U.S. Army Officer Convicted in Death Of Iraqi Detainee

[orangikan]

The fog of war drifts on! We put these guys in hellish decision making positions, and then leave them dangling in the wind!

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 23, 2006; Page A02

An Army interrogator who stuffed an uncooperative Iraqi general into a sleeping bag during questioning in northern Iraq in 2003 was convicted of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty late Saturday after a military jury in Colorado decided the general's death was not murder.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr., 43, was on trial for allegedly killing Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, a high-ranking Saddam Hussein loyalist who was believed to have been fueling the Iraqi insurgency in the Qaim area near the Syrian border. Mowhoush died while bound in the Army sleeping bag, which was part of an aggressive interrogation tactic aimed at getting the general to talk.

During his week-long court-martial in Colorado Springs, Welshofer testified that he used the sleeping bag after other attempts to elicit information from Mowhoush failed, and that he believed the "claustrophobic" technique had been approved by his commanders as a "stress position," according to reports by the Associated Press and trial observers with Human Rights First.

Welshofer's supervisor, Army Maj. Jessica Voss, testified that she approved the use of the sleeping bag but was unaware that Welshofer would bind the general with a cord or straddle his chest while questioning him.

The Army believed Mowhoush had met with Hussein after the United States invaded Iraq and had financed insurgent attacks; he was a huge catch for U.S. troops in November 2003. But Mowhoush proved to be very stubborn, and several attempts over two weeks of interrogations at a facility known as the "Blacksmith Hotel" yielded little information.

According to court testimony and classified accounts of his treatment obtained by The Washington Post, Mowhoush was subjected to harsh beatings by a secret group of Iraqi paramilitaries, code-named Scorpions, who worked with the CIA. One witness who testified behind a curtain during Welshofer's trial was accidentally identified as having worked with the CIA, and witnesses also described how Mowhoush was beaten so badly by the Iraqi natives that he had a hard time breathing and could not walk on his own.

The case not only exposed the secret CIA group but also revealed how U.S. officials were giving unclear guidance regarding interrogation methods during a frustrating part of the war, including at least one message from Baghdad telling interrogators that the "gloves are coming off" and asking for interrogation-technique wish lists. The sleeping-bag technique was one Welshofer wanted to use and one for which he sought approval.

"What he was doing he was doing in the open, and he was doing it because he believed the information in fact would save lives," said Frank Spinner, Welshofer's civilian defense attorney, according to the AP. Spinner added that he was disappointed with the verdict. "The verdict recognizes the context in which these events took place. It was a very difficult time in Iraq. There was confusion, and they were not getting clear guidance from headquarters."

David Danzig, manager of Human Rights First's "End Torture Now" campaign and a trial observer, wrote in a daily court-martial blog that Welshofer was trying to sort out guidance from superiors in Baghdad while coming up with interrogation tactics that went beyond outdated Cold War thinking.

"They recognized that what we practiced in the schoolhouse was not working," Danzig quoted Welshofer's testimony. "They were looking for ideas outside the box."

That Welshofer was spared a murder conviction -- and a potential life sentence -- indicates that the jury believed Welshofer did not try kill Mowhoush, but that he should have known the tactic he used could lead to death. Mowhoush stopped breathing during the interrogation, and attempts to revive him failed. The negligent-homicide conviction could result in a maximum three-year prison sentence, and the negligent-dereliction-of-duty conviction an additional three months. Sentencing hearings are to begin today.

Maj. Tiernan Dolan, who prosecuted the case, said that the treatment Welshofer imposed on Mowhoush "could fairly be described as torture" and that he "treated that general worse than you would treat a dog," knowing that he had an obligation to treat the detainee humanely, the AP reported.

Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson L. Williams, an intelligence analyst, and Spec. Jerry L. Loper, a guard, had murder charges against them dropped and received immunity to testify against Welshofer. A fourth soldier, Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer, also had a murder charge dropped and faces possible administrative punishment. All three were present during the interrogation that led to Mowhoush's death. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012100251.html

[Diverlady]

So should the German government have saved the SS officers who committed crimes harmless? No! this idiot should go to jail and in all honesty based on what I have read about it he should be there for Murder as well. Sitting alongside him should be some of the senior officers who ineptly managed or perhaps even directed the interrogation processes.

No put him in jail for a very long time and reform the system. torture is unacceptable at any time for any reason.

[orangikan]

Originally Posted by Diverlady

So should the German government have saved the SS officers who committed crimes harmless? No! this idiot should go to jail and in all honesty based on what I have read about it he should be there for Murder as well. Sitting alongside him should be some of the senior officers who ineptly managed or perhaps even directed the interrogation processes.

No put him in jail for a very long time and reform the system. torture is unacceptable at any time for any reason.

Comparing this guy to the SS is idiotic. Next you'll compare the BA with the Nazi party!
Here are my problems with the verdict:

1. CIA operatives and Sp. Ops people do this all the time without sanction (unless, of course, they do it publically). It is hypocritical to allow one sector of our "forces" to do so with impunity and punish the other. The article even talks of how a CIA trained bunch of Iraqis practically beat the guy to death. Who is holding them to account? No-one because they do it without getting caught and are essentially allowed to do so, just as the Israeli M.I.'s were.

2. These guys are under tremendous pressure to get results. They are taught how to use "stress positions" and encouraged to do so by their superiors, who then turn away when their students go overboard. In this case they had a top General who they thought had worked with Saddam and the insurgency, and I am damn sure that he was told to get information ASAP.

3. So called "torture" is not as cut and dry an affair when most U.S. M.I.'s use it, as it is in some third world country. Many M.I.'s use so called "stress" to get information, as they have been taught to do. This guy wasn't just following orders he was following protocol and went too far.

If you want to blame anyone, go after the people who devise these methods and pass them off as "going by the book." When a pilot drops a bunker buster on hapless citizens, because he was told the target was military, he is not court-martialled!

We are going to get more and more of these trials, and we need to separate out those who sadistically torture and those who are told to do their duty.
Like it or not War is not sanitary and soldiers often go beyond "civil" when under stress. I have no doubt that our G.I.'s are routinely wounding/killing hapless citizens every day in Iraq, simply because they didn't get out of the way, just as we did in Vietnam. Occupiers are placed in lose/lose positions!
Ask any Israeli soldier!

[Snouter]

Originally Posted by Diverlady

No put him in jail for a very long time and reform the system. torture is unacceptable at any time for any reason.

For argument's sake, let's go by your definition that torture is putting someone in a sleeping and sitting on him. If that "torture" reveals info that could contribute to the end of Mulsim Terrorism, would that be a good thing?

The pathetic thing is that the US government is not backing up their own soldiers when the liberal, PC establishment goes after them.

[orangikan]

Originally Posted by Snouter

The pathetic thing is that the US government is not backing up their own soldiers when the liberal, PC establishment goes after them.

Actually it's the military that's going after them, and the one Senator at the forefront of eliminating "torture" is MCcain, Rep.

[orangikan]

On Monday, a military jury ordered a reprimand and forfeiture of $6000 in pay, and restricted him to his home, office and church for two months.

[lilnymph]

Originally Posted by Snouter

For argument's sake, let's go by your definition that torture is putting someone in a sleeping and sitting on him. If that "torture" reveals info that could contribute to the end of Mulsim Terrorism, would that be a good thing?

Becareful when you hunt monsters, that you dont become a monster yourself.

Hugs

lilnymph