Amnesty, Murder, & Revoking Battlefield Immunity

The "good news" from Iraq didn't last long after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as the insurgents and militias ratchet up their attacks, the death squads ratcheted up the number of dead & tortured, and the number of Iraqis wrongly or deliberately killed by US forces only continues to increase, which in turn makes it much easier for the insurgents to validly claim the US is out only for Iraq's natural resources as opposed to actually spreading "Peace & Prosperity"

But, as I blogged about HERE and HERE, W's heading for a very nasty Iraq rebuke before the November elections, and no matter what the decider chooses, there is NO way for the Administration to save any kind of face with regards to W's meatgrinder crusade to enrich the corporate campaign contributing cronies profiting so handsomely from Iraq's woes, misery and rage

Both choices Jr has to make, regarding immunity for US troops & Civilian Contractors, and granting an amnesty for Iraqis who attack, wound and kill US troops are going to rip into not only W's political capital, but also that of the dwindling number of supporters still backing the President and the Iraq mission

Immunity for troops fosters crime, Iraqi says

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Wednesday that Iraq would conduct an inquiry into the recently disclosed rape-and-killing case involving U.S. soldiers and contended that the immunity from Iraqi prosecution granted to foreign troops encouraged them to commit crimes.

"We do not accept the violation of Iraqi people's honor, as happened in this case," al-Maliki said, according to wire service reports, during a news conference in Kuwait, where he stopped on a diplomatic tour of gulf states. "We believe that the immunity granted to international forces has emboldened them to commit such crimes in cold blood," he said, adding "there must be a review of this immunity."

A U.S. military spokesman said such immunity was provided in a legal order that protects the members of the multinational forces, as well as their funds, assets and property, from the Iraqi legal process.

This is nothing more than a "Get Out Of Jail Free" trump card that's let many US Troops off the hook for their malfeasance

Does anyone really doubt if a member of an occupying army on US soil killed and raped innocent civilians that we wouldn't be screaming about trying the accused in our justice system, and if not, then how can such a deliberate effort to excuse wrongdoing be condoned on behalf of the Administration?

U.S. military officials scrambled Wednesday to control repercussions from the case, one of at least five current investigations into accusations that U.S. troops in Iraq have killed unarmed civilians. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a top American military spokesman in Baghdad, said during a news conference that these cases represented isolated instances of possible wrongdoing, not common occurrences among the U.S. troops in Iraq.

"While we must not rush to judgment," he said, "we must remember the acts of a few should not outweigh the deeds of the many."

He promised thorough and open investigations into all accusations of criminal activity involving U.S. troops.

"We will face every situation honestly and we will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of the facts," he said. "And hold our service members accountable if and when found guilty of misconduct in a court of law."

And if anyone was prosecuted or held accountable for these incidents, those words might fall on the ears of a willing audience

But how can the Iraqis take any such claims seriously when there's very rarely punishment, especially hard-time prison sentences, whenever it's the Iraqi lives that are being lost due to deliberate or accidental US military actions?

The latest horror show involves the rape and murder of a 14 year old Iraqi girl, and her parents and toddler-sister before the rape took place

Lets give this some very unpleasant perspective

Abeer Rasheed was overpowered, she watched her parents and sister marched off into another room, and heard the shots that took their lives

She HAD to know exactly what happened to her family at that point, and worse, she had to know she'd be following them soon

Abeer Rasheed is raped, knowing she's going to die when her vile degradation is over from her attackers

Her last hour or so of life must have been absolute hell on earth, and a brutal end to one's life, especially that of a child, makes the crime even more appalling than it would have been otherwise

We know one thing for sure, if the Administration hadn't decided that deposing Saddam Hussein was far more important personally than achieving justice for the victims of the September 11 attacks by catching/killing Usama bin Laden, those soldiers now accused of Abeer Rasheed's Rape & Murder, and the killing of her family, would never have had the chance to inflict their horrific carnage on an innocent group of civilians in Iraq

And as a result of so many unrighted/uncorrected incidents in which innocent Iraqis have been killed, maimed and traumatized by the US forces, the Iraqi call for not only revoking the immunity currently granted US Troops and civilian contractors grows louder, but so does the call for amnesty for those insurgents willing to state they ONLY attacked US troops and civilian contractors

So, as if President Jr didn't have enough problems to worry about, his decision to invade and occupy Iraq is going to haunt him for the rest of his miserable life regarding both immunity to cover US troops for deliberate maliciousness, and amnesty-for those targeting US troops-to help bring the violence to an end

No matter how the Decider chooses, his choices regarding amnesty and immunity will do nothing to help the Administration find a "face-saving" way to withdraw from Iraq

In fact, just how likely is it that the US can actually establish permanent military bases if the Iraqis say it's time to go now?

This President thought he'd put past ghosts from the US failure in Vietnam, and self-doubts regarding personal bravery, to rest permanently, while at the same time claiming to militarily counter the growing influence of Islamic extremism all across the Middle East

Instead, the numerous failures on multiple levels of W's Iraq policies are only going to inflict further psychic wounds on a US populace that remembers how badly the US effort failed in Vietnam, while at the same time ensuring deeper and closer ties between the Mullahs and Clerics in both Iraq and Iran

One other thing

There's no way W's going to be able to placate those in the military forced to carry out his policies, and the decision's regarding immunity for US troops and civilian contractors, and especially regarding any amnesty for Iraqi insurgents who targeted US troops will NOT be helping him keep the House of Reps in Republican hands come the November elections

The Connecticut Cowboy, the Draft-Dodging, Budget-Busting ChickenHawk with Delusions of Grandeur, President Bush Jr may not clean up his mess in this case-as he's never yet done even once in his life-but he WON'T escape having to suffer for his Iraq MeatGrinder Crusade

And if there's ANYONE who deserves to suffer for the President's Iraq policy, it's the President himself, his Cabinet, the GOP, it's media whores and lackeys