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The War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings,
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July 12th, 2006 - Military Town
Shocked at Iraq Rape Case against Native Son |
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Military Town Shocked at
Iraq Rape Case against Native Son Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau Wednesday, July 12, 2006 Chambersburg, Pa. - This
southcentral Pennsylvania town near the Maryland border has deeply rooted
ties with the American military. Because of its strong
support for Union forces in the Civil War, Confederate Gen. John McCausland
burned it down on July 30, 1864. A bronze statute of a Union soldier stands
in the center of town, at the busy intersection of Routes 30 and 11. Nowadays, many residents
have ties to the military, at the Letterkenny Army Depot on the edge of town
or the Army War College in Carlisle, 20 miles to the north. But now, a native son, Army
Pfc. Jesse Von-Hess Spielman, a 2002 graduate of Chambersburg Area Senior
High School, is one of five U.S. soldiers, including two sergeants, who have
been charged in the March 12 rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the
killings of her parents and a younger sister in the Youssifiyah area south of
Baghdad. A previously discharged soldier was also arrested last month and
charged in the rape and murder. "Everyone is shocked.
It's a terrible, terrible situation," David Sciamanna, president of the
Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday. "It's clearly
a serious situation, but no one is really sure what happened. If these
[soldiers] are guilty, they need to be held accountable. But he [Pfc.
Spielman] could have been from anywhere; it just happens he's from
Chambersburg." State Rep. Patrick Fleagle,
R-Franklin, said he learned of the charges against Pfc. Spielman and the four
other soldiers only when he picked up the local Chambersburg Public Opinion
newspaper yesterday. "It was a shock for me to see it in the paper, but
it's hard to comment because we don't know if [the allegations are]
true," he said. Chambersburg Area School
District officials handed out a brief statement saying Pfc. Spielman, now 21,
attended the high school from August 1999 until June 2002, "when he
graduated and was awarded a diploma upon successful completion of the
district's educational program." They refused further comment. "He hasn't been proven
guilty," Chambersburg resident Daniel B. Shank said as he waited in a
barber shop with his young son. "Why would we want to say anything bad
about someone we don't even know? Our military is something we look up
to." Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony
Paar, eating in The Cottage restaurant-bar, said he wanted to see what comes
out during the soldiers' trial, but added, "This is definitely not
something that should be condoned by the military." Having served two
tours in Vietnam in the 1960s, he knows the horrible things that can happen
during a war. "But we are a civilized people, and even in war [conduct
such as what is alleged] is not acceptable." The Public Opinion reported
that someone who answered the phone at the home of Pfc. Spielman's mother,
Nancy Hess, said the family would have no comment. Pfc. Spielman enlisted in
the Army last year. In July 2005, he completed basic and infantry training at
Fort Benning, Ga. His unit, the 101st Airborne, deployed to Iraq last fall. External link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06193/705134-84.stm |