Posted on 05/03/2005 5:43:15 AM PDT by shortstop
She shouldn’t spend a day in jail.
Pfc. Lynndie England.
Somebody should give her a stern talking to, dock her a couple of week’s pay and kick her out of the Army.
And then she should go back to her trailer in West Virginia and disappear into the woodwork.
But no way should she go to jail.
You know who she is. She’s the ugly female soldier holding the leash, the idiot with the cigarette pointing to the family jewels of some naked Iraqis.
They had her in court yesterday and had her plead guilty to seven counts of nonsense. Two counts of conspiring to mistreat prisoners, four counts of actually mistreating a prisoner and one count of committing an indecent act.
And for this she’s on the line for as many as 11 years in Fort Leavenworth.
Which isn’t right.
Sure, she’s an idiot. No doubt she’s poor white trash. Probably doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together.
But she’s nothing more than a scapegoat, some low-ranking nobody offered up as a blood sacrifice to appease the media gods. They want somebody to pay and, dammit, somebody’s going to pay.
Guilty or not.
But this chick’s not guilty of anything but being dumb. Which is not something you go to prison for.
First of all, let’s remember what was done and who it was done to.
In the pictures involving Private First Class England, there are some naked Iraqis, some of whom seem to be making a human pyramid, others of whom are standing against a wall, one or two of whom are wearing leashes.
Which is pretty scandalous.
But a hell of a lot better than getting your head cut off.
And I will remind you that the men pictured with this woman were all suspected terrorists, jihad boys intent on killing Americans by the busload.
I will also remind you that virtually all of those suspected terrorists are free now. They’ve been released. They fought against the United States and they get to walk free. The soldiers who teased them are going to spend a decade in prison.
Which is pretty screwed.
My mother told me: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
Same goes for posing naked like the UCLA glee club.
Ditto for the leash.
It’s not a whole bunch of fun, but it doesn’t make you bleed, bruise or die. You get up the next morning with nothing injured but your pride.
And I don’t think Americans should have to go to prison for injuring Muslim pride.
Anyway, there’s no way this lowly private deserves prison time. That prison was run by a one-star general who seems to have been completely incompetent to command. Supervision was non-existent and good order and discipline were unknown.
To me, it is inconceivable that a specialist and a few privates would be in charge of Abu Ghraib prison at night. I just cannot imagine how somebody could mess with all those prisoners and there not be a single sergeant or officer aware of it. I simply do not believe that some ill-trained backwater Reservists of such meager rank could do what they did unsupervised.
But the only ones in trouble are some nobodies.
It’s not right.
Especially for this England chick.
She was 20 at the time, beaucoup thousand miles away from home, under the direction of a far-older soldier who outranked her. If you’re an E-3 and an E-4 hands you a leash – especially if he’s a prison guard in the civilian world – and he tells you to hold onto it, you hold onto it.
That’s just how it is.
It’s not the brightest thing in the world, it’s the wrong thing, but it is what it is – and nothing more. Nobody got hurt, nobody got killed, nobody got anything more than inconvenienced.
So you chew her out, and give her an Article 15. And if you are really ticked off, you discharge her.
But you don’t send her to prison.
And I’d like to point out one more reason why not.
It’s her chest.
No, not her build. Her ribbons.
If you see some more video of her today, look at the service ribbons on, as you look at her, the right side of her chest. There are, by my count, eight of them. Two rows of three and one row of two.
That’s pretty good for a young soldier.
That’s pretty good for any soldier.
That means she did her duty, and apparently did a pretty good job at it.
And that ought to count for something.
It ought to count for something that she was overseas on combat duty while the rest of us were back home watching on TV. While all the media types and the angry senators and the so-called experts were safe on their fat behinds stateside, this 20-year-old girl was answering her nation’s call and doing her duty.
She left her life behind, she put on the uniform and she went to a war zone, where she was put in a prison to watch over men who wanted more than anything to kill an American.
And we’re going to lynch her because she didn’t do it exactly right.
I say that’s nuts.
She doesn’t deserve to go to prison.
And I hope the military court agrees.
