05.13a Criminal Soldiers: Iraq, Okinawa, Belgian and Canadian UN Troops in Somalia. It is foolish to talk of Rumsfeld resigning or Bush apologizing on account of the misconduct of the U.S. prison guards in Iraq (I think Bush already has apologized, but it was foolish of him to do so). It certainly sounds like severe misconduct, and I might not even mind it if the culprits went before a firing squad after a court-martial. Certainly they should be punished, and quickly. Moreover, their superiors, even if they had no knowledge of the particular incidents, should be demoted. And the combat unit-- the regiment or whatever-- should be disbanded in disgrace. But I don't see what any of this has to do with the political leadership, or even the top military leadership, since it clearly was against U.S. policy and interests. This was not even torturing prisoners to get information, where one might imagine that the US would gain if the misconduct were kept secret-- this was horseplay and malicious soldiers amusing themselves at the expense of U.S. policy.

Such misconduct by soldiers is nothing new. One would expect it, of course, since soldiers are people. Horrible crimes happen in the United States all the time. And this is not just an American problem. David B. Rivkin Jr. & Lee A. Casey note that worse was done by Canadian and Belgian U.N. troops in Somalia in the 1990's, with little international notice, and certainly no international outrage against those countries:

In the early 1990s, for example, soldiers from states that take a very expansive view of humanitarian law, then participating in the United Nations mission to Somalia, engaged in sadistic offenses every bit as despicable as those in Abu Ghraib. In one instance, Canadian soldiers spent an evening amusing themselves by the torture and murder of a captive Somali teenager--- and they took photographs. This was not the only abuse (or unlawful killing) ascribed to the unit, which was later disbanded. (A pattern of conduct all the more noteworthy since the Canadian military has largely reinvented itself as a peacekeeping force designed to support U.N. missions.)

In another example, Belgian soldiers were photographed swinging a Somali child over a bonfire. The Belgians were later acquitted because, according to the military courts in Brussels, there was insufficient evidence and "[i]t could not be established that physical violence had been inflicted." Belgian authorities also investigated the death of a child after two days allegedly locked, by Belgian soldiers, in a metal container without food or water.

The Americans in Iraq haven't killed anyone, and haven't mistreated anyone who wasn't already in prison.

I didn't remember hearing about the Canadian and Belgian atrocities, so I checked on them, and got reasonable confirmation of them. Here is what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had to say.

On March 16, 1993, Shidane Arone slipped onto the grounds of the Canadian camp at Belet Huen. He was fully clothed and when captured, he protested that he was looking for a lost child.

According to interviews and testimony, it was revealed that Sgt. Mark Boland left Matchee and Brown in charge of Arone, reportedly with the advice "I don't care what you do, just don't kill the guy." Arone was then blindfolded and punched, kicked and burned with cigarettes. Matchee and Brown posed for pictures with Arone, placing a pistol to his bruised head. Arone is reported to have begged "Canada, Canada" as a plea for mercy. His tortured cries were heard throughout the camp. Matchee continued abusing Arone with an iron bar, kicking and punching the captive until he was dead.

Following Arone's death, Matchee attempted to commit suicide and was deemed unfit to stand trial because of brain damage. In this CBC Television interview, Matchee's family said they did not believe it was a suicide attempt but rather that he was the victim of an attempted murder.

When the Liberal government took power, David Collenette was named Minister of Defence. Under constant pressure, he called the Somalia Inquiry in March 1995, two years after the murder of Shidane Arone.

The Belgians were even worse, it seems fromthis report, computer-translated into English:

The Belgian daily newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws" actually published on March 29, 1997, the account and the photographs of a pilot ex-para of sadistic acts and tortures. Thus, a photo watch two Belgian paras maintaining above fire a Somalien young person. When the shirt ignited, the paras threw the victim with ground and trampled it in order to extinguish fire. These two men were identified and accused by the military auditorat of violences with wounds and infringement to the legislation relating to the wars. One of the paras was placed under warrant for arrest, the other is in parole. They are two soldiers of the 3rd battalion parachutist of Tielen, Kurt Coelus and Claude Baert.

In October 1993, a surprised child while flying of food, was locked up by soldiers in a container where he died of hunger and thirst. The persons in charge for this death are not identified yet.

