Blogs and Stories
Serving Under the Army's Most Ruthless Soldier
Greg Franz
When Scott Beauchamp first described misconduct by American soldiers in Baghdad, the political right accused him of lying. Last week, one of the soldiers who denounced him became the highest-ranking service member to be found guilty of murder in the Iraq war. Beauchamp’s wife, Elspeth Reeve, reports from his trial.
In the spring of 2007, four blindfolded and zip-cuffed men stood in a line along a shallow and dirty canal in southwest Baghdad. Earlier that day, American soldiers had found them inside a house alongside a cache of weapons. Standard operating procedure required that the prisoners be taken to a detention facility, but then-First Sergeant John E. Hatley, the top NCO of Alpha Company 1-18 Infantry Regiment, told the soldiers who captured the men that instead they would “take care” of them. The prisoners were brought to the canal, shot in the back of the head, and dumped into the water.
“I mean, it's not like bodies were littering the streets or anything, but we'd pick up a lot of them and took them to the IP station, before they decided to start killing us more, instead of each other.”
Last week, Hatley was convicted of premeditated murder, based solely on the testimony of his soldiers, who wept at his conviction. He became the highest-ranking service member to be found guilty of premeditated murder in the Iraq war—a fact that earned his trial national attention. But the case was of particular interest to me because my husband had served under him in Alpha 1-18 (which has since been reflagged as part of the 172nd Infantry Brigade).
My husband, Scott Beauchamp, had also brought attention to the unit in the summer of 2007, when he wrote an essay in The New Republic describing how the stress of the war zone led soldiers to do things they wouldn't do in civilian life: running over dogs with Bradleys, goofing around with a skull fragment they'd found near some buildings, and making fun of a disfigured lady in a mess hall. Compared to the crime Hatley and two others are now known to have committed only a few months earlier, Scott’s essay seems almost quaint, but at the time of its publication, it provoked enormous controversy. Horror and fury came from all over the right wing, which accused Scott of lying. (Only one fact in Scott’s piece—the location of one of the incidents he described—was ever proven incorrect and it was discovered because Scott himself admitted to misremembering it. Nevertheless, the editors at The New Republic retracted when they became frustrated in trying to contact Scott, which was difficult in light of the fact that his superiors in Iraq had punished him with 20-hour work shifts.)
Hatley was, to say the least, an imposing figure who had no tolerance for soldiers embarrassing the unit. When the controversy over Scott’s piece erupted, Hatley personally weighed in, emailing a blogger to say “My soldiers conduct [sic] is consistently honorable. This soldier has other underlining [sic] issues which I'm sure will come out in the course of the investigation.” So when I heard rumors in early 2008 that the same first sergeant, who had insisted when denouncing my husband that his soldiers’ conduct was “consistently honorable,” was being investigated for murder, I was naturally intrigued. When charges were pressed and a trial date was set for this month, I booked a ticket for Vilseck, Germany, where he would be tried.
In Vilseck, the yard near the courthouse had the feel of a summer barbecue or reunion because many of the witnesses had served under Hatley in Iraq and most were not allowed to watch the proceedings. It was sunny and warm, and they hung out in the waiting room and outside, smoking infinite cigarettes, and in the courtroom we could sometimes hear them laughing.
Many of these witnesses still revered Hatley. In the post's food court, Michael Leahy, a soldier who had been convicted a few weeks earlier for the same crime, said that testifying would be the hardest thing he'd ever done. When he took the stand, he called Hatley the “one of the greatest men I ever met.” Later, in Burger King, retired Command Sergeant Major Israr Choudhri, a character witness for the defense, said he wanted me to know that Hatley walked among giants and would have died for his soldiers. He walked away, and later approached me again to tell me about the gruesome death of one of his soldiers. A junior NCO later explained why Choudhri and others did this: “They're trying to make you understand why they're there supporting a man who is guilty under the law. I understand he is guilty under the law. But I understand why they were there.”
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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Barbara Kantrowitz is a contributing editor at Newsweek and co-author of The Menopause Book (Workman Publishing, 2009).
Elspeth Reeve is a writer living in New York. She has written for Time, New York, and The New Republic.
Suicidal Soldiers
Elspeth Reeve is a writer living in New York. She has written for Time, New York, and The New Republic.
I don't think he should be found guilty. He was sent to find WMD's/liberate Iraqis/kill so he is not to blame.
Let this be a lesson to all the chickenhawks who don't serve. War does terrible things to people. Supporting the troops and supporting war are two different things. What did we achieve in Iraq? Cheap gas, a base of operations, the hatred of the surrounding nations. And thousands of ruined lives. But then...
