Scoggins has theories on both how the snipers were exposed and who deserves some of the blame. He says they had formed a relationship with a man who was renovating the building, that he would bring them cokes and knew they were repeatedly using the roof. Scoggins surmises that this man told someone of the snipers' presence, but that assassins would have acted before daylight.
Scoggins has no kind words for his superior in Iraq, Captain Kelly Royer, who comes in for both praise and criticism in this New York Times article, which reports that he was relieved of duty and described as "dictatorial" and as failing to motivate his troops. Now, it may not have been a mission anybody could easily have been motivated for, or should have been motivated for. But the account of lacking morale fits with Scoggins' comments to me, which included this: "[Royer] was a piece of sh*t. People were calling him Captain Casualty."
In fact, whether or not Scoggins is right about the flare and the timing of the murders, and about his belief that there has been a coverup, the one thing we can be sure of is that many soldiers being ordered to risk their lives in the unjust cause of slaughtering the people of Iraq developed "morale" problems in one way or another. This is a testament to their humanity.
Part II: Abu Ghraib: SNAFU:
Michael Sheperd was sent with the 16th Military Police Brigade to Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad just after the photos of torture and abuse were released in 2004.
He worked in the hospital there and transporting prisoners between complexes and to the hospital. He saw a lot of prisoners and civilians with gunshot wounds and other injuries, most of them minor. Some were from mortar attacks from Iraqis he calls "insurgents" who, Sheperd says, believed the prisoners were in cells and the troops in camps, when actually it was the other way around. On April 20th and at other times, the "insurgents" fired on "their own people."
Sheperd at first told me that he didn't see any abuse at Abu Ghraib, but then began to mention various incidents. When "the guy who decapitated Nick Berg" came in, they "threw him around pretty hard, into a wall hard."
Sheperd received new prisoners brought in by the Army, Special Forces, British, and Polish troops, and Marines. Sheperd insisted a number of times that he did not mean to be unfair to the Marines, but that they were always the ones who brought in prisoners with bruises and cuts on them.
Five rows of five prisoners each would be sitting in chairs, being processed. More than once, Sheperd says, he stopped Marines from yelling at the prisoners and kicking them on the ground. The prisoners being knocked to the ground and kicked had their hands cuffed behind their backs and usually had hoods on their heads. Sheperd said he stepped in somewhere between three and six times, confronting Marine Lieutenants. He says he was never reprimanded or punished for his actions, and returned to the United States in February 2005.
In 2008, Sheperd says, the Army tried to stop-loss him, but he successfully petitioned to go on inactive service. "I couldn't stand it," Sheperd said of the prospect of going back to Iraq. "I would go nuts! Everyone calling all the Arabs "Hajji"."
So, how did Sheperd get over there in the first place? He joined up in 2002, he says, and believed in the mission in Afghanistan. But, while at Fort Dix, prior to deploying to Kuwait and then Iraq, he suffered back problems and a displaced rib causing numbness in his left arm. A military doctor, he says, took an X-ray and diagnosed scoliosus, then folded the X-ray up and threw it in the trash in front of him, choosing not to record it. Sheperd was sent to Iraq despite his back problems, and ironically says the body armor did his back a lot of good, although it's still not right.
I encouraged Sheperd to get involved with Iraq Veterans Against the War, and I think he will.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
