Ordered to just walk away (torture)

[donsu]

http://www.oregonlive.com/special/oregonian/iraq/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1091880082213032.xml

The national guardsman peering through the long-range scope of his rifle was startled by what he saw unfolding in the walled compound below.

From his post several stories above ground level, he watched as men in plainclothes beat blind folded and bound prisoners in the enclosed grounds of the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

He immediately radioed for help. Soon after, a team of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers swept into the yard and found dozens of Iraqi detainees who said they had been beaten, starved and deprived of water for three days.

In a nearby building, the soldiers counted dozens more prisoners and what appeared to be torture devices - metal rods, rubber hoses, electrical wires and bottles of chemicals. Many of the Iraqis, including one identified as a 14-year-old boy, had fresh welts and bruises across their back and legs.

he soldiers disarmed the Iraqi jailers, moved the prisoners into the shade, released their handcuffs and administered first aid. Lt. Col. Daniel Hendrickson of Albany, Ore., the highest ranking American at the scene, radioed for instructions.

But in a move that frustrated and infuriated the guardsmen, Hendrickson's superior officers told him to return the prisoners to their abusers and immediately withdraw. It was June 29 - Iraq's first official day as a sovereign country since the U.S. invasion.
-snip-
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there was also this paragraph:

The embassy, in a written statement, said American soldiers are "compelled by the law of land warfare and core values to stop willful and unnecessary use of physical violence on prisoners.'' The U.S. soldiers involved in the incident, it said, "acted professionally and calmly to ease tensions and defend prisoners who needed help."

[Buck Rabbit]

1. This is a BIG BIG story in Oregon

This article is the headline story of todays Sunday Oregonian. It takes up two thirds of the frontpage with several pictures and two more full pages in the main section of the paper.

Oregon Guardsmen refusing Army instructions to not talk about the incident. Resentment about being ordered to give back abused detainees to their abusers by regular Army commanders.

[newyawker99]

10. Hi Buck Rabbit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[skygazer]

2. Wow

Deserves a bump

[proud patriot]

3. This story pisses me off

Here you got good American Values and they are just
stomped on ..It's a disgrace ...Hendrickson is a good
American and he did the right thing ...:grr:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Those soldiers deserve medals. The guy who ordered them out

deserves a courts-martial. As a vet, I have minimal respect for the military, but those soldiers are the best that America has to offer. Unfortunately, their bosses are the usual sludge at the top.

[Kanary]

7. Agree completely. There has to be protection of whistleblowers

and awards given.

These people will undoubtedly suffer the consequences of their integrity, and that is weakening this country, to say the least.

Kanary

[unfrigginreal]

5. Another symptom of Bush policies made for personal political gain

But Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the United States gave the Iraqis sovereignty over a country that lacked functioning institutions and faced daunting security problems.

"We didn't want to put in enough forces to defeat the insurgency," Kagan said. "Now we hand it to the Iraqis, and we're surprised at how they do it?"

The war was declared for political gain and the handover was rushed for the same reason. Kudos to the true American's, the Oregon troops, that tried to correct a fuck-up committed by the Coward in Chief.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. a kick for the troops, and a kick in the ass for the generals.

[unfrigginreal]

8. Kos has posted a link to photos of the torture...

http://oregonlive.com/galleries/news/index.ssf?iraq

What have we done?

[unfrigginreal]

9. Transcript of NPR interview with M. Francis, reporter that broke the story

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/8/8/143420/6020

or listen to the interview here:

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=07-aug-2004&segNum=5&mediaPref=RM&getAd=1

[JNelson6563]

11. The never-ending nightmare

and the never-ending shame of it. This is truly horrifying.

Julie--who looked at the pics

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Just looked at the photos. They should be on the front page

of every newspaper in the country. Along with testimonials to the brave guardsmen who stuck their necks out in the name of humanity.

[unfrigginreal]

13. CBS News video report

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/videoplayer/newVid/framesource2.html?clip=/media/2004/08/08/video634644.rm&sec=3420&vidId=3420&title=New$@$Photos$@$New$@$Abusers&hitboxMLC=eveningnews

[wellstone dem]

14. God Bless those

citizens of Oregon and the United States. Those pictures are sickening.