The U.S. announced today that eight U.S. Marine reservists have been charged with mistreating Iraqi POWs. Two of the eight reservists, Maj. Clark Paulus and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez are charged with negligent homicide in the June death of one prisoner.

Paulus was also charged with dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, making a false official statement and assault. Hernandez also faces charges of dereliction, cruelty and maltreatment, and assault.

We reported on this incident back in June, here. The Washington Post report is here. US Central Command issued this press release about the commencement of an investigation into the death.

This is not the only such incident that has been investigated. In August, we reported on military hearings conducted into reports of mistreatment of Iraqi POW's by four reservists from the 320th Military Police Battalion, based in Ashley, Pa. Among those allegations: kicking, punching, breaking one prisoner's nose and holding prisoners down while encouraging others to kick them.

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Jay Shaft has a five part series of interviews with U.S. soldiers who have returned from serving in Iraq, published in the New Zealand Scoop. From Part III of US Soldiers to America: Bring Us Home Now:

I had the unique opportunity to interview five US military servicemen who just got back from Iraq, or in the case of two men, corresponded with their wives so that I could ask questions of these soldiers by mail. When the two I corresponded with came back just last week, I was able to complete the interviews I started several months ago with some new details on how the war is actually going.

I was shocked and angered when I found out how many of the service men hate being in Iraq and want nothing to do with rebuilding and policing the devastated nation. From the conversations I had, many soldiers never wanted to go over to Iraq and fight, and the ones who had were now convinced of the awful crime that had been committed against Iraq and our own troops. I was told very few soldiers now believe in staying in Iraq, or want to stay in the country and serve any more days.

So this is how we treat our returning soldiers. The UPI reports on hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. troops held in squalor:

Hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait -- sometimes for months -- to see doctors.

The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living conditions are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, that many of them believe the Army is trying push them out with reduced benefits for their ailments. One document shown to UPI states that no more doctor appointments are available from Oct. 14 through Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day.

....One month after President Bush greeted soldiers at Fort Stewart -- home of the famed Third Infantry Division -- as heroes on their return from Iraq, approximately 600 sick or injured members of the Army Reserves and National Guard are warehoused in rows of spare, steamy and dark cement barracks in a sandy field, waiting for doctors to treat their wounds or illnesses.

The Reserve and National Guard soldiers are on what the Army calls "medical hold," while the Army decides how sick or disabled they are and what benefits -- if any -- they should get as a result.

Disgusting.

Rep. John Conyers is great sometimes. Like today. Check out Buzzflash which reprints this letter Conyers wrote to Rumsfeld complaining about Lt. Gen. Wesley Boykin's inappropriate religious comments:

While every American has the freedom to speak his mind and express his opinion, it is essential that those who hold high profile, policymaking positions in our government exercise judgment in their public speaking. Lt. Gen. Boykin clearly lacks such judgment. I urge you to reassign or reprimand him; we cannot afford to have such an extremist speaking on behalf of our nation and our military.

Conyers provides more details about Boykin's past statements:

Lt. Gen. Boykin's remarks over the past few years, including remarks that Islamic extremists hate the United States because "we're a Christian nation," that "our spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus," that President Bush "is in the White House because God put him there," and that Boykin's "god was a real god and [the Muslim god] was an idol," are disgraceful and wholly inappropriate for a man in his position. These remarks are inflammatory to Muslims in our communities and abroad.

Four U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the past day.

"The deaths bring to 101 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations May 1."

We've all heard about suicide attempts at Guantanamo. But now, we learn, the Army is Concerned About Suicides of U.S. Troops in Iraq:

At least 13 U.S. troops have committed suicide in Iraq, representing more than 10 percent of American noncombat deaths there, and the Army dispatched a suicide-prevention expert to assess the problem, officials said on Thursday.

At least 11 U.S. Army soldiers have committed suicide during Iraq operations, most with self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and two Marines have committed suicide using firearms, officials said.

Our view: What are we waitng for? Bring our troops home now.

Update: Check out Scrivner's Error who relates his first hand experience with the issue.

Update: Reuters is reporting our troops may stay in Iraq until 2006.

This is shaping up to be another big embarassment for the Administration--see Dubious Letters From GIs In Iraq --Counterspin is on top of it, his latest update is here.

The LA Times article on the letters is here.

The Miami Herald today reprints a letter from Tim Predmore, on active duty with the 101st Airborne Division near Mosul, Iraq. The letter was originally published in the Peoria Times, but if you missed it last time around, give it a read now. It begins:

For more than six months I have participated in what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.

It ends with:

My time is almost done. We soldiers have faced death in Iraq without reason or justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose job it is to protect them rather than their leader's interest?

Baghdad says it is experiencing a devastating surge of illegal drug consumption among children and former prisoners released from jail right before the war. The graphic picture of a (pre-) teen sniffing what is said to be paint thinner while holding a gun looks a little staged to us, but we don't doubt illegal drug use has increased in Baghdad.

However, we think it's simplistic to blame the crisis on the former prisoners, as opposed to residual effects of the U.S. war. The Administration's failure to have an adequate after-war plan is the real culprit in our view.

It looks pretty clear that the U.S. will be flying solo in rebuilding Iraq. The United Nations wants no part. Neither does the Iraqi Governing Council.

"They're on their own," a U.N. official said. "It's just between them and the American taxpayer."

We'd say its going to be between the taxpayers and their voting booths come November, 2004.

The father of a U.S. soldier slain in Iraq tells President Bush, 'You lied, they died'.

Fernando Suarez, whose 20-year-old son, Jesus, was one of the first fatalities, said: "My son died because Bush lied."

Mr Suarez, from Escondido, California, speaking at a press conference to publicise tomorrow's anti-war demonstrations in eight US cities, said that about 1,300 parents of troops stationed in Iraq were involved in a movement against the oc cupation. "It is time for these troops to come home," said Mr Suarez. "Neither my wife nor my family want more children to die in this illegal war. We are no less patriotic for wanting peace. Bush wants $87bn [£52m] for this war, but what does he give us for our schools?" he asked.

In another expression of protest against Bush and his Administration, two fathers of slain soldiers took out a full page ad in the New York Times calling for Rumsfeld's resignation.

"Donald Rumsfeld Betrayed My Sons and Our Nation. It's Time For Him to Go," said the headline of the ad, which was signed by Larry Syverson from Richmond, Virginia. The ad was paid for by MoveOn.org, an internet-based organisation.

It is estimated that 1,300 parents of troops sent to Iraq have joined an opposition movement.

Now that Bush realizes the U.N. and other nations won't be joining us in Iraq, he's called up another 10,000 for duty. Another 5,000 are on alert to be called.

We think Dean and Kerry got it right this week when they called on Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz to resign. Their reasons: deceiving the country in their statements on Iraq and inadequate planning for the post-war program. [link fixed]