Monday, October 18, 2004
Another My Lai?
Sy Hersh, it is true, is a screaming lib.
He's also a first-rate, top-of-the-line reporter.
And now he's saying he has sources alleging that US troops are guilty of a mass murder.
Apparently he doesn't have enough to put it in print. But he was right about My Lai. He was right about Abu Ghraib.
I've got enough respect for him to be open to the possibility that he's onto something here.
Hey, I'm all about waxing terrorist assholes. And I'm also willing to give the soldier the benefit of every doubt.
What I'm not willing to countenance is the coverup of possible war crimes.
It's possible the LT doesn't know what he's talking about. He might not be privy to every piece of intelligence. The word 'execute' might not be accurate.
But if this LT's platoon was, indeed, outraged, and if this village was similarly outraged by what happened, then there's probably enough out there to jumpstart an investigation.
Apparently, Sy's not interested.
So what's the deal, Iraq readers? Anyone know anything about this?
I'm off duty at the moment. But I'm still a commissioned officer, and sworn to uphold this little thing called the law. I'll get it to the chain of command, to the chaplain, to someone who can move the investigation forward, and no one needs to know who started it.
Oh, and to prevent my falling victim to a Mooronic hoax, don't bother writing except via a 'dot.mil' address with enough verifiable detail about the locale and incident to be fully corroborated. I.e., I'll pull your electronic service records or call your rear detachment to verify your identity and unit of assignment before I go with anything fishy.
Splash, out
Jason
He's also a first-rate, top-of-the-line reporter.
And now he's saying he has sources alleging that US troops are guilty of a mass murder.
Apparently he doesn't have enough to put it in print. But he was right about My Lai. He was right about Abu Ghraib.
I've got enough respect for him to be open to the possibility that he's onto something here.
In the evening's most emotional moment, Hersh talked about a call he had gotten from a first lieutenant in charge of a unit stationed halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. His group was bivouacking outside of town in an agricultural area, and had hired 30 or so Iraqis to guard a local granary. A few weeks passed. They got to know the men they hired, and to like them. Then orders came down from Baghdad that the village would be "cleared." Another platoon from the soldier's company came and executed the Iraqi granary guards. All of them.
"He said they just shot them one by one. And his people, and he, and the villagers of course, went nuts," Hersh said quietly. "He was hysterical, totally hysterical. He went to the company captain, who said, 'No, you don't understand, that's a kill. We got 36 insurgents. Don't you read those stories when the Americans say we had a combat maneuver and 15 insurgents were killed?'
"It's shades of Vietnam again, folks: body counts," Hersh continued. "You know what I told him? I said, 'Fella, you blamed the captain, he knows that you think he committed murder, your troops know that their fellow soldiers committed murder. Shut up. Complete your tour. Just shut up! You're going to get a bullet in the back.' And that's where we are in this war."
Hey, I'm all about waxing terrorist assholes. And I'm also willing to give the soldier the benefit of every doubt.
What I'm not willing to countenance is the coverup of possible war crimes.
It's possible the LT doesn't know what he's talking about. He might not be privy to every piece of intelligence. The word 'execute' might not be accurate.
But if this LT's platoon was, indeed, outraged, and if this village was similarly outraged by what happened, then there's probably enough out there to jumpstart an investigation.
Apparently, Sy's not interested.
So what's the deal, Iraq readers? Anyone know anything about this?
I'm off duty at the moment. But I'm still a commissioned officer, and sworn to uphold this little thing called the law. I'll get it to the chain of command, to the chaplain, to someone who can move the investigation forward, and no one needs to know who started it.
Oh, and to prevent my falling victim to a Mooronic hoax, don't bother writing except via a 'dot.mil' address with enough verifiable detail about the locale and incident to be fully corroborated. I.e., I'll pull your electronic service records or call your rear detachment to verify your identity and unit of assignment before I go with anything fishy.
Splash, out
Jason
Comments:
Jason...I find this interesting. did you note the third person use of "Americans" as if the Captain or Lieutenant involved were not Americans?
'No, you don't understand, that's a kill. We got 36 insurgents. Don't you read those stories when the Americans say we had a combat maneuver and 15 insurgents were killed?'
Who are they referring to as "the Americans" if not themselves?
I will find this very interesting if that occurred as written. It does sound suspiciously practiced along with the weird "Americans" reference.
'No, you don't understand, that's a kill. We got 36 insurgents. Don't you read those stories when the Americans say we had a combat maneuver and 15 insurgents were killed?'
Who are they referring to as "the Americans" if not themselves?
I will find this very interesting if that occurred as written. It does sound suspiciously practiced along with the weird "Americans" reference.
The first thing to look for in a crime is motive and means. What would be the motive for executing 30 granary guards? "Clear" the village should include the witnesses. But the witnesses were left. Presumably someone called Sy Hersh. Unlike My Lai an outside platoon comes in. No one is under fire. It's not personal at all. What officer could give such an order to a line platoon and feel confident they wouldn't turn state's evidence or even unquestioningly obey an illegal order? A special paramilitary squad maybe, but awfully risky with just any unit. That's the motive problem.
Suppose I wanted to kill all the granary guards in a village for whatever reason. The odds are that less than half of them would be at the jobsite. Some of them would be off for the day. Does the execution platoon round them up at their family homes? How do they know where they live? Does the killer platoon drive up in organic vehicles without filing a plan? Or do they make arrangements for support in case they run into something and risk the documentary trail? Is there a cover mission. That means who else knows? What about the bodies? That's the means problem.
None of this makes Hersh's allegations impossible. But something like this had to leave a mark. Some time back a couple of guys shoved an Iraqi blogger's cousin off a bridge on a dark night and they got caught. Just a few guys to rat on each other and they got busted. If this really happened there should be a lot of evidence.
Suppose I wanted to kill all the granary guards in a village for whatever reason. The odds are that less than half of them would be at the jobsite. Some of them would be off for the day. Does the execution platoon round them up at their family homes? How do they know where they live? Does the killer platoon drive up in organic vehicles without filing a plan? Or do they make arrangements for support in case they run into something and risk the documentary trail? Is there a cover mission. That means who else knows? What about the bodies? That's the means problem.
None of this makes Hersh's allegations impossible. But something like this had to leave a mark. Some time back a couple of guys shoved an Iraqi blogger's cousin off a bridge on a dark night and they got caught. Just a few guys to rat on each other and they got busted. If this really happened there should be a lot of evidence.
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