THERE ARE THREE SIDES TO EVERY STORY; AND A DECORATED GENERAL WHO HAS NEVER SEEN ACTION

A ton of offers to pay the $5,000 fine levied against Lt Col. West. Put me down for some bucks. This is a guy every one of us would want as a CO. So far there is only a "defense fund" which he no longer needs. My military experience contains a bias against all officers not West Point or Annapolis grads. I don't know the details about Major General Raymond Odierno (West Point, class of 1976), the division commander who levied the fine against West, but I guarantee you that he was told NOT to let West skate on this one. That if he let him off it would be regarded as a fatal career move. FOX is implying in their report this morning that the General is an asshole and his men don't like him. West's attorney stated

"The problem with today's Army is that the top brass seem to have become paranoid about making common sense decisions without the 'advice of counsel.' " said Mr. Puckett, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. "Those counsel usually have no idea what it means to command troops in combat."

In other words this Major General has never seen combat (except from the rear during 1991 Iraq War) and doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, something that can be said for much of the top brass. Odierno is your classic "educated to the hilt" officer who has earned all kinds of medals for sitting around in Germany and stuff; he even has a Bronze Star for sitting around, a first as far as I know. Puckett further observes

"Had true Army leaders been allowed to handle this without benefit of counsel, I believe Al West would still be in command, would have been privately congratulated, and told to stay out of the interrogation business in the future," Mr. Puckett said.
"That would have been true Army leadership. Those type of leaders are still in the Army. It's just that they have been subverted by job-justifying lawyers who seek to play a larger role in the command."

The other side to this story is political. Meaning that if West was allowed to skate, other officers and enlisted ranks would engage in the same activity. Since we are trying to help the Iraqi people we cannot have a bunch of our guys sticking guns in the faces of people "we think" might be terrorists. As a former 18 year old grunt with no judgment whatsoever who once ran around Pusan with a loaded .45 looking for beer and pussy with my pals, let me observe that if I thought this type of activity was approved I'd be pointing guns at the heads of every towel head I could find. I'd be a fucking Mafia Don behaving like a complete asshole. A message had to be sent. It's just that the Army chose a piss poor way to do it.