6 US Troops charged for maltreating Iraqi jail inmates

[General Ludd]

Choice audio clip from the 60 minutes piece on this:

http://s95005245.onlinehome.us/Iraq_prison.mp3

If you want to see the whole thing you can download it here. (46mb)

[General Ludd]

Wow, I didn't expect to kill the thead by posting that.

[The Mad Monk]

No guidance

The station spoke to one of the six soldiers charged, Sergeant Chip Frederick - a reservist whose full-time job is as a prison officer in the US state of Virginia.

Sgt Frederick said he and his fellow reservists had never been told how to deal with prisoners, or what lines should not be crossed.

"We had no training whatsoever," he said.

"I kept asking my chain of command for certain things... like rules and regulations. And it just wasn't happening," he said.

He said he never saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions - which govern the treatment of prisoners - until after he was charged.

...so I guess that's normal prison treatment in Virginia?

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


I'll enlighten those who don't already know it that you're one.

Enemy combatants who are actively resisting us are *******s, and get exactly what they deserve, but lawful combatant prisoners in our custody deserve treatment in strict compliace with the Geneva Convention and other applicable treaties and standards of treatment. Unlawful combatant prisoners deserve the minimum standard of treatment required under applicable law until their cases are disposed of according to the UCMJ.

Those guards, if proven guilty, should receive the maximum sentences for each offence convicted, and any senior NCO's and officers above them responsible for conditions at that facility should also be severely punished.

Are the soldiers waging an illegal war unlawful combatants?

[Agathon]

My above post wasn't exactly a prediction of your response in this particular case, but more an allusion to your usual posting style.

I thought it was ******* funny.

[Pekka]

Not trained in Geneva Conventions? That has got to be the worst excuse ever for what happened..
.. I guess he will be taught now how his sh1t will be pushed in. They don't need to take any theory classes on it 'give up the mud' will be simple and clear enough command for this numbnuts, and if not, they will learn it the hard way, resisting only makes it hurt more.

Anyway there are positive sides to this as well. Like that the US military does seek after cases like these and punish these criminals. Also that the US media is not hiding anything when it comes to cases like this, but goes and raises public disgust.

Overkills like these always do happen even with the best of us, but those who actively seek and punish these traitors and has control over them are the ones who are the good folks.

[Kropotkin]

Hey, I think it's a great defence!

"I was sick the day they taught us that killing was wrong in school so you can't punish me for gunning down half a dozen humans and a cat while robbing a liquor-store!"

[Pekka]

I wonder what kind of questions he sent to be solved that never came back. 'OK can I NOW punch the prisoners pretty please? What about on fridays?'.

Besides it's BS what he's saying. Every soldiers is taught the Geneva Convetions when they start in the army. Maybe not in the most words, but the basic rules are set out to every soldier. If he honestly is too stupid to realize you can not treat prisoners like they did, then the people should be shot so they won't pollute the gene pool anymore.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris


Are the soldiers waging an illegal war unlawful combatants?

Even if there was an illegal war, that's not relevant to the definition of unlawful combatant status.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Agathon


I thought it was ******* funny.

I was getting lonely. I thought I was the only other ******* online until I saw your post.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Pekka
Besides it's BS what he's saying. Every soldiers is taught the Geneva Convetions when they start in the army. Maybe not in the most words, but the basic rules are set out to every soldier. If he honestly is too stupid to realize you can not treat prisoners like they did, then the people should be shot so they won't pollute the gene pool anymore.

If you watched the 60 minutes show... you would of seen them say that the military investigation confirmed that they had not been trained in the geneva convention because they where reservists and not fully trained soldiers.

But personally, I find the encouragement and praise that he apparently got from military intelligence and the integrators more concerning... or the fact that they apparently had 5 'untrained' soldiers looking after 900 prisoners!

And speaking of the integrators, I'd be curious to know who the 'civilians' that are doing it are.

[Pekka]

what do you mean not fully trained? Anyone with a rank is fully trained, if it's not a private. Right?
Plus how can you be qualified to be a soldier without having to listen through the rules at least once, be at sleep or what ever, but still you have to be there at least once? This sounds extremely weird.

Anyway, heard of it or not, common sense rules do apply so they shouldn't get any cover from that excuse.

What are these reservists? I know that US has many types of different reservists, but they have gone through boot camp, yes? If not, then what the hell are they been deployed for?

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Pekka
what do you mean not fully trained?

"part time soldiers who did not get the kind of specialized prisoner of war training given to regular army members" acording to the news piece.

[Pekka]

why are part time soldiers deployed there then? What the hell is a part time soldier?

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by General Ludd


"part time soldiers who did not get the kind of specialized prisoner of war training given to regular army members" acording to the news piece.

The news piece is wrong. We have gotten briefings such as this many times and we aren't even a unit that would be expected to deal with POWs. One could question if they had been trained in proper techniques or not, but there is no question that somewhere from the time they enlisted to the time they got there they were fully aware that you can't to crap like that.