US soldiers accused of sex assaults

[Tezcatlipoca]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...432691,00.html

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Tuesday March 8, 2005
The Guardian

Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade - the same military unit whose troops fired on the car carrying the freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena - were under investigation last year for raping Iraqi women, US army documents reveal.

Four soldiers were alleged to have raped the two women while on guard duty in a Baghdad shopping precinct. A US army investigator interviewed several soldiers from the military unit, the 1-15th battalion of the 3rd Infantry Brigade - but did not locate or interview the Iraqi women involved - before shutting down the inquiry for lack of evidence.

Transcripts of the investigation, obtained by the Guardian from the American Civil Liberties Union, show only the most cursory attempts by the investigator to establish whether the women were raped.

The soldiers claimed the women were prostitutes, or denied any knowledge of any one in their unit having sex while deployed in Iraq. The statements went largely unchallenged. "I know the women were Iraqi. I however don't know if they were raped, or were prostitutes, or just wanted sex," one soldier told investigators.

(snip)

Oh, & more prisoner abuse allegations too....this time a home-made DVD, rather than photos...

The documents also provide further evidence that US troops have destroyed evidence of abuse, in order to avoid a repetition of last year's Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

In the latest such episode, an officer is believed to have destroyed a home-made DVD showing members of the Florida National Guard abusing Iraqi detainees, and manipulating the hand of a dead Iraqi to wave at the camera. Another scene shows a soldier hitting a bound prisoner on the head with a rifle butt.

At least one of the soldiers - a sergeant - was identified from the DVD. However, no criminal charges were brought in that investigation after military lawyers concluded that the DVD showed "inappropriate rather than criminal behaviour".

The DVD, which the soldiers called Ramadi Madness, was discovered by a civilian public affairs employee at the unit's headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida. The DVD was later destroyed by an officer who had learned the case was under investigation.

Originally Posted by Matt D

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...432691,00.html

Oh, & more prisoner abuse allegations too....this time a home-made DVD, rather than photos...

That's political dynamite - particularly when released shortly after recent events.

But then that's maybe the point.

Since the article is not clear about what evidence remains following the destruction of the DVD, it is entirely possible that without it the case can't possibly be judged safely.

Now before I am branded a US sympathiser, I felt the same when the UK military was accused. I have to ask 'why' the information is made public.

It makes the position of our forces over there weaker and increases the hostility towards them.

That means it's either the 'enemy' spreading disinformation (OK - probably not) or it's the anti-war lobby trying to create a situation where their desired outcome is the only option.

Personally, I think this is threacherous behaviour, as it places every member of our forces over there in danger - irrespective or whether they are implicated or whatever their own view on the conflict might be.

Ultimately, I also think it damages the rebuilding process and makes the eventual outcome less likely to be regarded as 'positive'. Of course this would also suit war opponents, as they can then point to the failure and tell us they 'told us so'.

It's not necessarily an organised effort to destroy the military machine, or a deliberate attempt to deprive the Iraqi people of a peaceful and prosperous future, but it sometimes certainly looks like it.

[Bifta]

So er

In the latest such episode, an officer is believed to have destroyed a home-made DVD showing members of the Florida National Guard abusing Iraqi detainees, and manipulating the hand of a dead Iraqi to wave at the camera. Another scene shows a soldier hitting a bound prisoner on the head with a rifle butt.

At least one of the soldiers - a sergeant - was identified from the DVD. However, no criminal charges were brought in that investigation after military lawyers concluded that the DVD showed "inappropriate rather than criminal behaviour".

One of the scenes was of a soldier hitting a bound prisoner upside the head with a rifle butt, and he say's that it's "inappropriate rather than criminal behaviour", I think tomorrow I'll go beat the first American I find around the head and get away with it ... no, damn! in the UK we're answerable for our actions .. where's my passport?

[punky]

So when represenatives of the UN do it, noone cares.... when the US do it, its major news.

Still, we'll wait and see what happens.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by punky

So when represenatives of the UN do it, noone cares.... when the US do it, its major news.

Still, we'll wait and see what happens.

Who said no-one cares? Take your stars and stripes t-shirt off for a sec and try and keep to the topic eh?

[punky]

Originally Posted by Bifta

Who said no-one cares? Take your stars and stripes t-shirt off for a sec and try and keep to the topic eh?

I don't have a stars and stripes t-shirt on. And I don't support the US automatically as you much as you might thing. They have caused me grief like you wouldn't know.

I am just saying, it didn't recieve anywhere near as much media coverage as when the UN did it.

And I meant that "noone cares" comment tongue-in-cheek. I still care if noone else does, and hopefully if they are found guilty fairly, they will recieve a suitable appropriate punishment.