A case of rape and murder.

There is much good that happens in Iraq & Afghanistan, but I recognize that not everything that has transpired in those two theaters of operation has been, shall we say, rosy. Some of it has been down right catastrophic. Especially for the Iraqi and Afghani people who have either lost their lives or their livelihoods in the wake of these two wars.

I know war is hell, to borrow the tired old cliche', but sometimes it is worse than it has to be because of choices people make thousands of miles away in an office somewhere far removed from flying bullets and exploding IED's. But the leaders we have in America aren't the only ones who have made some of those crappy decisions. Those crappy decisions have been made all over the world by leaders of many different countries and theirs' aren't always so under the microscope as ours are because others choose to turn their collective eyes away.

But some times things happen that we ourselves should police, and police harshly. I was still in the Army in 2006 when this rape/slaying took place and I was disgusted when I heard about it then. When I was in Okinawa, Japan in 1985 and getting ready to rotate back to the states one of the marines right in my own company was accused, and later convicted of a robbery/murder of a man in the town outside of Camp Hansen. Since the evidence gathering practices where so stringent and the conviction rate of violent criminals in Japan was (at the time) a whopping 96% that marine spent quite a few years in a Japanese prison. Exactly how many I don't know because I came back to the states and never heard any more about it.

But this case of rape and murder in Iraq reminded me of it again. Though admittedly this current case is far worse when you take into consideration the scope of the crime, the age of the rape victims (though I know rape knows no age when speaking of victims). The soldiers in question here chose an Iraqi girl they saw at a check point. The rest of this horrible story is in the article that is attached to the link above and below. You can also find the link at my Squidoo lens, which you can find here: jtedesco

I will never make any excuses for these despicable people and what they did, because there are none. Things like this is what cause people in other countries to pounce and point fingers, screaming at the top of their lungs what hypocrites Americans are when we preach about torture and terrorism and such. And who can argue with them right? WRONG!

Acts such as these are the exception, not the rule, like you will find when dealing with actual terrorists or thugs. When we find people such as these knuckleheads we usually hammer them. I know that some slip through the cracks, and please don't say that George Bush is one of them because that is just plain stupid!

I'm talking about the men like Ted Kennedy who allows a woman to drown in his car when he drives it off a bridge one night, and nothing is done other than he is never allowed to ascend to the level of political power that his brothers enjoyed. But then again, if he had, he may never have lived past his 40 something birthday.

That is just one example of people who get away with crimes because of having connections. But as you can tell by the Gov. Blagojevich case. The days of having friends in high places and getting away with crimes are slowly coming to an end. But I confess, I know the end isn't here yet.

As for our country as a whole, we are a noble nation, and we do not torture people just because it seems to be the fun or entertaining thing to do. Does it happen? Absolutely! And good, decent people usually report it and the wanna-be thugs almost always pay the price! But don't tell me that we don't need tough but humane interrogation tactics, because that is just, as the pigeons in the movie Bolt would say, "ridonkulous."

We do more for the African continent & to battle so-called Global Warming than any other country on the planet but you will not hear about that any where because that would give credit where credit is due; the Bush Administration.

All you will hear about is torture, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, the Patriot Act, blah, blah, blah. But I promise you, history will see this president differently than how people are describing him now! Remember, you saw it here, and I do not say that arrogantly, because I do not believe I am in a position to be arrogant. I just think our president has done better than people give him credit for based on the "whole" picture.

If it were up to me, I would turn them over to the Iraqi people and tell them... do justice!

To read the article click here.