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
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.
It is smoother in the original French:
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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