All the real news is on Page A-10.
In today’s LA Times page A-10 informs us that the Bushies are budgeting and planning for a military future as if Iraq had never happened. In other words, low troop numbers, low budget for armor, plan as if we will not have to do this again and again.
Beneath that we learn that 43 year-old Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Junior will have to pay a $6000 fine and be confined to his home, office, and church for 60 days. This is considered appropriate punishment for taking a 57 year-old Iraqi General who had surrendered to US troops, standing by while two CIA operatives beat the General with rubber hoses for 30 minutes, then taking the General up to a roof and water-boarding him. Not satisfied with the results the next day Welshofer stuffed the General face-first into a sleeping bag, wrapped him in electrical wire and sat on his chest until he died 20 minutes later.
The next day in a fit of remorse Welshofer requested a new sleeping bag.
Welshofer is a 19 year veteran of the armed services and the military tribunal was evidently concerned that if they busted him for first-degree murder he might not get that pension he so richly deserves come July.
Don’t lose sleep though. This sort of thing has only happened 200 times since the War for Iraqi Freedom began.
Look for Welshofer to appear as a Fox News commentator come this Fall.
And don’t get me started on page A-11.
According to an editorial in the Belfast Telegraph: “If ever there was a single moment that illustrates the moral bankruptcy of the US in Iraq it was the trial of Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer.”[