Even MacArthur “personally signed the order to hang an American soldier convicted of murdering civilians during World War II. In all, there were more than 140 such executions for violations of the Articles of War — rape, murder, or both — from 1941 to 1945.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol... - ThreadSky

macwbishop.bsky.social • 133 days ago

Even MacArthur “personally signed the order to hang an American soldier convicted of murdering civilians during World War II. In all, there were more than 140 such executions for violations of the Articles of War — rape, murder, or both — from 1941 to 1945.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/pete-hegseth-trump-pentagon-reckoning-1235178977/

Comments

nodakem.bsky.social•133 days ago

I think it started earlier than you mentioned in the article. When I was stationed just outside Kabul in ‘14 I remember one contractor tell me he thought we (USA) were headed for civil war. He was a lunatic but he had a better read of our country at the time than I did.

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

I mean I focus on 2007 onwards but yeah, I was hearing stuff like that even before 9/11.

glowballist.bsky.social•132 days ago

"Anti-establishment" and yet he supports the worst of what the establishment was responsible for in the past two decades.

kathytrent.bsky.social•133 days ago

More sane washing unqualified people. Regardless of what we think about Iraq and Afghanistan, and I was opposed to both, he’s a bad pick who will ony punish women and people of color. Your white privilege is hiding behind your words.

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

It’s pretty easy to tell you didn’t read the actual piece I wrote. If you did, you might come away with different conclusions. But it’s a free country. Thanks for engaging, and enjoy your evening.

kathytrent.bsky.social•132 days ago

Oh, I read it.

ekongkaar.bsky.social•133 days ago

Appreciate you highlighting this article. I found it insightful and useful.

alexianortonjones.bsky.social•133 days ago

Well if you put in a cowboy hat with an American flag design, he qualifies, doesn’t he? Isn’t the American flag “theirs”? 🙄

rchristo0407.bsky.social•133 days ago

Yes, correct, one was a serial killer GI who murdered 3 women in Melbourne Australia in 1941. The US command allowed him to be executed by Australian authorities in 1942.

burntundertones.bsky.social•132 days ago

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

At the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery & Memorial in northern France, where 6,013 Americans killed in WWII lay buried, 100m away is “Plot E,” over which no flag is permitted to fly, with 94 numbered markers instead of headstones with names. These are US soldiers executed by the military for war crimes.

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

They are called “the dishonored dead.” While that sounds terribly sad, every single one of them was responsible for the rape or murder (or both) of 26 fellow soldiers and 71 Allied civilians.

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

The one exception, executed on Jan. 31st, 1945 for desertion, was one Pvt Eddie Slovik – but his remains were disinterred and returned to his family in the US in 1987.

macwbishop.bsky.social•132 days ago

*Correction, I mistakenly refer to the victims as "Allied civilians." Setting aside whether it is appropriate to classify the belligerent status of civilians (who by definition are not members of an armed force or group), the victims were from both friendly and enemy nations.

dudiligence.bsky.social•132 days ago

Should Democracy respect multiple points of view, And ask the same of the proponents of various points of view?

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

“I can’t be bothered to read what you actually wrote, but here is my hot take about why the imaginary piece I want to argue about is wrong.”

halfbrickmccurdy.bsky.social•133 days ago

That was some good reading thank you, an antidote to those commentators who conflate dismissing the individual with ignoring the milleu they emerged from.

ibmmuseum.bsky.social•133 days ago

Hegseth was in the IRR at the time of the (alleged) sexual assault - A part of me wants him recalled to Active Duty and charged under the UCMJ.

onemoreperson.bsky.social•133 days ago

Ignoring atrocities committed on adversaries whether soldier or civilian, will result in every country using it as an excuse to use it on their enemies. Also civilians don’t have the protection a soldier has and are a vulnerable. Israel has set a new low bar for humanity, and America is following.

geedunk.bsky.social•133 days ago

One of the Nazis' popular early crowd pleasers was the trope that the elites and Jews had stabbed the WW1 German soldiers in the back.

macwbishop.bsky.social•133 days ago

Which I directly reference in the article.

augustinebow.bsky.social•133 days ago

Wow!

booksrmanna.bsky.social•133 days ago

Well, we have to protect all soldiers. Rie didn't tie anyhabds. And a failed war on terrorism? Who negotiated the release of Taliban prisoners? Trump, that's who so give me a break.

ato75.bsky.social•132 days ago

That is very unfortunate. Deliberate and casual execution of civilians in war is a crime and shouldn't be condoned in way.

notimeforbs.bsky.social•133 days ago

Having heard thank you from even a fraction of family members saved, for endless babies that would live to see a future, being spared from terror plots prevented here and abroad..
A days headline (if lucky) unappreciated then forgotten, I'd say the flat use of "failure" depends on perspective.

gjonc64.bsky.social•132 days ago

I was hoping for a man of substance not substandards

paul-streen.bsky.social•133 days ago

My father served in North Africa during WWII. As an officer he was ordered to witness the hanging of a U.S. soldier that raped a native woman. Even today I support the idea of the death penalty for rapists. It is a horrible, heinous crime.

dstamos-jetdriver.bsky.social•133 days ago

These wars were all GOP wars. Started by GOP presidents, for political purposes. That had better be the very first fact mentioned if we're going to do some soul searching.

tazman108.bsky.social•133 days ago

They really have no understanding that the "war on terror" was an exercise in futility from the get go. Fucking morons.

brewlord.bsky.social•131 days ago

Anyone who didn't think leaving Afghanistan wasn't going to be a clusterfuck, wasn't paying attention. We had been there 20 years, the only way to prevent the collapse was either stay forever, or really get Roman Empire on the country, and war crime even more.

tazman108.bsky.social•131 days ago

The US and the UK should never have been there in the first place. If anyone who studied history had been in charge it would not have happened. The British lost an army their in the 18 hundreds. The Russians lost countless thousands in the 1980s. It's a graveyard and a monument to Western hubris.