COLUMBUS, Ohio - A military panel in Kuwait convicted a US soldier of being cruel and mistreating fellow soldiers, a case undertaken after an Army private from Ohio committed suicide in Iraq.
Then what do you call what we have done to the Iraqis?
Staff Sergeant Enoch Chatman of West Covina, Calif., was convicted last week on two violations of the cruelty and maltreatment article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Olson, a military spokesman in Iraq. Chatman was one of four soldiers accused of mistreating others in their platoon in Iraq through verbal abuse, physical punishment, and ridicule.
The investigation was prompted by the August death of Private Keiffer Wilhelm, who grew up in Willard in northwest Ohio. Wilhelm, 19, was in Iraq with his new platoon for just 10 days before he killed himself. His family believes he was treated so badly that he took his own life, but the military has determined there was no direct evidence the four soldiers’ misconduct caused the death....
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