US officer faces legal hearing over Iraq assault

US officer faces legal hearing over Iraq assault

By Dean Yates


TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 18 — A senior U.S. officer went before a preliminary military hearing in Iraq on Tuesday over charges he beat up an Iraqi during interrogation and fired his pistol near the detained man's head.

Johnson, who was West's driver, said that after about an hour of fruitless interrogation, Hamoody was taken outside.
When the Iraqi still did not cooperate, he was forced to lean over into a sandbox which soldiers use to clear their weapons. West then fired his pistol into the box.
''He was scared, he was really scared,'' Johnson said.
Johnson said he and other soldiers also beat Hamoody around the head and body during the interrogation.
''We weren't hitting him as hard as we possibly could,'' Johnson, 20, said.
He did not say that West struck the detained man.
Asked to describe Hamoody's reaction during the beating, Johnson said: ''He was curling up in a ball.'' (snip/...)

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-18-062733.asp?reg=MIDEAST

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BBC:

(snip) ...Colonel West's driver, Private Michael Johnson, is appearing as a government witness.

He said the officer wanted information from Mr Hamoody, an Iraqi policeman, about an alleged plot to kill him.

Private Johnson told the military court: "When he was not giving information that was pleasing to the interrogator or translator, we'd use abusing tactics, mainly striking him."

He said soldiers later pushed the detainee's head into a box of sand, and Colonel West fired shots near his head.

"He was just scared," Private Johnson said of the detainee. "I knew it was wrong."

'Screaming'

An officer who questioned Colonel West after the incident told the court that the defendant had admitted to firing near Mr Hamoody's head, and that soldiers had beaten the detainee, who was shouting and screaming. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3281051.stm

I don't care if Fox News wants to jusitfy this or not.

I would be fighting these bastards if they came to my country.

but maybe if West would have just said please things would have been alright...

are you afriad of Iraqis?

Media here wont give out this info, thank Vishnu for the BBC

... and wished me luck in my future endeavors.

He is/was a nice guy, I only worked with him for a year I assume its the stress of war that caused him to do whatever it is he did. It is my understanding that the witness had potential info on a raid on West's unit.

"He is/was a nice guy, I only worked with him for a year I assume its the stress of war that caused him to do whatever it is he did. "

War does do horrible things to people, they'd do things totally out of their normal character. However, should this be a defence against what are very serious charges, possibly war crimes?

"It is my understanding that the witness had potential info on a raid on West's unit."

That is not an acceptable defence.

While the Army is prosecuting a black officer, white officers in the 4th ID are allowed to violate the Geneva Conventions.

One Brigade commander held the wife and child of a former Iraqi general as hostages, until the general surrendered, the taking of hostages is a violation of the Conventions.

Now the 4th ID is destroying the homes of family members of individuals that they suspect of being guerilla fighters, they have no
proof they just suspect, another violation of the Conventions.

The current operations are nothing more that retaliatory attacks against an oppressed people, but now it's their "liberators" who
are oppressing them.

While the rigors of combat can make people do things, it's not an excuse. Over 500,000 men and women were in a combat zone in Vietnam,
but only a small portion committed atrocities.

Blaming the rigors of combat, is as much of an excuse, as saying I was only following orders.

Maybe the fact is that the military has dehumanized the Iraqi people to the point that soldiers don't even consider them to be human. This way they don't have to worry about feeling bad about killng women and children.

I can't say for sure but I'll bet that sometime soon there will be the Iraqi version of MyLai, and with the media on its knees, it will
never come to light. But it's okay, Iraqis aren't real people, as the chain of command has obviousily been telling the troops.