Glenn Beck
Sean Hannity
Bill O'Reilly
Roger Ailes
Mark Levin
Ann Coulter
Brit Hume
Monica Crowley
Dick Morris
Karl Rove
Dick Cheyney
Wouldn't know about war. Only cheerleading for war.
I would stand up and clap at this post, but I don't know how to do that with typed words. The best I can do is say... AMEN!
Elspeth is correct.... specially the first 3 should have been shot at sight...(when they came out of their mother.. or been flushed out with the condom) !!! P/S.. Ann �s alright... she�s character... I honestly do like her... but then.. I�m not well like by most people myself... I don�t mind... My 2 wives and one daughter never wavered and that�s enough for any man.. I�ve been the Navy�s trouble shooter and problem solver putting a lot of useless jerks on the block !! Life is no pushover... my Navajo dad used to claim.... Donah///
Um... They tried that one at Nuremberg. It didn't fly then either.
Recently, a 90 year old man, John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi era camp guard in Poland, was deported to Germany from the USA to stand trial for "war crimes". And they are doing this to him and his family even though he was already tried and acquitted on similar charges after being deported to Israel 20 years ago.
So, to claim this murderer doesn't warrant punishment is incorrect.
But these days, the only way he could have been confident of being able to commit murder without any punishment is if he were a Zionist Apartheid racist thug in the IDF shooting some Palestinian children in the back.
Another "look the other way" crime he could have perpetrated with impunity is spying on Americans while working for AIPAC.
Then he would have walked scott free and we'd have never heard anything about it.
Excellent writing, Elspeth, injoyable reading for one who's never been at war.
Well, I can only say to these guys that I served as an infantry NCO in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I didn't piss my humanity away.
I had a First Sergeant who took excellent care of his soldiers, and looked out for their moral as well as physical well-being and demanded that we NCOs in the company do the same. Hatley stated that he "loved and defended soldiers for half my life," that his soldiers were like his sons, and that there was nothing he wouldn't do to protect them, and that he'd had his "honor and courage questioned by so many who'd never had theirs tested."
So he protected his sons by turning them into murderers. Good job, that.
If his personal requirement is that he be judged only by those who have had their honor and courage tested, then I have no problem telling him and anyone else that John E. Hatley is a failure as a combat leader and a man because he led his men to damnation in the act of 'protecting' them. He forgot that those who would fight monsters must take care not to become that which they behold, and those who would lead monster fighters must take care to protect the young men under their charge from becoming monsters themselves.
War is Hell. When ANY government sends professional killers (ie, Soldiers) into a combat zone for 15 month stints multiple times what do people expect to happen? Murder is wrong but Soldier's are trained and told to kill.
Hatley is guilty. The Government is guilty for sending him there. We are guilty for electing that government. Share the wealth and share the blame. Gotta love Democracy.
Professional Killers? Does that make a non-soldier in a harrowing situation an amateur killer? This characterization of people in military is an example of the misunderstanding of soldiers Reeve presented here.
Ms. Reeve -
The fact that Hatley was convicted of murder does not exonerate your husband from practicing unethical journalism, among other things. Certain aspects of his writing were challenged or contradicted by sources other than Hatley, and constitute fabulism.
In addition, some of the outrageous scenes described by your husband stretch his ethical credibility. Apparently, spending time in Kuwait pre-deployment was so scarring for him and his buddies, they were obliged to mock a severely disfigured contractor who no one can precisely vouch for the existence of.
I've been to Iraq several times, seen some bad things and been under stress, and none of it caused me to lose my humanity enough to mock a woman with a "melted face" and upset her. In fact, I would have intervened on her behalf if I saw someone else doing it, and so would a lot of Americans over there. Rather than such behavior being emblematic of war, I'd argue it's even more of an exception, at least among US military personnel. And yet he wrote:
"It really turns me on -- melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses," he recounted. "My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing...The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall."
Nice guy.
So at best, the critical undermining of Hatley's testimony exonerates your husband's writing and means he told the truth (doubtful). The flip side of that is, your husband is not a particularly ethical person, by his own account.
I'm able to process the fact that Hatley is a murderer, the political right can go overboard in criticism, AND that Beauchamp used the war as a creative writing exercise, all at the same time.
Wonderful piece.
What's important about stories like this is that they reveal the humanity of soldiers who are put into dehumanizing conditions.
We need to know this so we don't send our soldiers into war without good cause.
What Hatley was convicted of is wrong, but I can't say I blame him.Still, measured against the craziness of sending people to kill be killed under insane conditions, convicting Hatley of a crime we basically made him commit is, I guess, part of the collective insanity we call war.
