No jail time for murderer

This article seems to demonstrate how the U.S. military treats murderers within its ranks when there are political consequences for a conviction. For whatever reasons, the Pentagon had to pretend to take this case somewhat seriously - I guess cause the victim was a general. I was going to let this all-too-typical article pass, but the info was just a little too shocking to let slip - even for someone like me who expects the worst of the U.S. military:

“I deeply apologize if my actions tarnished the soldiers serving in Iraq,” Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. said at his sentencing hearing.

Apologize to the victim's family? What victim? I'm the victim here!

Prosecutors said Welshofer put a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, sat on his chest and used his hand to cover the general’s mouth while questioning him at a detention camp in Iraq in 2003.

Prosecutors said the general suffocated.

It's almost surprising when you think about it. Stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag - a grown man sitting on your chest - while at the same time covering your mouth with their hand? That led to suffocation? Who'd a thunk it?

I love it how the last quoted sentence above is put in the passive voice - so as to assure Americans that we're not letting loose our soldiers over there to act on their most base, horrific, animalistic, sexual, violent, sadistic urges. It was all, you see, an accident. The guy covering his mouth didn't mean to suffocate him - he'd actually planned to torture and fuck him for a few more weeks - but wouldn't you know it - the ol' general just couldn't take it. The guy sitting on the general's chest - well, you see, Halliburton is not very good at getting supplies to the troops - and some of those supplies are chairs - there was no place else to sit, you see.

Here's the wife talking about the righteousness of her husband's decision to contest the charges against him:

“I love him more for fighting this,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “He’s always said that you need to do the right thing, and sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing to do.”

Now, I have to admit, if I'd pulled some sadistic shit like this I'd probably try to mount a defense, too, but the blubbering by the wife of a killer is really a little too much for this peacenik. There was no representation from the victim's family?

Earlier, Lt. Col. Paul Calvert, testifying on Welshofer’s behalf, said attacks by Iraqi insurgents around the western Iraqi city of al Qaim, the area where Mowhoush was taken into custody, “went to practically none” after Mowhoush died.

Let me guess - the prosecution didn't bother running down this cooked up 'evidence', right?

In any case, whether true or not, the implication is clear - we murdered a general, thus, we saved the lives of American GI's.

Prosecutor Maj. Tiernan Dolan did not question the assertion but suggested Mowhoush’s death probably denied coalition forces valuable information.

The prosecutor didn't rebut the testimony about the lowered attack rate? Nawwwww.

And I love the prosecutor's take on why murder is a bad thing - not because it's immoral and against the fucking law (UCMJ), but because murdering this particular fellow before we'd tortured the last bit of unreliable information out of him prevented us from saving the lives of yet more American GI's. In fairness, I guess he had to offer something in an attempt to actually, you know, prosecute this case.

Dolan did not call any witnesses at the sentencing hearing.

Really? That's such a surprise. I wonder if Dolan got confused during the trial and thought he was working for the defense? Just asking.

Oh - and a surprise - simulating drowning - aka, waterboarding! How awesome is that?!

The Third Reich ain't got nuttin on us, suckas!

Of course, it is our war criminal leaders who deserve to rot in jail - not these poor sadistic schleps doing the grunt work of suckin and fuckin and beatin and torturin and maimin and killin. This dude is just another peon in the modern war state that is today's America.

And I have no idea what kind of pressure the judge and prosecutor were under to let this case slide - I suspect a lot. Doesn't make it right, of course, I'm just acknowledging that things can be different than they appear to the casual observer.