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Editorial - Calgary Sun for 19 October 2010
Colonel's case exposes military flaws
Last Updated: October 19, 2010 12:00am
http://www.calgarysun.com/comment/editorial/2010/10/18/15738151.html
Colonel's case exposes military flaws
Last Updated: October 19, 2010 12:00am
http://www.calgarysun.com/comment/editorial/2010/10/18/15738151.html
We know how we would like to see it happen.
Russell Williams would be sitting in his cell when his dress military uniform is brought in.
He would be forced to spit-polish his shoes, polish his medals, and dust the lint from his stripes.
And then he would be delivered in shackles to the parade ground at CFB Trenton, the air base he once commanded and, in front of all the men and women he disgraced, his military medals would be ripped from his chest, his air force wings torn away, and his colonel's rank busted down to civilian.
It won't literally happen that way, of course, but it will happen -- thanks to a fast-acting military command who wants this monstrous contamination of the military's honour lanced from its ranks.
At a news conference Monday, at the same time the sicko Williams was pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two violent sex attacks and a litany of perversions that brought gasps and turned stomachs in the courtroom, the Department of Defence announced it would immediately go to work to legally strip him of his rank and military decorations.
This is a must.
The military acknowledged, however, that it cannot do anything about Williams's pension and he is entitled to it unless the government takes legislative steps to strip him of it.
This, of course, must be done as well.
And it must be done now.
The House of Commons is back in session, so there is no excuse for putting it off.
It's the right thing to do.
The next question, however, is how did a sexual deviant and psycho like Russell Williams become such a quick star in the military without his Jekyll-and-Hyde character being even remotely detected?
Where was the psychiatric screening?
Remember, Williams was caught by fluke oddity of a tire track when a curious passerby wondered why an SUV was strangely parked in a certain field.
Brig.-Gen. Neville Russell, director general of air personnel, said there was a review of the process when Williams was shockingly charged, and that the military was still looking into this "terrible betrayal of trust."
We should hope so.
Answers are drastically needed.