Ms. Reeve -
The fact that Hatley was convicted of murder does not exonerate your husband from practicing unethical journalism, among other things. Certain aspects of his writing were challenged or contradicted by sources other than Hatley, and constitute fabulism.
In addition, some of the outrageous scenes described by your husband stretch his ethical credibility. Apparently, spending time in Kuwait pre-deployment was so scarring for him and his buddies, they were obliged to mock a severely disfigured contractor who no one can precisely vouch for the existence of.
I've been to Iraq several times, seen some bad things and been under stress, and none of it caused me to lose my humanity enough to mock a woman with a "melted face" and upset her. In fact, I would have intervened on her behalf if I saw someone else doing it, and so would a lot of Americans over there. Rather than such behavior being emblematic of war, I'd argue it's even more of an exception, at least among US military personnel. And yet he wrote:
"It really turns me on - melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses," he recounted. "My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing...The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall."
Nice guy.
So at best, the critical undermining of Hatley's testimony exonerates your husband's writing and means he told the truth (doubtful). The flip side of that is, your husband is not a particularly ethical person, by his own account.
I'm able to process the fact that Hatley is a murderer, the political right can go overboard in criticism, AND that Beauchamp used the war as a creative writing exercise, all at the same time.
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When old men and women in congress send their own children to war than maybe they can understand what war is really about. My dead father-in-law use to talk about combat in WWII. He told me a story one time it was hard to believe because I didn't think our soldiers would do bad things. He said when you are in combat you never know what a person is going through and how they are going to act. The told me that they caught a german soldier. He told when of the soldiers to take the prisoner to the rear unit. Well the guys they took him back didn't want to go to the rear unit and the shot him and killed him. I was shocked when he told me that. I asked him what did they do to him. Nothing. So after hearing that I realized war is really hell and civilians are at peril no matter who is there.
Ms Reeve, I understand your point and admire the empathy you show in front of your computer for the murdered Iraqis. You are blessed to live in a nation that send the poor and downtrodden to fight her wars while the well to do idealists stay back and judge. Sergeant Hatley's writing is commensurable to his education. You should have spared him the indignity of mocking his mistakes. I am sure he would not have mocked your lack of noblesse. We keep trying and imprisoning these poor devils who were put in an impossible situation. The masterminders continue to enjoy their riches. Your husband showed a profound lack of awareness when he wrote his pedantic piece in the New Republic. A man would have used his real name.
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wanting,
....Something that seems to lost on taxapayers is the fact that Soldiers and Marines pay taxes too....
That said, I would agree that there are things that happen that are so egregious(sp) that yes, without a doubt, prosecution is warranted....However, there are things that happen "over there" that fall into a bit of a gray area.
The "Good vs. Bad" archetype that's been portrayed historically as it pertains to a war doesn't seem to play out that way all the time in real life. I guess what I'm trying to say is, your words just come off a bit frustratingly arrogant, particularly your last two paragraphs.
This is the problem that I have with soooo many civilians. Not all, just some...You can "disagree without being disagreeable." I just don't feel as though you have "the right" to question something that you'll never understand. It's just my opinion. However, I guess it just is what it is......
I served in the Vietnam War so I feel entitled to comment on war killing and murder. There is a difference between murder and killing in combat. In every war there are murders. It is the duty of the military command structure to insure that soldiers do not murder and if murder is committed those responsible are held to account. Having personally faced the horrors of war I can testify that, at times, I had to reminded myself to act in a civilized manner. I also supervised those under me to act in a civilized manner. I saw that as another one of my duties. War is insanity. In war you go from day to day realizing you move in an insane world but there are rules, there are limits. I have absolutely no patience with any soldier, enlisted or officer, who gives any excuse or justification for murder. Yes, at times it may be difficult to clearly make distinctions, but most times it is quite clear. Shooting people in the back of the head is murder. Every time I read of an atrocity in war I ask, "Where were the officers or NCO's?" Where was the leadership? The real cowards, the real guilty ones are the leaders. Covering up, ignoring, excusing, explaining away murder is one of the reasons military murders continue. As a one time proud soldier I find ex-First Sergeant Hatley a brute and a coward. He let down his men, his unit, his country. Not only is he a murderer but a poor leader. To his men he may have seemed like a great guy and a true brother soldier. He was neither. He let them down. Now some of the boys who loved him are in jail for murder. Some great guy.
I can not fully express my outrage at how some civilians and military people can explain away murder. Thank goodness most of our soldiers, in all wars, have exercised civilized restrain under horrible conditions.
Do I question Hatley's "honor and courage", hell yes! I spit in his face for smearing the honor and courage of all American soldiers by murdering while hiding in our country's uniform.
