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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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August 8th,
2007 - Mother: Son Did Not Kill Innocent Iraqis |
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Mother: Son Did Not Kill Innocent
Iraqis Family reflects on ordeal involving Candler soldier by Nanci Bompey Asheville Citizens-Times August 8, 2007 Arden - Jannette Hensley
found comfort in Scripture as she talked Tuesday about her soldier son. Some days, he sounds ready
to defend himself against military charges that he killed three Iraqi
nationals and planted weapons on their bodies to make them look like
combatants, Hensley said. Some days he sounds defeated. “It’s like that verse:
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding,’” she said as she wiped away the tears that ran down her
cheeks. “That’s what we’re doing.” “I don’t want to sound like
we’ve given up hope - we haven’t. But it’s hard. I’m not made for this. In
your worst nightmare, you don’t think something like this could happen.” A missionary living in
Macedonia with her husband, Bill, Jannette Hensley spoke with the
Citizen-Times after returning to the Asheville area over the weekend. Her son, Staff Sgt. Michael
A. Hensley, is being held in Kuwait, though he has maintained contact with
his parents. Michael Hensley called his
mother over the weekend to tell her his case was going to trial following a
decision from a pre-trial hearing. Hensley was offered a plea
deal but refused, his father, Bill Hensley, said. “He said he was totally
innocent, and he didn’t want to take any plea.” Jannette Hensley said her
son has repeatedly told her that all of his kills were legitimate. “He’s not saying he didn’t
kill them,” she said. “He’s just saying they were legitimate. I believe him.
He’s just very adamant about it.” Michael Hensley called about
10 a.m. Tuesday, Jannette Hensley said. “Some days, he says, ‘You
know I’m innocent of this,’” she said. “But today he said, ‘I don’t care
anymore.’ He says, ‘I give up.’” A local family The Hensleys raised their
three children in Candler before leaving the area to do mission work in
Macedonia in 2002. Michael Hensley is the
middle of the couple’s three children, and his mother says he is the one who
always made everyone laugh. “Michael’s the one with the
tender heart,” she said. After graduating from Enka
High in 1998, Michael Hensley followed in his older brother’s, David’s,
footsteps and joined the Army. Michael went on to become an Army Ranger,
serving first in Afghanistan for 10 months. William Hensley Sr. said he
has known his grandson since he was 2 days old. “Michael loved the Army, and
he loved what he was doing,” he said. Jannette Hensley said her
son contracted malaria while in Afghanistan and could have been discharged,
but he chose to stay in the Army. He left for his first tour of duty in Iraq
in October. “Michael had a lot of pride
in his job,” Jannette Hensley said. “He wouldn’t take any pleasure at all in
killing an innocent person. There would be no honor in that. He’s just not
that type of person. He wouldn’t do that.” Jannette Hensley said her
son was in Iraq only for about a month when his best friend was killed in a
roadside bomb attack. She said her son told her that he held his friend’s
leg, which had been detached from his body, as he died. Two months later,
Michael Hensley learned that his fiancée in Alaska had committed suicide. He
went back home to bury her and returned to combat in Iraq 15 days later. “In my heart, I didn’t feel
like he was ready,” Jannette Hensley said. Standing behind their son The Hensleys found out about
the charges against their son from an e-mail. “You go numb,” Jannette
Hensley said as she remembered reading the message from their son. “And you
think, ‘How can that happen? They sent him over there to do his job, and he’s
doing what they told him to do.’” Jannette Hensley said she
returned to the Asheville area from Macedonia last weekend to help her son
and to be here if he returns home. Bill Hensley said he also plans to return
home to Western North Carolina, although he does not know when. “We want to do everything we
can to help him,” he said. “We’re pretty much all he’s got.” The Hensleys do not know
when or where the trial will be held. The U.S. Military in Iraq did not
respond to inquries from the Citizen-Times about the case Tuesday. The couple have been in
contact with U.S. Rep. Health Shuler’s office, and they said their son has
hired a civilian lawyer, who is awaiting security clearance. “You think it’s a bad
nightmare that you’re going to wake up from,” Jannette Hensley said. “It’s
not really happening. This is not something our country would do to our
soldiers. You just don’t think that something like this is real.” Hensley said she last saw
her son for five hours in the Atlanta airport before he boarded his plane for
Iraq in October. “I was just thinking,” she
said, her voice barely a whisper as she fought back tears, “I got my hug.” External link: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770807132 |