From Stars & Stripes:
ARLINGTON, Va. — The 10-member task force probing the issue of sexual assault in the combat zone has delivered its anticipated report to Pentagon leadership a few days ahead of schedule, but other hot issues within the department likely will delay its release to the public.
Crouching in the showers?
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The head of a U.S. military police unit at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison is under investigation following charges he secretly photographed naked female American soldiers, officials said on Wednesday.
Capt. Leo Merck, 32, a member of the California National Guard who commanded the 124-strong 870th Military Police Company, is under U.S. Army investigation and has been relieved of duty, they said. …
Merck, a veteran of the first Gulf War who worked as a financial analyst before going to Iraq, is suspected of photographing the soldiers as they showered. The Guard said complaints were made against Merck in November. His unit arrived in Iraq in May a year ago. …
The Contra Costa Times, which broke the story on Wednesday, quoted Spc. Myrna Hernandez, 26, as saying she saw Merck photograph her as she was showering with two other women.
“I saw a guy get on all fours with a digital camera in his hands. His head was going under the wall, and we made eye contact,” she told the newspaper. “I was in shock, like what do I do now?”
Meanwhile, out at sea…
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Naval Criminal Investigative Service and 7th Fleet staff officials on the USS Coronado are investigating who may have placed a wireless video camera found April 14 in one of the ship’s shower areas designated for women.
America’s finest!
A friend sends along this cartoon from Bob Ariail of The State (Columbia, SC).
The limeys are turning on us. According to Tony Blair’s personal human rights envoy to Iraq, “U.S. soldiers who detained an elderly Iraqi woman last year placed a harness on her, made her crawl on all fours and rode her like a donkey[…].”
“She was held for about six weeks without charge,” the envoy told Wednesday’s Evening Standard newspaper. “During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey. A harness was put on her, and an American rode on her back.”
Thanks to Jesse Walker for the link.
The Iranians are crazy. According to Nicholas Kristof, average Iranians are “fulsome in their praise” for Dubya, they adore Hillary Clinton, and many “seem convinced that the U.S. military ventures in Afghanistan and Iraq are going great.” Yep, get out the butterfly net.
Anyway, they might be nuts, but if these things are true, do they really need us to “liberate” them?
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) – The Iraqi former general entrusted with pacifying volatile Falluja said on Thursday U.S. Marines must withdraw quickly from around the troubled town and go home so stability can be restored.
“I want the American soldier to return to his camp. What I want more is that he returns to the United States,” General Muhammad Latif told Reuters in an interview.
“They should leave very quickly, very quickly or there will be problems. If they stay it will hurt the confidence and we have built confidence. They should leave so that there will be more calm.”
Are they done vetting this guy? He sounds like a good guy. I bet the Iraqis like him.
