Posted on 11/28/2003 9:06:34 AM PST by Ispy4u
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army’s investigation of an officer accused of crossing the line in an attempt to get information from an Iraqi detainee is generating a grass-roots protest among some Americans who say the safety of troops trumps any temporary violation of interrogation rules.
Army Lt. Col. Allen B. West, who is assigned to the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, in Tikrit, Iraq, stands accused of actions that occurred Aug. 20, at a detainee holding site in Taji, Iraq.
Some members of Congress, meanwhile, are asking whether those rules may not be too strict in light of the all-out war on terror.
“We’re trying to bring democracy and a better way of life to [Iraq], and you don’t do that by employing terrorist tactics in reverse,” John M. McHugh, R-N.Y., said in a Tuesday telephone interview. “But how many American lives are we willing to trade for ideals?
“Maybe the days of putting someone in a comfortable chair and giving them a cigarette are over.”
In testimony during his Article 32 hearing last week, West, 42, said he had received information that Yahya Jhodri Hamoodi, an Iraqi policeman, was allegedly involved in a plot to attack him and his troops.
Article 32 investigations are pretrial proceedings that determine whether a servicemember should face court-martial.
West said he had Hamoodi brought in for questioning, but that the Iraqi would not cooperate, so West led him out of the detention facility to a weapons cleaning area, gave him to a count of five to talk, and then fired two shots near the detainee.
Hamoodi then gave information that led to the detention of additional suspects in the attack.
West said he immediately filed a report to his commanding officer, detailing the incident.
“I knew [my career] was over,” West said during the trial. “I know that the method that I used was not the right method … [but] to protect my soldiers, I’ll go to hell with a gasoline can in my hand.”
One month later, West was relieved of his command. A preliminary investigation by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division alleged that West’s actions were in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
With the Article 32 hearing concluded, the case “is now in the hands of the investigative officer,” Lt. Col. Jimmy Davis, according to Master Sgt. Robert Cargie, a spokesman for the 4th ID in Tikrit.
There are three “courses of action” Davis could recommend, Cargie said in a Monday telephone interview: dismiss the case; proceed with Article 15 charges, which are administrative, internal sanctions; or “continue to process to a court-martial.”
Davis will make his recommendation directly to the 4th ID’s commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, Cargie said.
West has been assigned administrative duties while awaiting the outcome of the investigation, Cargie said. He refused to discuss details of West’s case, citing the pending recommendation.
In a Monday e-mail from Iraq, West also declined to comment on specifics concerning his case.
“I never wanted a public event as such we have,” West wrote. “I will not open my voice until this is resolved and I stand in embrace with my wife and daughters, all that matters right now.”
He referred additional questions to his attorney, retired Marine Lt. Col. Neal Puckett, who is in Tikrit with West awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Puckett did not reply to e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.
Public debate
West’s case has caught the attention of many Americans, including several who have e-mailed Stars and Stripes with their concerns.
Typical of those e-mails was this missive from retired Air Force member Roy S. Alba II of San Antonio:
“If the United States Army wants to improve morale they should promote LTC West way ahead of his peers,” Alba wrote. “Besides providing tardy justice to West it will also say to the enemy, ‘We’re taking the gloves off so don’t screw with us!’” wrote Alba.
Alba concluded: “Nice guys finish last!”
Angela West, West’s wife of 14 years, said in a Tuesday telephone interview that she has personally received “five or six thousand” letters and e-mails regarding her husband’s predicament, and that they have been running “almost 100 percent positive.”
“People are being very supportive of him, and I’m glad,” Angela West said. “It’s a huge support base, especially [responses from] the military.”
Grass-roots support for West appears to be largely driven by the Internet, where at least two dozen Web sites and chat rooms are tackling the controversy.
Most of the sites lean conservative or are devoted to military and veteran’s issues. At least two outlets, liberty.conservativepetitions.com/petitions.php and patriotpetitions.us/colwest/, have electronic petitions prepared they say will be sent to members of Congress, the Pentagon and White House.
On the liberty conservative petition site, opened Nov. 10, 640 people had registered their signatures as of Wednesday. There is no signature count associated with the patriotpetition site.
