Sad to say, but it looks like the let's-have-the-stomach-for-atrocities crowd has found kind of a trial-run poster boy. Max Boot in the New York Times is cheering for this guy:
Our military - which is court-martialing an Army lieutenant colonel who fired his pistol into the air to scare an Iraqi suspect into divulging details of an imminent attack - may simply be too Boy Scoutish for the rougher side of the war.
David Hackworth is also supporting this defendant:
U.S. Army conventional brass, in their infinite wisdom, are about to throw the book at a good soldier for doing what savvy combat leaders have done since before the invention of gunpowder: deep-six the regs to protect the troops and win fights.
According to a 4th Infantry Division staff weenie, battalion skipper Lt. Col. Allen B. West violated the Rules of Interrogation - designed by a platoon of legal beagles far removed from the Iraqi killing fields of the Sunni Triangle, where West and his soldiers have been slugging it out since Saddam Hussein disappeared.
West's sin was firing two pistol shots into the air and ground while questioning an Iraqi police officer who was aiding local terrorists and putting West's soldiers in their cross-hairs on a regular basis.
In my outfit, West would have gotten a pat on the back and been told to press on. But even though the double-crossing turncoat spilled his guts - enabling West's unit to ambush the ambushers - West is looking at serious slammer-time if found guilty by court-martial.
(For good background on Hackworth, see this profile from Salon.com.)
This particular incident doesn't involve an atrocity. But we may wind up seeing more serious incidents prosecuted before the Iraq and Afghan Wars are over. The fact that this guy is becomin a hero of sorts for some people is probably a sign ofwhat we'll see if charges are brought over actual atrocities.
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