Bearing the Burden
National News
Submitted by WSClark
An American soldier has received a ten year sentence for negligent homicide in the deaths of three Iraqis. Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard could have been sentenced to 21 years. His defense team had argued for a reduced sentence of just one year. In arguing for a longer sentence, one of the prosecutors, Capt. William Fischbach, made the following statement: "Girouard has obliterated the good deeds of every other soldier that follows him. He wants you to think he's a good soldier, a Christian, a hero. He's none of the above."
I have very mixed feeling on this subject. While I am fully cognizant that atrocities have been committed in Iraq by US personnel, I am of the opinion that the blame lies much, much higher up the chain of command. I am not excusing Girouard, but his crimes pale in comparison to those of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bremer.
Lt. William Calley became the face of American atrocities during the Vietnam War for his actions at My Lai. While he was obviously guilty, the entire blame was placed on his shoulders and little was directed up the line. His CO, Captain Medina, was charged but acquitted. Interestingly enough, part of the My Lai cover up was the responsibility of a then Major Colin Powell.
In my view, young American servicemen and women are bearing the burden for the situation in Iraq, when in truth the blame lies with their superiors. Jailing a few soldiers does not come close to addressing the entirety of the problem.
(triple wink.)
The solution in the "Chain of Command" is to elect a new commander-in-chief, or, in dire circumstances, impeach him.
This would lead me to one of my rants in favor of reinstating the draft (under extremely different rules than that which existed "back in the day") but I shall desist on this for now. An observation: I suspect, but do not know, it might be easier to hide this type of thing in an all volunteer force than when draftees came and went. It seems, through the mists of time, the My Lai atrocities came to light initially due to some discharged draftees talking about it; I could be wrong, but that's my memory.
I, too, feel ambivalent about this. There are times when it is the fault of a few soldiers, but if the incident(s) is known by the commander, it should be handled at that point. OTOH, it could be the fault of a particular commander. Not knowing the background details makes it hard to decide just who is to blame.
That pisses me off.
From the very beginning, I have supported the troops... each and everyone of them. There have been a lot of problems with service personnel, but the bigger problem is the environment in whcih they operate.
For me, I would rather see that young Marine walk free and see Rumsfeld in Chains, than to see JUST that young man in the defendant's docket.
I do not condone it, but these factors, over time, can make any person approach a "meltdwon" and react to the perceived threat whether rightly or wrongly.
Maybe this is why the Marines have shorter tours than the Army.
War is not good for living things!
I agree that the real blame is higher up the chain, but this sends a message to troops on the ground that such murders are not acceptable and will not go unpunished. Without the support of ground troops, the commanders have no means to carry out their atrocities.
That pisses me off.
For every Lyndie England, there has to be a Captain Medina.
That has to change. After WW II, the Nazis that were executed were the brass, not the grunts.
That is what needs to happen here.
You, of course are right, but the solution will have to come from soldiers. I imagine that more and more of them will start carrying small digital recorders and cameras to verify the orders given and their actions. When recordings start showing up in courts martials and/or in the media, all hell will break loose, and commanders that give those orders will have to answer.
So, true, I can't know what it is like.
That all said, this war was ill advised on a number of levels and anyone can agree with that.
Time to bring them all home.
You are correct, RM, and that is part of my point. The commanders never suffer the consequences for sending young men and women into positions where they have to these decisions. There is overt or tacit approval and even direction from the brass, but they never take the heat when things go wrong.
I have never been in the military, so don't take my analogy the wrong way, but on a much less intensive scale, I was responsible in my working career for the actions of my subordinates. If they made a mistake, I took the blame, willingly. That was my job. I may have counseled them after the fact - sometimes very directly - but I took the public blame if they were wrong.
I do not see that happening in these situations. I see the commanders blaimg atrocities on a "few bad apples" and then walking away.
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