Saturday, June 04, 2005
Does A US Military Chaplain Hate America?
Michelle Malkin is upset.
Michelle Malkin doesn't think it's fair for the Media to "spin" the Friday night at 7:30 PM news release from the DOD regarding Brigadier General Jay Hood's "Koran Inquiry."
Michelle Malkin believes the headlines should read GITMO DETAINEES DESECRATE QURAN (sorry, wingnuts like caps) instead of, say, U.S.: Gitmo Quran Was Splashed With Urine.
After all - according to the report - there were only "nine incidents (seven guard, two interrogator) alleging, intentional or unintentional mishandling of a Koran, but only five could be confirmed" as opposed to "15 incidents where detainees mishandled Korans."
Michelle Malkin writes, "Don't trust the MSM reports. Read the Pentagon's investigative findings for yourself here.
Listen to Michelle Malkin. She's right. We shouldn't trust the MSM reports. We should read the investigative findings ourselves.
In the report , we learn that there were 10 more incidents but - according to Brig. Gen. Jay Hood and his crack investigative team - that they "did not involve mishandling the Koran."
Seven of these mostly unreported in the MSM incidents involved guards, but I'm going to focus on the three that involved interrogators.
(1) "On 28 NOV 02, during an interrogation, a detainee requested that a Koran on top of a TV set in the interrogation room be removed. It is unclear who initially placed the Koran on the TV; however, to appear less confrontational, the interrogator instructed the linguist to take the Koran off the TV. When a second interrogator learned of the detainee’s request, he returned to the interrogation room and placed two Korans on top of the TV. This act highly agitated the detainee. This incident was recorded in a memorandum dated 28 NOV 02."
According to the Pentagon News Release: "Ten of these incidents did not involve mishandling the Koran. They involved the touching of a Koran during the normal performance of duty."
So, are we to take this incident to mean that agitating the detainees by placing their Korans on top of television sets repeatedly qualifies as the "normal performance of duty"?
Guess so.
(2) "Some time between late NOV and mid DEC 02, during an interrogation, an unidentified Marine got up on a table and squatted down in front of a detainee in an aggressive manner and unintentionally squatted down over the detainee’s Koran. This provoked a visible reaction from the detainee. An officer reported this incident in a sworn statement, dated 11 Jan 05, as part of a separate investigation."
Nope. Nothing untoward in that account. It was clearly "unintentional." During the "normal performance of duty" Marines can't be expected to notice what they squat over when they hop on top of tables "in an aggressive manner."
Finally, here's the incident that led me to write this post:
(3) "During the search of the classified drive, a portion of a temporary file was discovered that mentioned an interrogator handling the Koran. The undated statement said that the Chaplain complained that an interrogator was tearing pages from the Koran during an interrogation. The author of the statement (who is a DoD contracted interrogator apparently in a supervisory position), in turn stated, that the interrogator was reading from the Koran. The interrogator forcefully turned the pages of the Koran during the interview, but did not tear any pages. It is unknown when this interrogation took place. The interrogator worked as a military and civilian interrogator at JTF-GTMO. Our scheduling records show that he participated in a series of interrogations in JUN-JUL 03."
Where do I start?
"A portion of a temporary file was discovered."
Huh?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
What the fuck does this mean? And why is it not being talked about?
Will Brigadier General Jay Hood be leading an investigation to determine what happened to this file? Only a portion was discovered. Where the fuck is the rest of the file and who the fuck deleted it?
"The undated statement..." "It is unknown when this interrogation took place."
Maybe that's because someone attempted to fucking delete the file and only a portion of it was found.
"...the Chaplain complained that an interrogator was tearing pages from the Koran during an interrogation."
You don't say. The Chaplain complained. Is the Chaplain one of those dastardly scoundrels who "hate America" as the President recently protested?
Did Brigadier General Jay Hood interview the Chaplain to get his side of the story?
There is no mention of that in any of the Pentagon News Releases but let's give Brigadier General Jay Hood a break. Perhaps the Chaplain's name wasn't included in the portion of the temporary file that was discovered.
But there's no need to further investigate this incident, is there Brigadier General Jay Hood, since a contracted interrogator who is "apparently in a supervisory position" recorded that the pages of the Koran weren't ripped when the "interrogator forcefully turned the pages."
Yep. Case closed. A US Military chaplain accuses an independent contractor of desecrating the Koran but there's no need to worry since the civilian contractor's supervisor said there was nothing to see here.
Michelle Malkin wrote, "Bona fide abusers should be, and from all reports appear to have been, investigated and punished accordingly."
But that doesn't seem to be the case here, now does it?
Enough about Michelle Malkin. Of late, my favorite wingnut has to be La Shawn Barber who wrote her own article and thought so much of it that she trackbacked to the Malkin post.
Ms. Barber has joined so many right wing blogs lately that she must be closing in on Ricky Vandal's record. I wrote recently about the blog Media Slander which involves right wing bloggers slandering the Media for - in the eyes of the slanderers - slandering the Military (Media Slander, Aptly Named) and she also belongs to the Conservative Brotherhood.
From La Shawn Barber's post, "If I See One More Koran “Mishandling” Story…" (link):
"…I just might buy a few to kick around myself."
"I’ll break it down for obtuse readers. I don’t think our troops or anyone serving in the armed forces should be “punished” for “desecrating” the Koran. I think it’s idiocy of the highest order to have federal rules (or whatever they’re called) on how to handle the book and a potentially fatal distraction in the war against Islamofacism."
"I’m now convinced that liberalism is a mental disorder."
"Here’s an idea that will eliminate all desecration claims. Don’t give prisoners Korans, and confiscate the ones prisoners bring with them. To make it “fair,” ban all religious books or symbols of any kind. Allow prisoners to pray to their god-of-the-month, but no books, crosses, or any other religious objects that distract from the business at hand."
I'm not even going to comment on La Shawn's wingnuttery except to note that "[f]irst and foremost" La Shawn Barber "a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ" wants to deprive prisoners of not only the Koran but also the Holy Bible. Is that what Jesus would do?
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