Other paras killed a peasant with a beam which exceeded the end of the truck on which they were. A photograph, published on April 16, 1997 in the Belgian daily newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws", shows the quartermaster-sergeant, Rudy Derkinderen urinating on the corpse of Somalien, it will appear before the Council of war of Brussels before September 1997. The sergeant Dirk Nassel forced a Moslem teenager to swallow the remainders of a box of pig and with drinking a salted water bottle

It is smoother in the original French:

Le quotidien belge "Het Laatste Nieuws" a effectivement publi� le 29 mars 1997, le r�cit et les photos d'un ex-para t�moin d'actes sadiques et de tortures. Ainsi, une photo montre deux paras belges maintenant au-dessus du feu un jeune Somalien. Lorsque la chemise s'est enflamm�e, les paras ont jet� la victime � terre et l'ont pi�tin�e afin d'�teindre le feu. Ces deux hommes ont �t� identifi�s et inculp�s par l'auditorat militaire de violences avec blessures et d'infraction � la l�gislation relative aux conflits arm�s. L'un des paras a �t� plac� sous mandat d'arr�t, l'autre est en libert� conditionnelle. Il s'agit de deux soldats du 3e bataillon parachutiste de Tielen, Kurt Coelus et Claude Baert.

En octobre 1993, un enfant surpris en volant de la nourriture, a �t� enferm� par des militaires dans un conteneur o� il est mort de faim et de soif. Les responsables de ce d�c�s ne sont pas encore identifi�s.

D'autres paras ont tu� un paysan avec une poutre qui d�passait l'extr�mit� du camion sur lequel ils se trouvaient. Une photo, parue le 16 avril 1997 dans le quotidien belge "Het Laatste Nieuws", montre le sergent-major, Rudy Derkinderen urinant sur le cadavre d'un Somalien, il compara�tra devant le Conseil de guerre de Bruxelles en septembre 1997. Le sergent Dirk Nassel a forc� un adolescent musulman � avaler les restes d'une bo�te de porc et � boire une bouteille d'eau sal�e.

Jean-Paul Brodeur's "Maintien et imposition de la paix en Somalie (Partie 2)" combines discussion of both Canada and Belgium (sorry: I didn't translate this one):

La fiert� l�gitime des Canadiens, � l'�gard de la participation des Forces arm�es canadiennes dans les op�rations de maintien de la paix de l'ONU [23], a �t� s�rieusement mise � mal par le comportement des soldats canadiens en Somalie. Il a �t� �tabli qu'ils avaient battu pendant toute une nuit un adolescent somali du nom de Shidane Arone et que celui-ci �tait mort de ses blessures. Il existe en outre plusieurs all�gations s�rieuses � l'effet que des membres du contingent canadien en Somalie auraient tendu des embuscades � des pillards pour ensuite les ex�cuter sommairement et qu'ils se seraient livr�s � d'autres violations graves des droits de la personne. En outre, le contingent canadien aurait compt� des soldats affili�s � des groupes racistes de l'extr�me-droite. Au moment o� nous r�digeons cette �tude, plusieurs soldats canadiens d�ploy�s en Somalie ont �t� condamn�s par des cours martiales ; le r�giment a�roport� canadien a �t� dissous ; enfin, le comportement des troupes canadiennes en Somalie et des fonctionnaires du minist�re canadien de la D�fense impliqu�s dans cette op�ration fait maintenant l'objet des travaux d'une Commission royale d'enqu�te, dont les audiences publiques font quotidiennement la manchette des journaux canadiens.

Les troupes canadiennes ne sont pas les seules � s'�tre rendues coupables de grossiers abus de pouvoir lors de leur d�ploiement en Somalie. Plusieurs soldats du contingent belge ont �galement �t� traduits en cour martiale. L'organisme African Rights a produit un rapport tr�s s�v�re sur la conduite des troupes belges lors de leur participation dans l'UNITAF et surtout de leurs op�rations dans le cadre de l'UNOSOM II. Les all�gations d'inconduite contre d'autres membres de l'UNITAF sont nombreuses, ceux-ci �tant d�crits comme des soldats ivres se livrant � des actes incontr�l�s d'agression.

It isn't even just that world public opinion considers Canada, the UN, and Belgium to be too insignificant to be worth thinking about (or too uncivilized for their barbarities to be worth noting?). American soldiers commit crimes all the time, and are regularly tried and punished for it. The most notorious case is the child rape by three U.S. soldiers in Okinawa in the 90's:

Three U.S. servicemen were convicted Thursday in the kidnapping and rape of a 12- year- old Okinawa girl and sentenced to up to seven years in a Japanese prison.

The verdict handed down by a panel of three judges -- Japan does not have a jury system -- followed months of protests against the U.S. military presence in Okinawa. In the aftermath of the crime, support for American troops in Japan has reached one of its lowest points since World War II.

The sentence was lighter than expected; prosecutors had urged the judges to return 10- year sentences against all three, arguing that the girl was kidnapped, beaten, brutally raped, and then abandoned.

Again: this is worse than anything in Iraq, and bad for U.S. foreign policy, yet it received relatively little coverage in the U.S. (though lots in Japan). Nobody called for whoever Clinton's Secretary of Defense was to resign. Clinton might have apologized, but we know that is meaningless, especially coming from him. Thus, I conclude that the outrage over Iraq is fake, merely another excuse to bash America and the Bush Administration. [in full at 04.05.13a.htm]

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