Know your BFEE: They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit... [View All]

[Octafish]

Among the 3,096 United States service personnel killed in Iraq is Col. Ted Westhusing. The U.S. Army’s top military ethicist and a full-time professor at West Point, Col. Westhusing volunteered for service in Iraq in order to better teach his cadet charges. He died on June 5, 2005, the victim of a gunshot wound to the head.



In Iraq, Col. Westhusing was charged with oversight of the training of Iraq’s new security forces. Among his responsibilities were the investigation of reported contract irregularities by U.S. Investigations Services (USIS) and human rights abuses by its civilian employees.

Once a federal agency, USIS became a privatized government contractor growing fat off the trough of Uncle Sam while executives lined their numbered Swiss bank accounts with big bucks off the American taxpayer. The average American would probably never guess who is a Big Time investor in USIS—The Carlyle Group.

West Point professor dies in Iraq

Army Col Theodore S. Westhusing

44, of Dallas; assigned to the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.; serving with the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq; died June 5 of non-combat-related injuries in Baghdad.

By Shaun Schafer
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. — A West Point professor who volunteered to serve in Iraq has been killed in action, family members said Monday.

Col. Ted S. Westhusing, 45, was killed in action on Sunday, family members said Monday. They did not release specifics on how he was killed. Family members received official notification of the death from the military late Sunday.

Westhusing, a 1979 graduate of Jenks High School, had doctorates in Russian, philosophy and military strategy, his eldest brother Tim Westhusing of Broken Arrow, said Monday.

“He wanted to go over there and make things better,” Tim Westhusing said. “He has a wife and three children. He didn’t have to go…”

SNIP…

Westhusing graduated from West Point in 1983. He left for Iraq near the end of 2004 and was helping train the Iraqi army, working as counter-terrorism and special operations director under Lt. Gen. David Petraeus.

CONTINUED…

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/900007.html

Some say he committed suicide, but those who know him best say the Colonel would never do that.



One thing’s for certain: Col. Westhusing WAS bothered by certain companies making Big Bucks off the war in Iraq.

A Journey That Ended in Anguish

Col. Ted Westhusing, a military ethicist who volunteered to go to Iraq, was upset by what he saw. His apparent suicide raises questions.

by T. Christian Miller
The Los Angeles Times
November 27th, 2005

"War is the hardest place to make moral judgments."
- Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics

EXCERPT…

Westhusing, 44, was no ordinary officer. He was one of the Army's leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor.

So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when he learned of possible corruption by U.S. contractors in Iraq. A few weeks before he died, Westhusing received an anonymous complaint that a private security company he oversaw had cheated the U.S. government and committed human rights violations. Westhusing confronted the contractor and reported the concerns to superiors, who launched an investigation.

In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.

SNIP…

The colonel began to complain to colleagues about "his dislike of the contractors," who, he said, "were paid too much money by the government," according to one captain.

"The meetings were never easy and always contentious. The contracts were in dispute and always under discussion," an Army Corps of Engineers official told investigators.

SNIP…

"I heard something in his voice," (his wife, recalling a phone conversation,) told investigators, according to a transcript of the interview. "In Ted's voice, there was fear. He did not like the nighttime and being alone."

SNIP…

"He was sick of money-grubbing contractors," the official recounted. Westhusing said that "he had not come over to Iraq for this."

CONTINUED…

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9312

Col. Westhusing wasn’t just any old officer. He was the U.S. Army’s top ethicist, a full-time professor at West Point, the United States Military Academy. Colleagues and comrades-in-arms are on-record as saying he was the last person they believed would ever take his own life.

Something must have really bothered this man, for him to consider suicide.

Perhaps there is something more sinister. Col. Westhusing is reported to have expressed concerns for his life. I’m not sure if it’s mere coincidence that his bodyguard was off on a week’s worth of R&R when the shooting occurred.



A few prominent members of the Carlyle Group…

Pentagon, Inc.

Lambert at Corrente points out the dearth of military honor in Iraq, replaced by profit motive. Quoting from an L.A. Times piece,

(Col. Ted) Westhusing, 44 was one of the Army’s leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor.

In Iraq, Col. Westhusing encountered the sort of corruption we've all been talking about since the first bombs dropped.

So it was only natural that Westhusing acted when he learned of possible corruption by U.S. contractors in Iraq. … Westhusing received an anonymous complaint that a private security company he oversaw had cheated the U.S. government and committed human rights violations. Westhusing confronted the contractor and reported the concerns to superiors, who launched an investigation.

In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.

In January, Westhusing began work on what the Pentagon considered the most important mission in Iraq: training Iraqi forces to take over security duties from U.S. troops.

Westhusing’s task was to oversee a private security company, Virginia-based USIS, which had contracts worth $79 million to train a corps of Iraqi police to conduct special operations.

Carlyle Group = George H.W. Bush, plus other Establishment luminaries, always perfectly placed to profit from war.

In May, Westhusing received an anonymous four-page letter that contained detailed allegations of wrongdoing by USIS.

The writer accused USIS of deliberately shorting the government on the number of trainers to increase its profit margin. More seriously, the writer detailed two incidents in which USIS contractors allegedly had witnessed or participated in the killing of Iraqis. (Hmmm; reminds me of CACI)

In a second incident, the letter says, a USIS employee saw Iraqi police trainees kill two innocent Iraqi civilians, then covered it up. A USIS manager “did not want it reported because he thought it would put his contract at risk.”

SNIP...

About 1 p.m., a USIS manager went looking for Westhusing because he was scheduled for a ride back to the Green Zone. After getting no answer, the manager returned about 15 minutes later. Another USIS employee peeked through a window. He saw Westhusing lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

The manager rushed into the trailer and tried to revive Westhusing. The manager told investigators that he picked up the pistol at Westhusing’s feet and tossed it onto the bed.

“I knew people would show up,” that manager said later in attempting to explain why he had handled the weapon. “With 30 years from military and law enforcement training, I did not want the weapon to get bumped and go off.”

Sure thing, buddy.

After a three-month inquiry, investigators declared Westhusing’s death a suicide. A test showed gunpowder residue on his hands. A shell casing in the room bore markings indicating it had been fired from his service revolver.

Then there was the note.

Investigators found it lying on Westhusing’s bed. The handwriting matched his.

Most of the letter is a wrenching account of a struggle for honor in a strange land.

“I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human rights abuse and liars. I am sullied,” it says. “I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.

“Death before being dishonored any more.”

CONTINUED...

http://adreampuppet.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_adreampuppet_archive.html

MI Complex makes money off of war. Hmmm. What name immediately jumps to mind?

Of curse, the Bush Family Evil Empire also kills members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, the United States Air Force, the United States Coast Guard and just about every other service, agency and arm of We the People for profit.

“Hey!” Poppy Doc and Baby Doc Bush and their cronies say, “It’s your duty.”



They think we are nothing more than their cannon fodder. Gee. That’s how kings and NAZIs think, not American Presidents and real Americans. Real Americans think all people are created equal and have equal rights under the law, especially in times of war.