Politics As Usual

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Originally posted by Not Me

• SALEM -- A soldier initially listed as killed in action while riding in the same doomed convoy as former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch actually had been captured by Iraqi fighters before he was killed, the Oregon National Guard said Thursday.
  
  Walters "was held separately from his fellow soldiers and killed while in custody," said Guard spokesman Maj. Arnold Strong.
  
  The investigation announced Thursday revealed the fatal abuse of an American prisoner of war at the hands of Iraqis, Strong said.
  
  "He was executed -- shot twice in the back," Strong said Thursday. "An Iraqi ambulance driver witnessed six Fedayeen rebels standing outside a building guarding him while he was still alive. That same witness evacuated his dead body to a hospital."
  
  Defense investigators confirmed the account by matching Walters' DNA to a blood splatter on the wall where he was executed, Strong said. He died from two gunshot wounds to the back, fired from more than 20 feet away, according to Strong's account of the investigation findings.
  
  Empty gun magazines were found near where Walters was captured, suggesting he fired until ammunition ran out. Before his capture, he was shot in the leg and stabbed three times in the abdomen with a bayonet, Strong cited the report as saying.
  
  It was not clear whether Walters would have died from the bayonet wounds had he not been shot in captivity, Strong said.

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2004/05/...gon/news04.txt

Shot in the leg and stabbed with a bayonet sounds like normal military fighting stuff. Believe it or not, people get hurt in fighting! Shot in the back of the head twice is not torture in the least. It's a generally a quick, merciful death. I'd rather be shot in the head than slowly suffocated while being kicked.