Court Martial Lawyer - Prisoner abuse talk superficial, soldier says
By: Lauren Gregory
The debate over whether to release photographs of alleged detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan is only making the public more ignorant about what’s really going on in the war zone, according to Army Capt. Roger Hill.
“The thing that we’ve all been sort of trained to revert back to are those pictures of Iraqi detainees doing naked pyramids in Abu Ghraib (Prison),” said the 31-year-old Stevenson, Ala., native. “I think it’s using semantics and emotion in the media to sort of play the public, and I don’t think people should see it.”
Cap. Hill is enduring the consequences of prisoner abuse allegations himself. He has been forced to resign at the end of June for trying to scare a confession out of suspected spies in Afghanistan last year.
He applauds the Obama administration’s recent court motion to halt distribution of the provocative images.
“There’s torture vs. detainee abuse vs. harsh interrogation techniques, and it really bothers me that we look at all these things as being one single issue,” he said.
Mike Ferner, board president of the St. Louis, Mo.-based nonprofit Veterans for Peace, is among those who believes in the right to transparency. Veterans for Peace joined the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups in the lawsuit asking for release of the abuse photos.
“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Mr. Ferner said. “The only way that we’re going to be able to do that is if we deal forthrightly with what’s happened.”
ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh said plaintiffs will oppose the Obama administration’s motion in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court, which argued that release of the images could incite violence against troops in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Capt. Hill and his Washington, D.C.-based attorney Neal Puckett agree.
“I don’t think we do ourselves any favors by airing our dirty laundry internationally,” Mr. Puckett said.
Capt. Hill said a sound bite-addicted public has little patience to dissect the issue, which is not black and white.
“I think the American people are just so hungry for the next two-minute update on Britney Spears that they don’t really have the attention span to take an issue like this and … make an assessment of what it is,” he said.
realities of war
Capt. Hill and his lawyer believe that the media and government officials have tried to create a black-and-white debate about a type of warfare that’s anything but. Fighting a lawless enemy requires leeway in the rules of engagement, they argue.
“It can really put soldiers at risk if they aren’t allowed to be more free to defend themselves,” Mr. Puckett said.
In Capt. Hill’s case in April 2008, soldiers were trying to follow rules that required the release of prisoners after 96 hours if no formal charges had been filed. Nearing the deadline with about 12 captives — and believing the men were spies that, if let go, would come back and kill them — Capt. Hill and his first sergeant tried desperately to obtain some type of confession.
They took some of the blindfolded men outside and shot at the ground about 20 meters from them in what prosecutors called a “mock execution” that defied Geneva Convention standards.
Capt. Hill made a plea deal rather than go to court martial. He will be discharged in June “for the good of the service” which, according to Mr. Puckett, may hamper his ability to obtain benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Capt. Hill believes that “on the whole, the Army is trying to do the right thing” in his case. But he wishes that officials would begin to move away from set standards for right and wrong in light of conditions in the war zone.
“It is simply not fair to expect us to fight by gentlemen’s rules when the enemy does anything but,” he said.
He recalls finding a U.S. service member with his arms chopped off; another with his heart cut out; and a set of American fingers on sale at an Afghan bazaar.
Mr. Ferner doesn’t agree with his logic.
“When we continue to (mistreat enemy forces), that ensures the other side is going to continue to do it, and do us one better,” he said. “That is no way to deal with this.”
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.
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