The Armed Liberal, who is one of the more honest and pugilistic folks in the blogosphere, threw down on the Army for letting CWO Lewis E. Welshofer, Jr., off of a murder charge and an assault charge, and convicting him of only a much lesser offense. Uncle Jimbo, former Special Forces, joins in the anger.
I saw this case come out when it first hit the wires, and I had roughly the same reaction. But I remembered something important -- I remembered all the previous times that the media has gotten the details of these things flat wrong. So, rather than post an furious lashing of the Army, I decided to wait for a MilBlogger who knew the details to pony up.
You couldn't have asked for a better one. Captain Jason van Steenwyck of the COUNTERCOLUMN turns out to have known the CWO. He's posted about it here, here, and here. His final conclusion?
The Post reporter, Josh White, clumsily tries to draw a contrast between Lynndie England and Chief Welshofer. But the difference is huge: Welshofer was acting officially, using approved techniqes when the detainee died. The Abu Ghraib gang was a bunch of board sadists who had gone off the reservation. The contrast in intent between the two is huge.If you want to know why, he tells you at length.
I still believe that capital punishment is justified for rapists, including the folks at Abu Ghraib who used flashlights instead of their organic tools. I think a reading of the UCMJ makes clear that it doesn't matter what you use -- you ought to hang.
Nevertheless, I remain impressed with the court martial as a means of getting to the truth, and a rightful punishment. The media makes it sound bad, but that's because they don't understand and don't want to understand. Thanks to the Captain, for laying it out for the rest of us.
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