Let's just speculate ane meet for a beer down the road because I dare not speak for JAG. Who know how this will turn out. The Nazis thought they were safe because they had broken no laws existing on the books at the time.
Deal?
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One of my sticking points with this is "what constitutes rape?"
When it comes to the rape of the soul, she's as guilty as hell (not alone but guilty I think): i'm not sure how far the military is willing to go in its definition of rape.
I hate to say this but I feel so sorry for her. I think of all the youg
malleable kids I trained and I KNOW that if I were an evil person, I could have trained this kid to do despicable things because the military structure is set up to level their mental playing field and build from there.
She still bears responsibility but oh my God, where are the people who diverted her into this direction?
Do you remember the chapter whatever kids? The ones who had no choice but to join the Army or go to jail? Our power was so great that the government could send us "bad kids" and maked them into "good kids".
I believe the converse is also true. We can take good kids and turn them into bad ones- just like the Germans did. The entire "Warrior Ethos" Program is really alarming me because of its calculated will to awaken their "inner warrior" willing to do "whatever it takes".
I don't know if you've seen this but as a former NCO, it alarms me. What I see is that they're being taught now to just kill, kill, kill- the gloves are off and let's just get knock-down dirt even with no regard for laws such as the Geneva Convention, the same laws that are striving to maintain some sort of balance in this world.
I've got one soldier I trained who refused to fire on a house where the women rushed to the windows clutching children in their arms. He refused. They ordered again. He refused. They ordered again. He finally obeyed. Now he's back at Bragg just staring at the walls; he won't even touch his own kids anymore because all he sees when they come near him is little Iraqi kids being blasted, red, from that house.
This entire thing is sick and out of hand.
Personally, I don't want to see the girl get fried. I want the people above her to be exposed and fried. She's nothing but a poor cog.
Must_B_Free (1000+ posts) Tue May-04-04 08:49 PM
Original message
The Conduct is Pervasive - it's part of the Warrior Ethos Program
Warrior Ethos, a product of Task Force Soldier, is
the concept of preparing every Soldier to close with and destroy the enemy when necessary, even if it means doing it with his or her bare
hands.http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/026404.asp -------------------------------------------------------
"The gas chamber is a beautiful place," said a smiling Sgt. 1st Class Freddie Thompson, 2nd Platoon drill sergeant. "I’ve had privates big and bad, and they’re the biggest sissies in there."
Thompson has been a drill sergeant for more than a year and is in his seventh BCT cycle. He said the gas chamber is one of the top three most memorable events for trainees in basic training, up there with the 40-foot high Treadwell Tower and qualifying with the M-16A1 rifles.
"It’s kind of along the lines of thrill-seeking," he said.
"The majority are kind of excited. It’s something you’re scared of, but it’s so scary it’s fun, and it’s so fun it’s scary."http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/031704.htm -------------------------------------------------------
The nature of missions being conducted in Iraq right now requires Soldiers to have close contact with the civilian populace, where a lack of combatives skills can be a major concern, said Maj. Jon Segars, 3rd Brigade training and operations officer.
Soldiers are taught to dominate opponents by seizing the initiative in a fight rather than reacting to enemy attacks as most civilian self-defense courses teach.
Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Brown, a Combatives School instructor, said the school is using feedback from Soldiers who were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans through after-action interviews to further develop the curriculum. For example, the Soldiers felt they weren’t prepared to deal with large numbers of detainees.
The course teaches Soldiers to fight, but it also has an indirect effect on the Soldiers, he said. It also
instills aggressiveness and confidence in the Soldier and embodies what Warrior Ethos represents, he said.
http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/032804.htm -------------------------------------------------------
"I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I stand ready to deploy, engage and destroy the enemies of the United States of America, states the Soldiers Creed. These words will subconsciously remind Soldiers and leaders they have to be comfortable with uncertainty", Simpson said.
http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/033504.htm -------------------------------------------------------
Not interested in directing a research project, rather with getting results as quickly as they can be made available, Cloy said his office uses resources from the civilian sector as well as the military.
The future force Soldier is equipped for battle, physically but also spiritually, morally and ethically, Cloy said. This Soldier is able to accept and adapt to cultural as well as environmental differences.
"We research how to teach Soldiers what they believe in Army Values and how those values work in other countries, like Iraq. We don’t teach Soldiers that in basic training:
how to deal with people who think differently," said Cloy. "The human dimension is cognitive, psychological, physiological and spiritual. It’s an attitude, a warfighter attitude. That’s why we say it’s ‘from the skin in.’"http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/036304.htm -------------------------------------------------------
Fifty percent of Drill Sergeant School is conducted in classrooms. There, candidates must learn not only what their training must produce but what priority to give motivation to fight. Because drill sergeants train new Soldiers, the huge responsibility for creating the right mindset rests solely on their shoulders.
http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/036504.htm -------------------------------------------------------
The training has made Chan ready, he said.
"The warrior in me was dormant, and it was awakened by my drill sergeants. I will fight for my country," he said.
Chan joined the Army, he said, because three of his friends and a cousin were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001.
"It was a horrible experience. If there was anything I could do, this was it," he said.
http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/021804.htm -------------------------------------------------------
This is a series about change.
How a 17-year-old from Nettleton, "Mis’sippi," is changed from a boy to a man in less than one-fourth the amount of time it will take for his unborn child to grow from an egg to a baby in his fiancee’s womb.
