Originally launched 31 Oct 2021
Decision maker list updated 10 Jan 2023
Major/substantive content revisions made 7 Dec 2021, 4 Feb 2022, 22 Mar 2022, 17 Jul 2022, 12 Aug 2023, and 4 May 2024
 
Photo: The Oregonian (2004/2010/2019)

Accounts of U.S. Army Major Ian Fishback (15 Jan 1979–19 Nov 2021) often credit him as the first active-duty serviceman to expose Iraqi prisoner abuse in September 2005 to the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

As much as this petition (1) lauds Maj. Fishback for his courage in coming forward and persuading Sen. McCain to spur a nearly unanimous U.S. Senate to pass the Detainee Treatment Act still in effect today and (2) extends its sincerest condolences to all who love Maj. Fishback, this petition also maintains that the distinction of "the first" rightfully belongs to a 12-man team representing the Oregon Army National Guard (ORANG) Second Battalion, 162nd Infantry (2-162) on 29 June 2004 at Baghdad's Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

In his book The Devil's Sandbox, Bruning (2006) writes, "The Oregonians had stumbled into a potential international incident, one that was far worse than Abu Ghraib."

They had rescued nearly 100 of 149 detainees. On the morning of 27 Jun 2004, those 149 had been arrested without warrants in the al-Bataween neighborhood of east Baghdad—and then tortured for three days before 2-162 reached them. Iraq was still under U.S. jurisdiction when the arrests and the first day of abuse occurred.
 
ORANG Creates An Atmosphere of Anti-Racism and Interfaith Unity

One hundred-plus men and boys had been detained and tortured at the MOI facility (Francis, 2004/2013/2019). Thirty-five of them were Sudanese who reportedly appeared to have endured the worst of the jailers' cruelty. All in MOI custody on 29 Jun 2004 had been rounded up in a neighborhood raid the weekend before and subjected to all manner of mistreatment that Bruning (2006) along with Coughlin & Bruning (2014) also document.

The Captain on scene—an Army Reservist, an American Muslim, a middle school teacher, and 2-162's personnel officer deployed with ORANG from California—was brought along on this humanitarian mission because of his faith and Arabic skills. Indeed, he combined the two to reach many of the prisoners.

His presence united him and the other men (all Christians) in upholding the Fourth Geneva Convention—which, in addition to their consciences, directed them to protect a country’s citizens and visitors from inhumane treatment.

Deep concern and caring on 2-162's part compelled the Battalion Commander (BC), a Lieutenant Colonel, to call for instructions and backup. Stateside superiors instead ordered him and the 11 others off the premises...told to leave the scene physically and mentally.

Right after ORANG withdrew, the MOI released most of the prisoners.

The Captain Blows the Whistle...

...giving a written eyewitness account of the MOI ordeal to a reporter. The Captain, J. Duncan Southall (15 Aug 1964–16 Aug 2022), was the only soldier who allowed his name to be published in 2004. Several of the other men then followed in speaking out. They did so only under the condition of anonymity at that time.

The 2-162 story in The Oregonian made international headlines 8 Aug 2004.

What Happened Next?

A U.S. Senator from Oregon launched a formal inquiry the very next day. The chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, a Four-Star General, briefly acknowledged 2-162's heroism a month later. He said the men would not be punished for going public about their MOI mission.

In 2005, that chair's successor—another Four-Star General—affirmed support for 2-162 on the same NPR program as the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Human Rights Watch had opened the year by recognizing the Lieutenant Colonel (the highest ranking of the U.S. soldiers on scene at the MOI 29 Jun 2004), Captain Southall (second-highest ranking), and the lead sniper who compelled the team to act in the first place.

Among the 400,000-plus entries in Wikileaks released to the public in October 2010 was one from May 2005: Fragmentary Order (FRAGO) 242. The Oregonian reported on it in 2010, that time with most of the remaining 2-162 soldiers speaking out and fully identified on record. They suspected FRAGO 242 had acted to silence the 12 from 2-162.

Issued ostensibly because of Abu Ghraib, FRAGO 242 prohibited US troops who happened upon similar scenes in Iraqi detention centers from investigating unless US service personnel were involved. FRAGO 242, said to have taken effect once Iraq became sovereign, mandated only reporting through designated channels. 

That directive reflected the sense of cultural superiority (ethnocentrism) pervading major wars since the 13th century alongside the widespread anti-Muslim sentiment 9/11 seemed to foment. Both fueled the Global War on Terror. As a result, not everyone supported 2-162's mission or the individuals involved.

