Perv commander under investigation by military gets around

[Carni]

Well, well, well...Looks like the perv commander featured tonight on the Drudgereport, who is under investigation for taking nude photos of US women soldiers gets around....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2686-2004May5.html

Ex-Guard Capt. Accused in Nude Photo Case

The Associated Press

Wednesday, May 5, 2004; 1:27 AM WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - A former National Guard commander is accused of taking naked pictures of female U.S. soldiers while they showered last year at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a newspaper reported.

Here he is referenced in Sept 2003 regarding an incident at a mosque in Karbala as published in the Christian Science Monitor.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0922/p01s03-woiq.html

September 22, 2003
The Christian Science Monitor
Ann Scott Tyson

KARBALA, IRAQ - Night was falling swiftly over the golden domes of this Shiite holy city when US soldiers manning the main police station received an urgent call: A robbery and stabbing had stirred trouble outside the Imam Hussein Mosque, and the newly trained Iraqi police needed backup.

The Americans knew the mosque area was off-limits to their troops - so did the thieves, arms merchants, and drug dealers who frequented the surrounding marketplace. Still, the situation sounded dire, so they dispatched a dozen US military police in four Humvees.

As the American MPs neared the mosque, which was thronged with evening worshipers, some Iraqis began shouting at them to leave. Rumors spread that the soldiers would violate the holy shrine. A hostile crowd of hundreds began pelting the Americans with rocks and bricks, denting the Humvees and smashing their windshields. Meanwhile, the 70 Iraqi police fled the scene on foot.

Surrounded in their vehicles, the MPs attempted to back down the street. They were still inching backwards, the soldiers say, when two Iraqis from the crowd opened fire and hit one MP, Staff Sgt. Carlos Lopez, in his right middle finger. Sergeant Lopez managed to shoot back with his pistol, killing the gunman. Firing into the air with a machine gun to keep the crowd at bay, the soldiers finally turned the Humvees and withdrew. At least one other Iraqi was wounded in the fray.

"It could have been a real bloodbath," says Capt. Leo Merck of the Army National Guard's 870th Military Police Company, which responded to the call in late July. Days of violent anti-US protests followed. Men slashing themselves with swords and wearing black suicide bomber vests marched through Karbala, long considered one of the most peaceful cities in postwar Iraq.

And finally here he is referenced again in the WP in reference to Karbala Station and intervening and ordering an Iraqi woman accused of killing her husband out of jail...hmmmm seems this guy was moved from the Karbala prison system to Abu Ghraib, WONDER WHY?????

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:_C2nTXt3nhgJ:www.iraqfoundation.org/news/2003/isept/12_jail.html+Capt.+Leo+Merck+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

He went to his company commander, Capt. Leo Merck, to ask his permission to have them released. "Normally we don't get involved, but she had a kid. It was different circumstances," said La Jeunesse, who added that he had seen female prisoners languish for months in jail because they had no money to hire a lawyer or because a male relative had not come for them. Iraqi police were reluctant to release both women, so the mother stayed in jail while Kamil reported to the police station each day at 9 a.m. to try to resolve the case.

[rumguy]

1. they put some real fucking winners in charge over there

Good one Rummy...

[Carni]

2. I find it very interesting that he must have been at both prisons

I didn't include all three dates but they are in the linked articles.