by TChris

Having heard the evidence, a military investigating officer must decide whether to recommend that four U.S. soldiers be court-martialed for murdering three Iraqi detainees. The defense attorneys argued that the soldiers were within their rights to kill the detainees as they tried to escape. Prosecutors countered that the soldiers cut the plastic straps that were binding the hands of the detainees in a deliberate plot to kill them, using a staged escape as an excuse for murder.

One witness testified the men were shot while running blindfolded.

In his closing argument, Capt. Joseph Mackey called the soldiers "war criminals."

Hillary Clinton laced into Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at an Armed Services Committee hearing today.

Like a prizefighter, Clinton smiled and shook hands with Rumsfeld before attacking his policies. "You did not go into Iraq with enough troops," said Clinton, ticking off her grievances. "You disbanded the entire Iraqi army ... You underestimated the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian violence and the spread of Iranian influence."

" . . . You are presiding over a failed policy," she said. "Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?"

Afterwards, Hillary said Rumsfeld should quit.

[Restored from Google Cache]

(by TChris)

More deception from the Bush administration:

The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money bq. In Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, a federal audit released late Friday has found.

"Released late Friday" for obvious reasons. Let's hope the networks still view government fraud as newsworthy come Monday.

One of the contractors responsible the cost overruns is well connected to the Bush administration: Bechtel.

Saddam Hussein has been on a hunger strike since early this month. He is now hospitalized and is being force-fed.

This is also an open thread on Iraq, where the violence is growing, more people are being killed and the media is focusing almost exclusively on Israel and Lebanon.

Let's also not forget Afghanistan, where the New York Times says we are losing ground.

As many TalkLeft readers know, Terry Kindlon of Albany, NY is an outstanding criminal defense lawyer who reads and comments often on TalkLeft about military service. He was a decorated Marine during Vietnam, sustained some injuries, is married to my friend Laurie Shanks, also an outstanding defense lawyer in Albany, and their son Lee, age 30, is a captain in the Marines and a military lawyer who recently returned from Fallujah, where he also served as a Judge Advocate.

He has an op-ed in the Albany Times available here at Common Dreams, that is a must read for those who truly care about our military and soldiers.

Here's some of what Terry has to say, but go on over and read the whole thing:

Say hello to KnowWar.com

Know War is a not for profit project that aims to help us understand the reality and the impact of war. The first part of this project is seen above, a photograph of what the American death toll looks like.

In addition to the photographic memorial, Know War's mission is to generate an archive of personal testimony and reaction to war. Many of us feel fundamentally disconnected from the reality of combat. Know War aims to create a forum through which to share our experience. We seek firsthand accounts, essays, combat journals, letters home, interviews, photographs, and any of your thoughts regarding war. Please submit emails or Word documents, PDFs, JPEGs or Quicktime attachments and specify whether you request anonymity. All submissions will be posted on Know War.

Baghdad Burning is a must-read today. I can't do justice to it by paraphrasing, so please, go read.

Al Qaeda has released a video showing the mutilatied bodies of the two soldiers from the 101st kidnapped in June from Yusufiya.

In the newly-released film, the captors linked their actions directly to the rape and killing of the Iraqi girl and her family in the town of Mahmudiya. The groups said capturing and killing the soldiers was "revenge for our sister who was dishonoured by a soldier of the same brigade". The groups said capturing and killing the soldiers was "revenge for our sister who was dishonoured by a soldier of the same brigade".

Steven Green and the four other soldiers charged in the girl's rape and murder, and in the murder of her family members, as well as a 5th soldier charged with failirng to report the crimes, were all from the 101st.

Last week Steven Green was charged in federal court with the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Iraq and the murder of her family members. Four of the other alleged participants in the crime have now been charged and will face military trials. A fifth soldier faces charges of dereliction of duty.

The U.S. statement said the five soldiers still on active duty will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
One of the soldiers was charged with failing to report the attack but is not believed to have participated in it directly, the statement said.

The other day I wondered why others had not been charged in light of the allegations in the affidavit for the arrest warrant. Here's my shorter version from reading the affidavit of what allegedly took place:

by Last Night in Little Rock

Suddam Hussein's lawyers (see Hussein trial blog) have complained to the International Criminal Court that the United States has committed violations of the Geneva Convention various ways that "amount to war crimes" according to a story on AFP on Yahoo.co.uk. This story will evoke universal apathy.

The AFP story mentions several violations of human rights: "'Saddam Hussein has been subjected to degrading treatment, including photographs taken of him unclothed,' it said."

More fundamental, however, is the allegation that Hussein is subject to a certain imposition of the death penalty in violation of international law and he was being denied full access to counsel and his family. Ramsey Clark, one of Hussein's eleven surviving lawyers, complains that the U.S. backed court is a show trial:

Digby on the rape of the Iraqi girl by soldiers in Iraq:

Now I know that rape has often been a common feature of war. But this isn't really a war in the classical sense. It's a hybrid war/occupation/police action/whatever and it seems to me that there is something quite sick about all the psychosexual aspects of it generally. From Gitmo to Abu Ghraib to this horrible rape and killing, it seems to me that there is a very strong desire on the part of Americans to sexualize and feminize the enemy. Maybe it's always been this way. I'm no expert. I can't help but remember Rush Limbaugh's reaction to the Abu Ghraib scandal; he was so excited that "the babes" were meting out the torture and he clearly thinks forced sexual humiliation as all in good fun. There is just something very odd about all this. I wonder if someone is studying it.

While only one soldier as of now is charged with the rape, as I wrote yesterday, according to the affidavit for the arrest warrant, two soldiers raped her and four went to the house, knowing what was intended. Why havent' SO12, SO13 and KP1 been charged?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn't want to answer questions of a congressional committee investigating allegations of a whistleblower at Abu Ghraib. So, Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT) has supboenaed him.

Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, is investigating allegations made by Army Spec. Samuel Provance that his attempts to provide information to investigators about prison abuses were rebuffed and that he then was retaliated against for providing unclassified information to the media.

"The bottom line is it's critical that our oversight inquiries be taken seriously by executive branch departments and that we get timely access to the information we need to do our job," Shays said. "Today we are demanding that the Department of Defense provide information that is critical to our investigation."