July 16, 2008
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_hr/071608rivkin.pdf
(This is shown by PDF and is lengthy to read, but notice the date.)
My husband (formerly) First Sergeant John Hatley was fighting in Baghdad, Iraq for OIF 06-08). So yes, people in the higher rungs were already aware that the “detainee catch and release policy” was flawed and that something needed to be done. Meanwhile, our poor soldiers are out there in the midst of battle, trying desperately to juggle fighting the enemy and adhering to being told to act like CSI in regards to detainees. Our soldiers tried to turn them in, but were called and told to let them go, due to so-called “lack of evidence”? This is pure insanity and recently, the policy has actually been changed to even stricter rules that our soldiers must get a “warrant” to turn in detainees? Here it is, one day before the new year, 2010 and the flawed policy remains the same and has gotten even more insane. We cannot afford to continue “allowing” the lives of our precious soldiers be put in jeapordy, to be killed by “second chancers”. It is completely rational and believable that either all or some of the 6 precious soldiers my husband lost in the war, could have been killed by second chancers, previously released by the DHAA or refused by the DHAA for so-called lack of evidence. One soldier of ours that was killed by an IED blast, was in fact killed by an IED that had been detonated by a detainee that had been previously released for so-called “lack of evidence”. So yes. One of our soldiers was killed by a second chancer, but he (insurgent) was never turned in, but instead used as an informant for our unit.
Well, it’s a war for God’s sakes and I understand that, but the vast majority of insurgents being released back out onto the streets does not make any sense. Can you ask yourself, is there any truth in the fact that a senior Pentagon Planner was noted back in 2003, referring to Donald Rumsfeld as “WANTING A WAR ON THE CHEAP”? Think about it a moment and think about how that thought process (decision) could impact the lives of our own, our own soldiers out on the battlefield. Was this fuss over the paranoia from the Abu Garub Prison Scandal incident? Is it true that our government became so hyper sensitive to the treatment of enemy combatants and also the possible costs for housing POW’s for the duration of the war? Aren’t we supposed to detain (hold) POW”s in wars anymore? If someone could share their thoughts on all this, please do. I am desperately trying to understand this flawed, detainee catch and release policy. With this cloud of political correctness going on these days and this mentality of “being nice to the enemy combatants”, how can anyone not be questioning those who are making these decisions? The direction our country is going in, truley horrifies me.
I just don’t see the oversight. I haven’t heard of any as of yet. Have you?
~Mrs. Kim Hatley
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