West also has champions in Congress, including McHugh, who is chairman of the House Armed Service’s Committee’s Subcommittee on Total Force, which has jurisdiction over military personnel matters, and House Armed Service Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
Hunter and McHugh have sent two letters to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee, requesting copies of the CID report and the Article 32 hearing transcripts involving the West case.
“We’re looking for the facts,” McHugh said. “We’re not urging a specific outcome here, or suggesting that what [West] did is totally OK, [but] we are looking for justice.”
McHugh said he heard about West “six or eight weeks ago,” while listening to a talk radio show by conservative host G. Gordon Liddy.
Subsequently, “more than two dozen members [of the House] have come up to me to comment, complain about [West’s case] or demand some kind of action on it,” McHugh said, calling such numbers “surprising.”
“When you have that level of member concern, you try to respond to it,” McHugh said.
Senior Army officials at the Pentagon will not discuss the West case, spokesman Maj. Steve Stover said Monday, “because we want to avoid undue command influence” on the outcome of the hearing.
View from the Hill
It’s difficult to say whether the congressional interest will help or harm West, according to attorney Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington.
“The value of congressional inquiries [into military justice cases] is not very clear,” Fidell said in a Monday telephone interview. “They often prove perfunctory, or worse yet, can backfire and harm the person that they are seeking to help,” because military officials resent the interference.
McHugh, however, said that while the West case “is obviously important for Colonel West, there are a number of larger, legitimate questions here” about the use of force in interrogations.
“We’re concerned about the longer-term implications,” McHugh said. “The challenge is that there are far too many detainees who don’t take us seriously.
“No one is saying we should engage in wholesale beatings and intimidation, but this is a new era,” he said. “The question we might ask ourselves is, within the bounds of humane treatment, should we be a little less strict” regarding the rules of interrogations?
Angela West agreed.
“There’s a bigger picture here,” she said. “We’re really not getting information from these guys (the Iraqis).”
“If [West’s] actions prevented four [soldiers’] lives from being lost, then I wish their families a great Thanksgiving,” Angela West said.
Seems to me there is more emotion than truth driving the petitions.
I don't see how he can remain in the military without a total policy change regarding treatment of POWs and detainees.
If he's called by Senators Inhofe and Warner to testify about Quislings and defeatist REMFs undermining the ability of our combat troops to protect their own lives, and he's given full community immunity from prosecution, I'd expect that would do it.
Not so. He deserves the Soldiers Medal.
3-12. Soldier's Medal
a. The Soldier's Medal, section 3750, title 10, United States Code (10 USC 3750) was established by Act of Congress 2 July 1926.
b. The Soldier's Medal is awarded to any person of the Armed Forces of the United States or of a friendly foreign nation who, while serving in any capacity with the Army of the United States, distinguished himself or herself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. The same degree of heroism is required as for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. The performance must have involved personal hazard or danger and the voluntary risk of life under conditions not involving conflict with an armed enemy. Awards will not be made solely on the basis of having saved a life.
Oh, wait! I just heard the news it's 55 dead Fedayyeen - 5 wounded soldiers.
Oh yeah, West definitely without a doubt, no questions asked, saved lives! Of Iraqi insurgents!
And meanwhile, during the month of November, more American troops were killed than in any of the previous months since President Bush declared the direct hostilities concluded, and we entered this occupation/ counterinsurgency phase of the campaign.
And why shouldn't Saddam's terrorists continue their attacks? After all, they have Americans like you making sure that other officers won't be taking effective measures against them, and otherwise giving them aid and comfort.
-archy-/-
I guess your point is we should just give up now since we lost 78 in November? No really Arch, what are you getting at? I guess that we shouldn't have even bothered to fight back against the ambush yesterday, after all because of this LTC West thing our 4th ID guys' morale is obvoiously broken. I posted the info about the ambush because whiners like you said that the morale of 4th ID would be crushed. Well for a crushed morale those guys kicked the livin crap out of the Fedayeen Saddam!
After all, they have Americans like you making sure that other officers won't be taking effective measures against them, and otherwise giving them aid and comfort.
I had almost forgotten why I offered before to give you a short class on the differences between officer and enlisted. Keep talking trash, you whiner!
.
West fails to meet the criteria for the soldier's medal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.