It’s about training warriors.
http://www-tradoc.army.mil/pao/Web_specials/WarriorEthos/023704.htm -------------------------------------------------------
"Three hundred thousand Soldiers are deployed right now and doing things not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but all over the globe. It’s incredible," Schoomaker said. "And these people are operating on intent. I’ve been there, looked them in the eye. And what I recognize is what I’ve seen many, many times over:
a degree of will, the ability to kill and the kinds of things we have got to be able to do on the battlefield to win."The Army’s plan is to have Warrior Ethos totally embedded into every Soldier by Fiscal Year 2006. This includes making it part of basic and AIT for new Soldiers, and potentially part of the Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation System and Officer Evaluation System as well. By implementing Warrior Ethos worldwide, the Army will enhance the warrior spirit in the world’s greatest fighting force, enabling Soldiers to be more ready to fight and win anytime, in any conditions, anywhere in the world. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1530692#1535180Look for Kevin Byrnes and Warrior Ethos.
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Must_B_Free (1000+ posts) Mon May-03-04 12:47 AM
Response to Original message
39. Here's some coincidental strategy branding regarding Fallujah
Edited on Mon May-03-04 01:43 AM by Must_B_Free
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1102940,00.html Tuesday December 9, 2003
The Pentagon did not return calls seeking comment, but a military planner, Brigadier General Michael Vane, mentioned the cooperation with Israel in a letter to Army magazine in July about the Iraq counter-insurgency campaign.
"We recently travelled to Israel to glean lessons learned from their counterterrorist operations in urban areas," wrote General Vane, deputy chief of staff at the army's training and doctrine command.
"When we turn to anyone for insights, it doesn't mean we blindly accept it," Col Peters said. "But I think
what you're seeing is a new realism. The American tendency is to try to win all the hearts and minds. In Iraq, there are just some hearts and minds you can't win. Within the bounds of human rights, if you do
make an example of certain villages it gets the attention of the others, and attacks have gone down in the area."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3702655 /
Dec. 13, 2003
JERUSALEM - In fighting insurgents in Iraq, the United States is drawing on some of Israel’s methods and experiences in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including running checkpoints and tracking militants with drone aircraft, Israeli officials say.
Israeli and U.S. security experts have met repeatedly in recent months to discuss urban warfare and Israel’s lessons from its grueling three-year fight against Palestinian militants
Israeli expert predicts U.S. defeat
“They are already doing things that we have been doing for years to no avail, like demolishing buildings ... like closing off villages in barbed wire,” Van Creveld said. “The Americans are coming here to try to mimic all kinds of techniques, but it’s not going to do them any good.”
“I don’t see how on earth they (the U.S.) can win. I think this is going to end the same way Vietnam did,” Van Creveld said. “They are going to flee the country hanging on the strings of helicopters,” he added, referring to the 1973 U.S. departure from Saigon.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0929/p07s02-wome.html September 29, 2003 edition
US eyes Israeli software as training tool for forces in Iraq
For US soldiers wondering what they should and should not do in their role as occupiers of Iraq, help may be on the way from the Israel Defense Forces.
The Israeli military has developed a software program to teach junior commanders 11 "codes of conduct'' when operating among civilians - fight only those fighting you, respect the dignity of the local population, don't pillage, and so forth.
The subsequent animation tells viewers that mistreating civilians can turn them into the enemy. Another image depicts civilians who deserve to be treated with "dignity and humanity": a woman holding a child, a cleric, an elderly man, and a representative of the civil authority.
http://www.hindu.com/2004/04/28/stories/2004042802061600.htm Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004
U.S. tactics in Iraq carry Israeli imprint
MANAMA, APRIL 27. In enforcing its siege around Fallujah, the U.S. has employed tactics similar to the ones that Israel has adopted against Palestinian fighters, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The U.S.-Israeli connection in this field can be traced to the April 2002 battle of Jenin in the West Bank, defence analysts say. American troops, soon after this clash, were reportedly sent for training to the mock Arab town that the Israeli Army had created in the Tzrifin area of the southern Negev Desert.
The U.S. publication
Defence News has reported that in December 2003, senior Israeli military officers hosted a series of meetings involving a U.S. team headed by Gen. Kevin Byrnes, commander of the U.S. army's training and doctrine command. ------------------
Could it be possible that rekindling Americas new spirit of torture is just one of many parts of a strategy called "New Realism"?
I would almost expect "Neo Conservatives" to use "New Realism" as a coined justification for torture?
Here's where it gets really ugly:
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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1207-06.htm Published on Sunday, December 7, 2003 by the New York Times
Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.
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Aries (442 posts) Sat May-08-04 11:28 AM
Response to Original message
30.
Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, for one
via Josh Marshall:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_05_02.php#002926 "...In many of the articles on this emerging Iraqi prisoners story, it has been claimed that some of the key instigators or enablers of bad acts were military intelligence officers.
Now, who's the head of military intelligence? 'Head' is too vague. There's no such post per se. But what comes pretty close is
the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.And who's that? Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin.
Remember him? He's the one who got in trouble last year for describing his battle with a Muslim Somali warlord by saying
"I knew that my God was bigger than his God. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol", saying President Bush was chosen by God, and generally that the war on terror is an apocalyptic struggle between Christianity and Satan...." http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1553028#1554466