Monday, December 15, 2008
Silverman A Firsthand Report From Afghanistan by the Scene's P.J. Tobia
Posted by Jack Silverman on Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:58 AM
In yesterday's Washington Post, Scene staff writer P.J. Tobia provides a gripping eyewitness account of a U.S. military hearing in Afghanistan involving the abuse of detainees suspected of being Taliban operatives.
Tobia went to Afghanistan to get a firsthand look at the challenges facing U.S. troops there. Though he had no idea he would happen upon an Article 32 inquiry (the military justice equivalent of a grand jury hearing), it provided him the perfect opportunity to explore the impossible situations U.S. soldiers must deal with as they walk the fine line between all-out war and nation-building. And the dozens of heated reader comments suggest that he really struck a nerve.
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Thank you and PJ Tobia for bringing this to life. Everyone should be contacting their elected officials to protest the scapegoating of Capt. Hill, 1st Sgt. Scott and other brave soldiers.
As always the Army wants to pin the blame on low-level soldiers. Why weren't their terrorist detainees accepted by the batallion? Why weren't they given proper support? Why is their chain of command hanging them out to dry?
Are we really trying to suggest that holding these terrorist detainees past a deadline and saying mean things to them and trying to scare them is "war crimes"? Do a search on war crimes and come back and tell me what you find. This is a national shame.
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Posted by
Bari
on 12/18/2008 at 7:49 AM
