No sex, no scandal. Sorry.
A British soldier has become the first to admit to a war crime after pleading guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians, at a court martial. Cpl Donald Payne, 35, of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, pleaded guilty to the charge at the start of a court martial involving seven UK soldiers.
Cpl Donald Payne-manslaughter, inhumane treatment, perverting the course of justice
L/Cpl Wayne Crowcroft – inhumane treatment of persons
Pte Darren Fallon – inhumane treatment of persons
Sgt Kelvin Stacey – actual bodily harm, alternatively assault
Warrant Officer Mark Davies – negligently performing a duty
Maj Michael Peebles – negligently performing a duty
Col Jorge Mendonca – negligently performing a duty
… in 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.
“Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II,” he said. …
War and Piece: Walter Pincus on Waterboarding.