Several threads are discussing justice at the moment. Convicted US killer Amanda Knox is claiming to be confused because a court had mistakenly freed her. US prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in their prosecution of terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. ABC is defending its well remunerated status attacking Australia while claiming to hate conservatives. ALP is defending its many choices of facilitating corruption in the workplace, recently threatening the existence of Shepparton. It is illustrative to look at an abuse of power from WW2. The US army in WW2 was different to what it is today. Today it is a volunteer force. In WW2, there was conscription. Eddie Slovik. Eddie (born 1920) was from a Polish American family in Detroit. From age 12, he had been involved with petty theft, break and enter and disturbing the peace. He was paroled in 38 after crashing a car with two friends while drunk. He was jailed in 39. Paroled in 42, he became a book keeper for a plumber and married. Because of his convictions, he was unfit for duty, but soon after the first anniversary of his wedding, he was ruled fit. He was drafted. Trained until January 44 and sent to France in August 44. Wikipedia reports Canadian military police unit and remained with them for the next six weeks. Tankey wrote to their regiment to explain their absence before he and Slovik reported to their unit for duty on October 7, 1944. The US Armys rapid advance through France had caused many replacement soldiers to have trouble finding their assigned units, and so no charges were filed against Slovik or Tankey. The following day on October 8, Slovik informed his company commander, Captain Ralph Grotte, that he was too scared to serve in a front-line rifle company and asked to be reassigned to a rear area unit. He told Grotte that he would run away if he were assigned to a rifle unit, and asked his captain if that would constitute desertion. Grotte confirmed that it would. He refused Sloviks request for reassignment and sent him to a rifle platoon.[8]The next day, October 9, Slovik deserted from his infantry unit. His friend, John Tankey, caught up with him and attempted to persuade him to stay, but Sloviks only comment was that his mind was made up. Slovik walked several miles to the rear and approached an enlisted cook at a headquarters detachment, presenting him with a note which stated: I, Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik, 36896415, confess to the desertion of the United States Army. At the time of my desertion we were in Albuff [Elbeuf] in France. I came to Albuff as a replacement. They were shelling the town and we were told to dig in for the night. The following morning they were shelling us again. I was so scared, nerves and trembling, that at the time the other replacements moved out, I couldn’t move. I stayed there in my fox hole till it was quiet and I was able to move. I then walked into town. Not seeing any of our troops, so I stayed over night at a French hospital. The next morning I turned myself over to the Canadian Provost Corp. After being with them six weeks I was turned over to American M.R. They turned me loose. I told my commanding officer my story. I said that if I had to go out there again Id run away. He said there was nothing he could do for me so I ran away again AND ILL RUN AWAY AGAIN IF I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE. —Signed Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik A.S.N. 36896415[4]The cook summoned his company commander and an MP, who read the note and urged Slovik to destroy it before he was taken into custody, which Slovik refused. He was brought beforeLieutenant Colonel Ross Henbest, who again offered him the opportunity to tear up the note, return to his unit, and face no further charges. After Slovik again refused, Henbest ordered Slovik to write another note on the back of the first one stating that he fully understood the legal consequences of deliberately incriminating himself with the note and that it would be used as evidence against him in a court martial. Slovik was taken into custody and confined to the division stockade. The divisional judge advocate, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Sommer, again offered Slovik an opportunity to rejoin his unit and have the charges against him suspended. He offered to transfer Slovik to a different infantry regiment where no one would know of his past and he could start with a clean slate. Slovik, convinced that he would face only jail time, which he had experienced and found preferable to combat, declined these offers, saying, Ive made up my mind. Ill take my court martial.> The court martial found Eddie guilty of desertion and he was given the death penalty. He appealed, and his appeal was heard by Eisenhower, who declined to commute the sentence. On this day, in 1945, Eddie was executed by firing squad. Nobody could be excused from fighting, but the death penalty is normally reserved for crimes like rape, murder or desertion under fire. Eddie had not done any of those things. It is unlikely President Truman cared. Within months of the sentence being carried out, fighting stopped. Eddie merely wanted to live, but was still willing to serve. In contrast, Knox merely wants to get away with murder. Knox does not face a death penalty. There is no doubt about Tsarnaevs terrorist activity, only his justification of which there is no excuse. People have died from the activity of the ABC and ALP, that should not be excused.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:37:28 +0000
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