Take all the Lt.Calley's and Sergeant Hatleys and send them to hell.
wanting I think she used Hartly's quotations to mock his poor grammar. I am not defending Hartley's actions, for which he had been tried and sentenced. I agree that killing someone who has surrendered is wrong. As someone who is serving in the USMC I would not allowed my soldiers to do that. But correct me if I am wrong I believe you have never been in a situation like Hartley's. I always find those with such strong moral convictions and pontificating manners to be unable to hold them after few minutes in a war zone. And for the life of you I know that because I have served in Gulf War I, Bosnia, Operation Iraqi Freedom and spent last year inn Afghanistan
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wanting. Neither slimsoldier nor I endorsed Sgt Hatlley's actions. That is clear to anyone reading our posts. I was a bit upset by what I thought was her pretentious way to try to show her english command highligthing Hatley's grammar mistakes, that is all. I also believe that she was in a personal crusade to see her husband's tormentor and prisoners murderer be sent to prison for the rest of his life. You seem to be extremely frustrated about this incident and I share your frustration. I want to thank you for reminding those of us serving how important it is to behave with decorum while wearing the uniform that taxpayers like you provide.I furthermore agree with you, our job in Iraq is like anyone else's in America and we don't have the right to throw temper tantrums like a spoiled child, although I doubt you have ever heard an active member of the military saying otherwise. Your wise words that "being at war was never in the history of the recorded time been a justificacion for murder or other vicious acts of violence" must be endorsed by anyone with a modicum of history knowledge, (HEAR HEAR SHERMAN). You also assert that the millions of Americans in the US prison system are there as a result of judges and people like you and those in uniform must behave or else. I believe those of us serving are nothing but grateful for that. It is comfitting to know that while we are deployed overseas, citizens like you fight to keep the country under the rule of law and free of crime. I beg you to forgive me if in any ways or means my post sent the wrong message about the men or women serving in the military or if I upset your sense of patriotism or failed to live up to your standards. I hope we could have thousands of people like you in our ranks, ready to defend the ideals so deeply ingrained in our land even with their lives. Unfortunately we can't, for reasons that are unknown to me the "true americans", those who pay their hard earned taxes, those who have excellent grammar, those who are able to keep calm and preserve equanimity under fire, those who attend our better colleges, those who after an IED go off and kill women children and marines understand with a cold head that that is a price of freedom, those invaluable Americans like you never join the ranks. Thanks
I know there are troops out there that don't act like Hatley, Scott, or the guys that seem to think it is amusing to play with a child's remains, or run over dogs for fun. There are troops that not only feel the pressures of the war, but they make us proud even when no one is looking. I know that I have never been to war and don't have the right to question how it has affected soldiers, but I still have faith that there are soldiers out there making us proud in many ways. There are soldiers representing America and doing a great job. I look up to those soldiers. As for the ones mentioned in this article and the one written by Scott, I am disappointed. Disappointed that no one stood up, no one said it was wrong, and everyone blames it on the stress of war. I again don't have the right to comment on those men personally because they did defend our country and I support our troops. I guess I am like a child who finds out Santa isn't real and just wishes that the person who told them he wasn't real was lying. I hope our men and women in the war out there have someone they can look up to and help them through this war, and not lead them down the wrong path. I wish that they didn't have to go through the emotional and physical pain that they do, but I will support them. I also wish that the things going on over there would stop being written like it was yesterdays lunch menu, and that we could also see the reality of war, and not this media dumb downed version of it. Then again, we don't to all be depressed and horrified all the time do we? There is no right or wrong answer it seems. Oh well, I think that is enough of a comment.
fusundo,
Well Said...well said...
wanting,
I have no quarrel with you. Yours and mine would probably be a conversation better had face to face because it's tough to gauge sincerity and it's just as tough to really "say what you mean" via keyboard.
That said, I'll give it a shot. Again, your words are just a bit too much for me.....I myself don't see the uniform as a "get out of jail free card." Never have and never will. My father, who is retired, didn't see the uniform that way and my Brother that is about to start serving doesn't see the uniform that way either. If anything, it's always been my assertion the members of the Military are held to a higher standard than most civilians.
Hell, in my world it's practically a crime to be late for work. Do you not believe that in a world such as this, egregious breaches of the "Rules of Law" aren't dealt with? Trust me, there are Soldiers and Marines doing time right now in Prisons from Germany to California for going too damn far on the battlefield.
You brought up an interesting point about Police and Brutality...In my mind, you can't compare what they do to what happens "over there."
