Posts Tagged: Crime

Suicide of Hawaiʻi Marine raises issues of hazing, racial jokes

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the hearing about the hazing and subsequent suicide of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew may have had racial overtones.  Lew was Chinese American: Hazing and race in the Marine Corps were focused on Friday as a hearing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii continued to examine the suicide death of Lance… Read more »

Veteran arrested after threat to Biden

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports: Federal authorities arrested a U.S. veteran Friday when he got off a plane in Honolulu from Thailand because he allegedly threatened to kill Vice President Joseph Biden earlier this year. Justin Alan Woodward sent an email on June 22 to the White House website threatening to “kill you myself,” referring… Read more »

Another military domestic violence case?

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that: A 32-year-old Ewa Beach man was arrested Friday for beating his wife over the course of several months, police said. The woman, 23, told police the man since January had subjected her to several episodes of assaults, at all hours, including choking her and injuring her with an undisclosed… Read more »

Kaneʻohe Marine kills self after hazing by fellow Marines

Marine Times reports: One Marine faces court-martial and another faces non-judicial punishment for allegedly hazing a lance corporal who killed himself in Afghanistan, according to a military investigation report obtained by Marine Corps Times. Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, 21, killed himself with a two- or three-round burst from an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon early April… Read more »

Two former Schofield soldiers plead guilty of bribery and conspiracy regarding $20 million military contract in Afghanistan

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports: Two former Schofield Barracks soldiers who were scheduled to go to trial today on bribery, conspiracy and money laundering charges involving a $20 million military contract in Afghanistan pleaded guilty Monday in federal court. Retired Army Sgt. Charles O. Finch pleaded guilty to one count each of bribery and conspiracy,… Read more »

Former Hawaii official and veteran accused of wrongdoing in Washington

The AP reports that Raymond Jefferson, a former Army officer, White House fellow under President Bush and a deputy director at the  Hawai’i Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism under Governor Lingle, resigned as head of the U.S. Veterans Employment and Training Service after he was accused of procurement abuses: A former deputy director… Read more »

Beating the war profiteers

Amy Goodman reports that a Pentagon whistleblower won a legal settlement for the retaliation she endured after challenging contracting abuses: “War is a racket,” wrote retired U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, in 1935. That statement, which is also the title of his short book on war profiteering, rings true today. One courageous civil… Read more »

Kaua’i police seek two men for attack on navy men

According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, Kauai police are seeking two men who allegedly punched two Navy servicemen: Kauai police are looking for two men who left a Lihue bar at 2 a.m. Sunday and attacked two sailors. Police said the victims, two Navy servicemen, were hospitalized after being punched in the face at Rob’s… Read more »

Kailua man admits aiding Marine to launder bribes

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports: A 40-year-old Kailua man admitted in federal court Friday that he helped a Marine Corps sergeant launder bribery money from military contractors in Iraq. “A friend of mine was getting bribes. I was helping him conceal the bribes,” Francisco Mungia III said. […] The government said Mungia received about $150,000… Read more »

The Invisible Army: trafficked humans make the war machine go

Sarah Stillman wrote an excellent article in the New Yorker about the “invisible army” of foreign workers or “third-country nationals” (TCNs) staffing U.S. military bases in war zones. She reports that “armed security personnel account for only about sixteen per cent of the over-all contracting force. The vast majority—more than sixty per cent of the… Read more »