headlines in mind:
Details Emerge in Alleged Army Rape, Killings
The U.S. military said last week that authorities were investigating allegations of a rape and killings in Mahmudiyah by soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, part of the 4th Infantry Division.
2 U.S. Soldiers Charged With Murder of an Iraqi
...in northern Iraq, two American soldiers were arrested in connection with the death of an Iraqi man in June. The military said the two have been charged with premeditated murder, and their battalion commander has been removed from his job.
US troops on Iraq murder charges The US military in Iraq has charged two of its soldiers with the murder of three Iraqis between April and June in the Iskandariya area, south of Baghdad.
3 U.S. Soldiers Charged With Murder The U.S. Army has charged three soldiers in connection with the murders of three Iraqi men who were in military custody in Iraq in early May, the military said Monday.A truly disheartening roundup. But read beyond the headlines and opening paragraphs, and buried in the text you'll invariably find another report on the behavior of US soldiers. In order, from the above stories:
But on June 23, three months after the incident, two soldiers of the 502nd came forward to say that soldiers of the unit were responsible, a U.S. military official said last week. The U.S. military began an investigation the next day, the official said.
Military officials said that investigators began probing the death, which took place June 23 near Kirkuk, 160 miles north of Baghdad, after they were alerted to suspicious circumstances by other soldiers from the unit.
Charges were brought after fellow soldiers alerted the authorities.
The investigation was requested by Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, commander of multinational forces in Iraq.This quote invariably included in military press releases on these topics is worth bearing in mind, too:Chiarelli's request and the decision to open the probe were announced Thursday in an e-mail from Baghdad. Chiarelli acted on the basis of suspicions raised by soldiers about the deaths.
The soldiers are presumed innocent unless until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offenseBut contrast the reports above with those included in anti-war veterans groups' claims of American atrocities:
But they nevertheless described such acts as common and said they often go unreported--and almost always go unpunished.Invariably these veterans claim they didn't report the various atrocities they now claim to have participated in or witnessed while they were on active duty because the military wouldn't do anything about them.
Oh, by the way, here's how the Abu Ghraib story first came to the attention of anyone who was paying attention:
The U.S. military's criminal investigation into potential abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq now includes reports from soldiers that military police took photographs showing soldiers hitting detainees, CNN has learned.Of course, no one was paying attention. Four months later Mary Mapes claimed the story as her own.Earlier, several Pentagon officials who declined to be identified by name confirmed to CNN that investigators were looking into the reports -- all coming from fellow soldiers -- of photographs showing male and female detainees with some of their clothing removed.
(Still more to follow...)
