Soldiers allegedly used electrical cord in Iraqi general's death

[Barrett808]

Soldiers allegedly used electrical cord in Iraqi general's death
posted by: Dan Viens (Web Producer)
Created: 10/6/2004 6:48 AM MDT - Updated: 10/6/2004 6:48 AM MDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Four Fort Carson soldiers accused of killing an Iraqi general last year allegedly used an electrical cord to help kill him, according to charging documents in the case.

Chief Warrant Officers Lewis E. Welshofer Jr., Jefferson L. Williams, Sgt. 1st Class William J. Sommer and Spc. Jerry L. Loper were charged with murder and dereliction of duty on Monday in the death of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush last November.

According to another document -- a Pentagon report given to Congress in June -- the soldiers allegedly put Mowhoush inside a sleeping bag and then bound him to prevent him from moving.

One of the warrant officers sat on Mowhoush's chest as he was interrogated and then Mowhoush was rolled over and the officer sat on his back, the report said. According to the document, Mowhoush died as the officer sat on his back.

A death certificate issued in May said Mowhoush died of asphyxiation.

(a bit more)

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=6e486323-0abe-421a-005c-64ce6109b520&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[RebelYell]

1. Sickening

They have no sense of right and wrong or even a conscience. Isn't that the definition of a psychopath?

[daleo]

2. The pressure must have been on to find Bush's WMD

I am not excusing this behavior, but it seems reasonable to infer that this Iraqi was expected to know something about the supposed weapons of mass destruction. He had no beans to spill, but they pressured him so hard trying to get the non-existent information that they killed him in the process. In that sense it was a political murder.

[UpInArms]

3. it is not limited to a "few bad apples"

this entire debacle is rotted from the head down.

http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,36%257E11676%257E2157003,00.html

excerpt:

The deaths include the killing in November of a high-level Iraqi general who was shoved into a sleeping bag and suffocated, according to the Pentagon report. The documents contradict an earlier Defense Department statement that said the general died "of natural causes" during an interrogation. Pentagon officials declined to comment on the new disclosure.

Another Iraqi military officer, records show, was asphyxiated after being gagged, his hands tied to the top of his cell door. Another detainee died "while undergoing stress technique interrogation," involving smothering and "chest compressions," according to the documents.

Details of the death investigations, involving at least four different detention facilities including the Abu Ghraib prison, provide the clearest view yet into war-zone interrogation rooms, where intelligence soldiers and other personnel have sometimes used lethal tactics to try to coax secrets from prisoners, including choking off detainees' airways. Other abusive strategies involve sitting on prisoners or bending them into uncomfortable positions, records show.

"Torture is the only thing you can call this," said a Pentagon source with knowledge of internal investigations into prisoner abuses. "There is a lot about our country's interrogation techniques that is very troubling. These are violations of military law."

...more...

here's the original release from our military:

http://www.cjtf7.army.mil/media-information/november2003/031127a.htm

raqi General Dies Of Natural Causes

AL QAIM, Iraq – Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, of the Mahalowi tribe, an air defense general officer under the former regime, died this morning during an interview with U.S. forces.

Mowhoush said he didn’t feel well and subsequently lost consciousness. The soldier questioning him found no pulse, then conducted CPR and called for medical authorities. A surgeon responded within five minutes to continue advanced cardiac life support techniques, but they were ineffective. According to the on-site surgeon it appeared Mowhoush died of natural causes.

The Coalition Forces are cooperating with local Sheiks and Imams to properly treat and transfer the body to their control while verifying the cause of death. The death of Major General Mowhoush is currently under investigation

Releases #031127a

I weep for the loss of my country. These people and I have nothing in common - not even the soil that they "vowed" to protect.

[psychopomp]

8. When you put the press release next to the original article

the impact is profound; the guilt in this is not that of one man's death alone, but of an apparatus of deciet and death that does not bode well for our "freedom cause" nor for our freedom at home.

[saracat]

4. Another example of our complete lack of respect for the "enemy".

Can you imagine if this was an American General? But somehow Iraqi General's aren't "real". The General certainly would have been covered by the Geneva Convention. Because of his rank alone there should be a huge outcry. No wonder Bush is afraid of the International Court.

[Judi Lynn]

5. What's a life worth, anyway if the man's not a Republican W.A.S.P.?n/t

[AlCzervik]

6. Was this the same guy that when he died

they said it was of natural causes?

[Blue_Tires]

7. this is starting to get ridiculous...

SOP for today's military, i guess

[K. F. Gibbons]

9. Bush made us the bad guys.

[Duncan Grant]

10. Torture: Just tell us what we want to hear and we'll let you go...

Here's a nightmare that won't end for generations. Nothing destroys your credibility like this type of brutality.

Hasn't it been accepted that torture doesn't provide the interrogators 'truth' but rather provides only what you want to hear?

[gratuitous]

11. Okay, crush him to death, bound in a sleeping bag

And that's "asphyxiation" or "natural causes" (as in it's natural to die when you can't breathe). Anyone want to guess the cause of death when the report says "lead poisoning"?

This is just sickening and wrong on so many levels. Next time the military tells me how much they're fightin' for my freedom, do you think anyone would be offended if I just said, "No thanks"?