Monday, December 3, 2007

GI - Expendable Government Issue

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth White-side listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.

Isn't this just awful. A soldier tries to kill herself and instead of the help she needs gets a court martial. When I was in the Army, I saw shit like this all the time.
And I bet the prosecuter and judge claim to be God fearing Christian men.
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"Military psychiatrists at Walter Reed who examined Whiteside after she recovered from a self-inflicted gun wound in the stomach diagnosed her with a severe mental disorder, possibly triggered by the stresses of a war zone. But Whiteside's superiors considered her mental illness "an excuse" for criminal conduct, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post."
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And I wonder what "excuse" these soulless assholes use to call themselves human beings.
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"At the hearing, Wolfe, who already had warned Whiteside's lawyer of the risk of using a "psychobabble" defense, pressed a senior psychiatrist at Walter Reed to justify his diagnosis."
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Awe, yes. the "psychobabble" defense . Take the slacker out back and shoot her. She obviously is a drag on a Godly nation. And for the sake of mental health purity in the military we must erase this stain on America's correctly righteous image as a superpower only with super soldiers. This is what we get for an accountable volunteer military. It gets to create it's own sense of. justice even when it's opposite of what the average civilian would approve.
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"But outside the Pentagon, the military still often deals with mental health issues by relying on the judgment of combat-hardened commanders whose understanding of mental illness is vague or misinformed."
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Herein lies the fault of the military justice system in cases like these and others. The commander of a unit gets final say on all judgments of the military court. Kind of like the Mullah's in Iran.
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"Under military law, Soldiers who attempt suicide can be prosecuted under the theory that it affects the order and discipline of a unit and brings discredit to the armed forces. In reality, criminal charges are extremely rare unless there is evidence the attempt was an effort to avoid service or endangered others."
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"mens rea" or guilty mind is a bedrock principle of American criminal law. It doesn't matter in the military as the commander is the final arbiter on whether or not lt. Whiteside had a guilty mind. I am praying this case gets dropped. What a choice for Miss Whiteside of a dishonorable discharge or being prosecuted for a crime that could give her life in a military prison. I say the only crime here is for the American people to allow such horseshit to exist in their Army with knuckledraggers like the prosecutor, judge, and unit commander involved in this case.

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