I hope the military court doesn’t make her a scapegoat.
It’s her chest.
No, not her build. Her ribbons.
Is it just me, or did no one else notice her chest either.
Crap!
Do you have a working link to this?
"If you see some more video of her today, look at the service ribbons on, as you look at her, the right side of her chest. There are, by my count, eight of them. Two rows of three and one row of two."
The Army gives medals away; I received twelve of them for two years' service (including one year in 'Nam).
She dishonored the Army.
Has anyone else wondered how dog leashes got to Iraq? She didn't have her family send them to her. hmmm...Perhaps someone else above her provided them?
"Has anyone else wondered how dog leashes got to Iraq?"
The Army has K-9 units.
Bye bye Lyndie...enjoy your time in Leavenworth. You deserve it toots!
Miss England was enjoying herself far too much.
Another reason women should not be in a combat zone or even anywhere near.
These junior soldiers are getting railroaded. They were carrying out someone else's policy.
I had 8 by the time I was 20 also. Read the list and tell me the Air Force (and probably the Army) doesn't hand these out like candy:
AF Basic Training Ribbon
AF Expert Marksmanship Ribbon
National Defense Medal
AF Longevity award
AF Outstanding Unit Award (twice)
SE Asia Campaign Medal (twice)
AF Achievement Medal
AF Good Conduct Medal
NSDQ
Er... maybe in the standard supplies for military K-9 units?
No surprise that the Air Force is as generous as the Army--the USAF was originally part of the Army.
I met a Marine who served in 'Nam--he had a Silver Star, a Good Conduct Medal, and a National Defense Service Medal, and that was IT.
It's not a leash. It's a teather, and they are used on prisoners who have a tendency to run around.
I disagree with Lonsberry, but it is only a matter of degree.
This young lady should receive a bcd special, spend 6 mos in the stockade at Ft Knox, and then get to go home to W. Va.
She admitted everything, and the truth is that what was done is taught AGAINST in every military school she ever went to. I guarantee it. I used to teach these things.
However, mitigating against this is the consistent belief on the part of these soldiers that what they were doing was "approved of" or even "encouraged" for purposes of interrogration. I believe they grossly distorted something that WAS told them, but the bottom line is that no one was killed, no one was injured.
Therefore, a bcd special for behavior detrimental to morale, which it definitely was.....detrimental to her entire unit and to her nation.
Sorry...your pathetic plea for her release falls on
deaf ears.
Besides being a poor excuse for a military woman, The gal showed absolutely NO self-pride, moral stamina, or decency
as an American soldier. She understood when she joined
the service that she was to uphold the code of conduct
written in the handbook of the U.S. Military. She screwed
up in many ways, not the least of which was getting pregnant and having her picture taken in various poses
of disreputable activity. She wasn't just snapped with
that leash in her hand. At one point she held a bottle of
booze, climbed aboard the pyramid, and Lord only knows
what other disgusting ventures she indulged in that we
have not been shown on the news/internet. She might be
able to plead "they made me do it" to ONE picture...but
NOT to multiples. She was playing the "good time out
with the boys" and enjoyed every minute of it! Forget
that plea that she didn't know the pictures would catch
up with her as an embarrassment to her family and friends.
Even a 4-year old knows pictures are "memory moments" and
they don't get tossed into the garbage. Sometimes, as
in this case, the garbage rises up to slap you in the
face.
Nope. England has noone to blame but herself. As
for those ribbons, she may well have bought them for
favors rendered...in the line of duty!
NO sympathy here. Throw the book at her as a deterrent
to other slugs that sign up to escape a rotten home life.
I'd like to hear her side of the story before forming an opinion. When I was a Pfc in the army there was nobody lower on the food chain than me ... she had to have been taking orders from someone and had lots of help.
I agree. This would be a very fair sentance. Given the nature of her crimes, 11 years is complete overkill. She needs to be punished, and put out of service yesterday with a swift Kiwi assist to the 4th point of contact. Her actions were a complete disgrace to the honor and integrity of the military.
But 11 years in Leavenworth for acting like a punk kid instead of a soldier? Absurd.
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