« How Long Have I Been Away? | Main | Friedman: Suicide Bombers Show Desperation of Jihadists »

May 03, 2005

Aidan Delgado's Story Raises Eyebrows--Updated!

I blogged yesterday about Aidan Delgado's claims relayed by Bob Herbert in the NY Times that abuse of Iraqis was random and commonplace by US soldiers. He also claimed to have witnessed specific incidents that certainly sound terrible:

Mr. Delgado, who eventually got conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged last January, recalled a disturbance that occurred while he was working in the Abu Ghraib motor pool. Detainees who had been demonstrating over a variety of grievances began throwing rocks at the guards. As the disturbance grew, the Army authorized lethal force. Four detainees were shot to death.

Mr. Delgado confronted a sergeant who, he said, had fired on the detainees. "I asked him," said Mr. Delgado, "if he was proud that he had shot unarmed men behind barbed wire for throwing stones. He didn't get mad at all. He was, like, 'Well, I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down.'"

That story has started to get some attention. Lorie Byrd asked for information from anybody else who was at the specific incidents mentioned, as did Blackfive and Baldilocks, who has the link to this post by Sgt Ted, who was there:

The compound where the riot took place, compound 8, was run by my Company, the 870th MP Co. The riot also was an escape attempt. It wasn't just a few stone throwers; the sky was black with throw debris, which effectively suppressed the compound towers from their overwatch duties. The stones being thrown represented a deadly force threat. Some of them were head size. It was only when the riot became a danger of a serious breakout attempt and less than lethal force(rubber shot from M203 and rubber point munitions from 12 GA shotguns) had been applied to no effect was the request for deadly force made. When permission was granted, two soldiers fired on the ring leaders. 3 were killed outright, ending the riot immediately. One more died later and 12 more were wounded. I know both of the soldiers who fired; they are good people and only did what they had to do to keep others from further harm. Given that one of the soldiers was using a M249, it could have been a bloodbath. Both soldiers showed remarkable restraint in picking their targets and only using necesarry force. There was a AR 15-6 investigation and CID also investigated. The shootings were found to be justified and both soldiers were decorated for their actions.

He also says that Delgado was nowhere near the riot/breakout attempt. Yesterday I called him the John Kerry of his generation, but what I meant was smearing a vast group of people for the actions of a few. But it is beginning to sound like Delgado shares some other qualities with Le Fraude.

Update: Mike at Grendel's Dragon, a former marine, has some thoughts on Mr. Delgado, which includes his hilarious explanation of what the letters USMC abbreviate.

Posted by pat at May 3, 2005 09:31 PM

Comments

Posted by: at June 4, 2005 06:41 AM