Abu Ghraib: just the tip of the iceberg?

After reading this article in the Baltimore Sun about atrocities committed by service members in Vietnam and what the Pentagon did to prosecute those involved, I feel so relieved to know that this same Pentagon is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl along with the murder of her 5-year old sister, mother, and father.

Fortunately the Pentagon meted out some serious justice to Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr. of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard, as the U.S. Command announced just Saturday that Ortiz was reduced in rank to specialist after pleading guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice by placing a rifle near a mortally wounded Iraqi in February and threatening and assaulting an Iraqi in March.

The charges against Ortiz resulted from the killing of an unarmed Iraqi near Ramadi by Spc. Nathan Lynn, who was cleared last month of manslaughter and conspiring to obstruct justice.

And don't get these stories confused with the Article 32 hearing that was completed on Friday in Tikrit where four soldiers from Company C, Third Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, were accused of killing three Iraqi detainees in Samarra three months ago. No decision on a trial was announced.

There is also the somewhat forgotten case of the November 19, 2005, murder of 15 civilians by Marines that seems to be in a perpetual state of "investigation".