The nearly instantaneous bond between Captain Southall and the prisoners earned him epithets, other harassment, and general exclusion from some back at home. He would also write to four elected officials over several years for help in getting the other 11 men along with himself formally acknowledged for their bravery, all to no avail. Three months before this petition launched, staff for one of them had even reportedly told him that he and his fully documented story were not to be believed. Then, in the next breath, they said his story "is best forgotten" and that any awards would "trigger PTSD in the men." 

Surprise!

On 2 Feb 2022, a U.S. Armed Forces Sworn Statement also from 29 Jun 2004 surfaced. It, too, fully supports what occurred at the MOI that day through interviews with other 2-162 members on scene.

Moreover, the statement included a 23 Jun 2004 official memorandum from the Commanding Officer of the Iraqi Multinational Forces—a U.S. Army Lieutenant General. In carrying out peacekeeping during and after Iraq's transition of power, this General directed all global troops under his command—including 2-162—to follow the same humanitarian doctrines the U.S. had ratified in the 1950s and to which U.S. lawmakers are holding the Russian government accountable in today's war with Ukraine.

CALL TO ACTION

Now, more than 20 years have passed since the 12 men of Oregon National Guard 2-162 bravely intervened to save those Iraqi prisoners.

These pacesetters in military antiracism and interfaith relations handed our government its first real chance to rebuild its reputation around the world after CBS News released the photos of Abu Ghraib.

Instead, the men were told to vacate the MOI and, worst of all, forget about what they saw—said to have exceeded Abu Ghraib in its magnitude and gravity—and did on that last Tuesday of June 2004.

They had a leader in their Captain. He had the moral steel to disobey that order essentially asking him and his fellow 11 soldiers to cover up a war crime. He blew the whistle through the news media in 2004—and some of his teammates came forward, even if they did so anonymously, to back him up.

What's more, those 12 men on 29 Jun 2004 applied the very same humanitarian laws that their own government would brandish on Russia starting in February and March 2022.

If the Fourth Geneva Convention and related international doctrines the U.S. had ratified in the 1940s and 1950s are good enough to invoke on behalf of Ukraine's citizens in 2022, then they were good enough to invoke on behalf of Iraq's citizens and visitors in 2004.

They still are good enough for the U.S. to invoke for ALL citizens and visitors of the world now.

They will always be good enough for the U.S. to invoke for ALL citizens and visitors of the world forever.

Such fortitude under fire is rarely, if ever, seen from our troops in protecting citizens and visitors from inhumane treatment—especially when the respective home or host country is deemed our foe instead of our friend. The Fourth Geneva Convention makes no such distinction between foe and friend in a war or conflict...nor does it leave us room to do so.

Acknowledgement by two Four-Star Generals as a result of Captain Southall's and the others' courage to stand up to a coverup order was only the beginning. 

Thus, it is long past time to formally and publicly recognize the 12 men of the Oregon National Guard, Second Battalion,162nd Regiment in a manner befitting the grand scale of their actions on the global humanitarian stage.

The respectfully proposed first order of business is to honor the Sworn Statement plus its attachment—Lt. Gen. Metz's Official Memorandum. This would involve four steps:

1. Retroactively void any orders—all from stateside officers of lower rank than Lt. Gen. Metz—that gave rise to the 29 Jun 2004 command for 2-162 to vacate the MOI physically and mentally;
2. Retroactively nullify FRAGO 242 because its content violates the Laws of War plus internationally recognized human rights standards in effect in 2004 and still in effect today such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, which the U.S. had ratified in 1955 and Iraq in 1956; 
3. Override the denial issued to Captain Southall on about July 2021; and
4. Fully validate the 29 Jun 2004 experiences of all 12 men of 2-162.

The respectfully proposed second order of business further asks: 

• Oregon Governor Tina Kotek to issue special Oregon state-level commendations for each of the 12 named ORANG soldiers;
• California Governor Gavin Newsom to issue a special state-level commendation for Captain Southall, who was a California resident when the MOI incident occurred (on 29 Jun 2004, he had been walking around for two months with what Army doctors back in the San Francisco Bay area would diagnose a few weeks later as the first of seven-plus traumatic brain injuries sustained during the Global War on Terror; the second of those, on about 11 Apr 2007 in Iraq, led to the Purple Heart he would receive in the Fremont-Newark area on about 20 Jan 2009); and
• The House Armed Services Committee and The U.S. Senate Committee On Armed Services to co‑sponsor and confer the appropriate federal-level award, based on the aforementioned facts, upon each of the 12 soldiers.

Those 12 men of Oregon National Guard 2-162 and their families deserve knowing that:

• Courage still counts for a lot in America.
• They'll be placed on the right side of history where other real American heroes—such as helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and his men who fully applied the Fourth Geneva Convention to stop the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, and were finally given Medals of Valor in 1998—have always belonged.

Thank you.