PLEASE Mr. Terrorist… tell me a story
An American Army officer is being charged with aggravated assault after extracting valuable attack-preventing information from an Iraqi terrorist. Lt. Col. Allen B. West, a 19-year veteran of the Army, was stationed in Saba al Boor when an attack was made on some of his soldiers while they were in transit. After an informant gave the name of one of the men behind the attack, the suspect was picked up for questioning. The initial interrogation failed, so in desperation, and fearing for the safety of his men, Col. West decided to take over the interrogation. He drew his 9mm pistol and fired two shots into a barrel located outside the interrogation area, Jack Bauer style. It worked. The terrorist gave information about an upcoming attack that was subsequently foiled, saving American lives.
Now, Col. West is being given two choices: early retirement, forfeiting his retirement benefits, or court-martial where he could face up to 8 years in prison.
The real kicker is that the only reason anyone but the colonel and his men know about this is that he filed an incident report, knowing full well that his unorthodox actions would likely warrant a slap on the wrist.
Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice defines assault as such: “Any person subject to this chapter who attempts or offers with unlawful force or violence to do bodily harm to another person, whether or not the attempt or offer is consummated, is guilty of assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
The incident hardly qualifies as assault. The act of firing a weapon at an inanimate object (not located in the vicinity of the prisoner) is an act of intimidation, much like taking off his shirt and flexing his muscles would have been intimidation, or stabbing a knife into a table as he approached would have been intimidation.
Lt. Col. West should be given a medal, for saving his soldiers’ lives, for sheer ingenuity and skill at interrogation, and for doing it all without hurting a living soul. Interrogating a terrorist in Iraq without doing him physical harm is a near impossibility. Remember, these people are used to having their fingers taken off one-by-one until they talk. Getting someone to talk using only intimidation, in a field situation with your men in imminent danger is a marvelous feat. Sure, it was unorthodox. But unorthodox enemies call for such methods. The colonel did what he had to do, and no more. He bent the law, at best. Shame on the Army for bringing down a veritable hero.
