OUR WORST MOMENTS IN THIS WAR HAVE BROUGHT OUT OUR BEST:

Soldier Convicted for Attacking Fellow Troops (Estes Thompson, April 21, 2005, The Associated Press)

An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Hasan Akbar, 33, told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve "maximum carnage" on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division. [...]

Killed in the middle-of-the-night attack were Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27, who was shot in the back, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, who suffered 83 shrapnel wounds. The 101st was preparing to move into Iraq in support of the U.S. invasion when the attack occurred in March 2003.

"Sgt. Akbar executed that attack with a cool mind," prosecutor Capt. Robert McGovern said during closing arguments, cocking Akbar's unloaded M-4 rifle and pulling the trigger twice for emphasis. "He sought maximum carnage."

The prosecutor said Akbar planned carefully and stole grenades that would achieve maximum destruction in the brigade command section of Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait.

That was a really scary moment, on its surface seemingly raising the possibility that there could be a Fifth Column within the U.S. and most importantly its military. What's most notable is how calmly we reacted to it. Imagine the reprisals that would have followed in most other times and places? Heck, FDR launched reprisals against the Nisei and none of them had done anything wrong.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 21, 2005 8:52 PM