Another columnist is reporting on the case of confessed torturer Lt. Col. Allen B. West (via Charles Pierce at Eric Alterman's Weblog). I've mentioned this case in several previous posts:
Fans for a Soldier-Defendant (11/17/03)
The West Case - Part 1 of 2 (11/17/03)
The West Case - Part 2 of 2 (11/17/03)
The West Case (12/04/03)
The new column is by Jay Bookman, Army right to punish Lt. Col. West Atlanta Journal-Constitution 12/08/03. Bookman makes a couple of factual points that struck me. One isn't especially material, but it is a different twist. Previous accounts I had seen said that West had fired a pistol near the head of Hamoodi, the Iraqi policeman he was working over. Bookman reports: "West threatened the prisoner, first firing a pistol into the air, then holding the pistol to the policeman's head and firing a shot into the ground nearby." (my emphasis)
His description doesn't make it clear that West fired two shots. I wouldn't put too much weight on a single word. But firing the pistol near the suspect/victim's head is a different image that holding the pistol to his head and then firing it near his head. The latter implies that West touched the barrel on Hamoodi's head.
(Cont. in Part 2)
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