3
3
0
The court of public opinion is now in session. I often wonder about what would I have done if placed in the same situation. Protect your men from harm at what cost? Had it been in Viet Nam would it ever had been brought up or even known about? The dark secrets are many, but I am not looking to hear about them. I'm not a priest. Its a woulda, coulda, shoulda thing question at most.
Posted in these groups: 
Military service
Justice
Military service Justice
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
11
11
0
1. His wrongful methods for interrogation did not actually extract any meaningful information
2. LTC West leniently received an Article 15 instead of facing a court-martial
3. LTC West was still able to retire with full benefits despite the incident being on his record
https://web.archive.org/web/ [login to see] 0044/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/world/struggle-for-iraq-interrogations-colonel-risked-his-career-menacing-detainee.html?scp=1&sq=How%20Colonel%20Risked%20His%20Career%20by%20Menacing%20Detainee%20and%20Lost&st=nyt
2. LTC West leniently received an Article 15 instead of facing a court-martial
3. LTC West was still able to retire with full benefits despite the incident being on his record
https://web.archive.org/web/ [login to see] 0044/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/world/struggle-for-iraq-interrogations-colonel-risked-his-career-menacing-detainee.html?scp=1&sq=How%20Colonel%20Risked%20His%20Career%20by%20Menacing%20Detainee%20and%20Lost&st=nyt
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: INTERROGATIONS; How Colonel Risked His Career By Menacing Detainee and...
In western Broward County, where Lt. Col. Allen B. West, 43, is preparing to start life over as a high school social studies teacher, the grass is green, the air is moist and the pressure is
(11)
(0)
8
8
0
6
6
0
No. He's every bit the scumbag he appears to be.
Being conservative not only doesn't change that, but kinda just underlines it.
Being conservative not only doesn't change that, but kinda just underlines it.
(6)
(0)
SPC Jesse Davis
This dude is unironically following me across the platform to vote down everything. Lmao what a life.
(4)
(0)
SGT (Join to see)
SPC Jesse Davis ,There is a lot of that from the right on this site. Plus they block any dissenting opinion because they can't defend their position with facts.
(5)
(0)
SPC Jesse Davis
Neither Cpt. Prickett or myself have the ability to delete comments here, so hard to see where this is really going.
(1)
(0)
6
6
0
5
5
0
About as much as I believe Geraldo Rivera wasn’t thrown out of Iraq with extreme prejudice in 2003.
In other words, no. Not at all.
In other words, no. Not at all.
(5)
(0)
4
4
0
SO, I have a couple of thoughts about this.
First, in 2003, Iraq was the Wild, Wild West. Abu Ghraib had not yet happened. Rules for interrogation existed, but they were not widely known or enforced. There was VERY much a prevailing attitude of "get it done, and don't bother me with the details." In light of that, LTC West's actions were not SO FAR off the reservation as many like to portray.
On the flip side of that, however, LTC West himself, testified that he knew what he was doing was wrong. He states that he was doing it to protect his Soldiers, but doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still the wrong thing. The most convincing - and the most horrifying - villains in the story books are the ones who believe they are the good guys. Heck, a significant portion of the terrorists LTC West was fighting against thought they were doing bad things for good reasons.
So..... Do I think that he may have been made an example of as a more easily "proveable" case to warn everyone else who was doing (or thinking about doing) similar things? Quite likely. Do I think there are PROBABLY folks out there who did worse and got less punishment, or none at all? Absolutely. But do I think he got railroaded? Absolutely not. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and chose to do it anyway.
I was in Iraq in 2003 - in intel, no less. We had an NCO who was making similarly wrongful decisions regarding interrogation methods. I reported it. I got fired. This was about 2 months before LTC West's incident.
First, in 2003, Iraq was the Wild, Wild West. Abu Ghraib had not yet happened. Rules for interrogation existed, but they were not widely known or enforced. There was VERY much a prevailing attitude of "get it done, and don't bother me with the details." In light of that, LTC West's actions were not SO FAR off the reservation as many like to portray.
On the flip side of that, however, LTC West himself, testified that he knew what he was doing was wrong. He states that he was doing it to protect his Soldiers, but doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still the wrong thing. The most convincing - and the most horrifying - villains in the story books are the ones who believe they are the good guys. Heck, a significant portion of the terrorists LTC West was fighting against thought they were doing bad things for good reasons.
So..... Do I think that he may have been made an example of as a more easily "proveable" case to warn everyone else who was doing (or thinking about doing) similar things? Quite likely. Do I think there are PROBABLY folks out there who did worse and got less punishment, or none at all? Absolutely. But do I think he got railroaded? Absolutely not. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and chose to do it anyway.
I was in Iraq in 2003 - in intel, no less. We had an NCO who was making similarly wrongful decisions regarding interrogation methods. I reported it. I got fired. This was about 2 months before LTC West's incident.
(4)
(0)
SFC Casey O'Mally
SPC (Join to see) Like I said, it was the Wild West. What he was doing seemed to work, so they weren't going to let me get in the way.
(0)
(0)
SFC Ralph E Kelley
Do the words, "I don't want to talk about it." ring a bell? If so the i know the guy.
(0)
(0)
SFC Casey O'Mally
No. This guy was bragging about how creative he was in finding ways to make people talk.
(0)
(0)
1
1
0
No he was not. He was the BN Commander and sets the climate and stage for close to a thousand soldiers. What is troubling to me is the fact this made it to legal. He either had someone in his inner circle looking to punch their own ticket or he had done as bad or worse in the past and they could not look past this one.
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google