i sta' hok'shila

Despite recommendations by Army investigators, commanders have decided not to prosecute 17 American soldiers implicated in the deaths of three prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, according to a new accounting released Friday by the Army. Investigators had recommended that all 17 soldiers be charged in the cases, according to the accounting by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. The charges included murder, conspiracy and negligent homicide. While none of the 17 will face any prosecution, one received a letter of reprimand and another was discharged after the investigations. To date, the military has taken steps toward prosecuting some three dozen soldiers in connection with a total of 28 confirmed or suspected homicides of detainees. The total number of such deaths is believed to be between 28 and 31.In one of the three cases in which no charges are to be filed, the commanders determined the death to be "a result of a series of lawful applications of force." In the second, the commanders decided not to prosecute because of a lack of evidence. In the third, they determined the soldier involved had not been well informed of the rules of engagement.

The best example of this case is the one where soldiers hung a guy by the neck with a baton causing fatal injuries to his trachea. This was determined to have been lawful application of force because the prisoner had been resistance and not compliant to their requests. REally!! That is how they put it. Since it takes at least two guys to do this, plus a couple of others who have to help with the interrogation, four on one was not sufficient to control or restrain the subject. Must be the Rodney King verdict, the twinkies defense. One iraqi military officer was so huge and overpowering that his resistance during questioning required him to be lawfully executed by breaking his trachea. Sounds perfectly reasonable.. if you are living in latin america w/ death squads or in asia under the indonesian military or in africa in darfur. But does it really sound reasonable in the behavior of US citizens. I think not.