U.S. soldiers get off easy for crimes against Iraqis, review finds

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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/world/epaper/2005/10/02/a29a_courtmartial_1002.html

BAGHDAD — Eight-year-old Rudenah al-Hillali cried as the two American soldiers led her father into their apartment with a rifle barrel at his back and forced the family to stand in a corner at gunpoint.

"She was scared," said her father, Issam Abdul Jabbar al-Hillali, adding that the soldiers refused to let him give Rudenah water.

Al-Hillali said Army Pfc. John N. Lee and Spec. Timothy I. Barron claimed to be Marines searching for weapons. But once inside his house, he said, they used a knife to pry open a briefcase filled with money and eventually stole $2,000 in cash, silver and other valuables.

Although Army officials found some of the missing items in the soldiers' possession and they admitted to robbing houses under the guise of looking for illegal weapons, the Army dismissed the charges. In exchange, Barron said, both soldiers agreed to leave the military.

Using previously undisclosed Army records, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News found that dozens of soldiers have been accused of crimes against Iraqis since the first troops deployed for Iraq. But despite strong evidence and convictions in some cases, only a small percentage resulted in punishments nearing those that civilian justice systems routinely impose for such crimes.

[jobycom]

1. They needed a study to prove that? A fish rots from the head, and we have

no leadership to set a better example. Or to care when someone does this. Our leaders don't respect the lives of non-Americans (or even non-white Americans), so they obviously don't care about their rights or property.

The way to solve this problem is simple. A soldier who kills an unarmed civilian lying on the ground gets life in prison. Or death, if that's what the military wants. A soldier who steals gets a tougher sentence than a civilian would for the same crime. A soldier who tortures gets life, not three years. An officer who orders torture gets busted to private and sentenced to life. A Secretary of Defense who orders torture and murder gets tried for war crimes and treason by his own country, and punished as harshly as the law allows. That would help our reputation far more than Karen Hughes telling people that war is peace, and slavery is freedom.

Easy crimes to prevent, if we had leaders.

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2. One of the many reasons why Iraqis hate the US

Ive seen this repeatedly over there.