In our world, every day, each and every day (depending on where you are) you are reminded in one way or another that there are people in very close proximity to you that not only wish you grave harm but are actively pursuing differing ways of achieving those aims. I won't go into it here and now because it's pointless but there are things that happen there, images, events that one will never forget...Never.
We leave friends and family "over there." More than just leaving them there, sometimes we watch as they leave this world. We stand around and wait to learn of their fate with one another after we turn them over to the Docs or put them on a "bird."....Only for us, there is no mourning period. Terrible things happen, you deal with them right then because there is rarely a day off....no time to sit and reflect...shit, in most instances, it's right back to work, whatever that means to a particular Soldier/Marine.
What would the typical response of the average human being be in that instance....You're thinking about his family back home...his wife, his kids...you know that they don't even know yet. Probably vengeance but in an ode to just how professionally our Servicemembers go about their jobs, if they were truly as barbaric and poorly trained as many people would like you to believe, there wouldn't be enough time in the day to report about things like this.
No system is perfect and the Military is no different because truly, we do have our bad apples but I say again, in my mind, you can't judge me. You can't judge them. We take care of our own one way or the other.
In my mind, and again, I have nothing against civilians because the military isn't for everyone but in my own mind....Even though there are those among "us" who have made some tremendous transgressions of "the law," I'm still left to ask myself, what kind of person signs up to serve in the Army or the Marine Corps in today's world knowing full well that at some point, he will probably be called upon to leave everything that he/she is comfortable with and go serve in harm's way....?
I'm always aware that no matter what they became, at one point, they were willing to step forward. That will always mean something to me and even though I am disappointed from time to time, I'll never forget that fact.
It certainly isn't desperation...the Army/Marine Corps of yesterday is gone. The standards for joining any branch of the military have been raised drastically.
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wanting,
I think you have me confused with one of the "dito heads" that follow Rush or hang onto every word that whatever talking head Fox trumpets before them on a daily basis....I'm not one of them. I don't take criticism (in general) from civilians to mean you are "unpatriotic or disloyal."
I think it's absolutely assinine for people to make issues out of lapel pins or how many flags one flies outside of their homes. I find that for the most part, those that make big issues out of that are either doing it for purely political purposes or they're doing so to make themselves feel better...about themselves. Either way, I don't give a damn.
See, I find the "hawks" that in many instances did all they could to avoid military service and have never done so much as a push up under duress but never miss an opportunity to spout off about regime change or military force just as repugnant as those on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum.
That said, you have a very self righteous tone to some of your words. I find it absolutely indignant that you have the audacity to give me or anyone else that has worn the uniform in general and worn it in harm's way specifically a lecture about the brutality of the battlefield or speak about "get out of jail free cards." You have no idea. In many ways, many of us will indeed be imprisoned for the rest of our lives in one way or another. Wether it's physically or mentally.
Look, my entire point here is that if you have never been "over there" then all I'm asking is that you calm down on all the rhetoric because it's just really something that you'll never, ever truly be able to understand. It's easy to sit here 8,000 miles away, many many times removed from the "heat of the moment" and be an armchair quarterback.
Again, we take care of our own for the most part, one way or another. As far as the military functioning without oversight.....1SG Hatley along with having his career and reputation ruined (which to a Soldier can be worse than death,) is also probably going to be in prison for the rest of his life. This is to say nothing of the fact that he probably either got a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge and forfeited all his pay and allowances so his family is assed out. What other evidence do you need to see that we police our own?
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I am a member of the United States Army. I joined the Army so I can earn the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. I believe that these things should be freely given and have been given to us through the blood and sweat of our fore fathers. I am prowded of this country and honored to serve in the Military for over 25 years. However freedom does not swing just one way freedom and a just system of laws swings both ways. We cannot be allowed to carry out justice on our own weather we agree with everything or not we need to allow the justice system to work. Taking out our frustrations on unarmed restrained and blindfold Military age men is not justice is it reverenge. Why do we get into a gun battle and then treat the enemy's wonded because we are humane thats why. I have been in running gun battles so I do know what I am talking about been there done that and I have seen alot of my friends die or sustain injuries and yes it is real easy to get cought up in the moment and want revenge. but there is not justice in it nor is the matter over. and from the sounds of it this 1sg was a hot head and intimidated every one he came accross by the way that is not leadership it is bulling and some one should have put him in his place along time ago. now 2 other soldiers that got cought up in the moment of this guy has to pay. along with the families that have been left behind wives childeren mothers fathers sisters brothers where is the justice in this none now the 1sg's wife instead of living out a good military retierment with her husband she has to look for a job that pays for health insurance and she does not get to lay down at night in bed next to her husband. what a waste.
Thank you.
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