Guilt By Association

Ronald Gray = Bad Man

Type: Dotsam and Netsam CHUD
CHUDitude: 2
Location of Outbreak: SF Chronicle, Comments (h/t Mezzo SF)
Description of Attack: Ronald Gray was an Army cook who moonlighted as a serial killer at Fort Bragg back in the late 80s. His story has seen a resurgence in popularity because Bush chose to affirm his death sentence, which is rare in military justice. There has been little CHUD outbursts at the military as a whole, but MezzoSF found one lurking in the shadows in the comments section of the newspaper from her beloved city. Carverbrian writes in:

Unlucky for him, if he'd just had enough patience and self-control to wait until 2003, he could have raped and killed Iraqis to his heart's content. Probably would have gotten a medal, especially if he was an officer.

For the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that servicemembers (both officer and enlisted) can achieve the highest medals presented by the U.S. government without actually raping civilians.

Prognosis: The response to Gray's actions has been primarily directed at his horrendous deeds and not the service as a whole. The half-life of this story has been short, as the L.A. earthquake and Senator Stevens' shenanigans have sent it down the memory hole. For extra credit, you can read the odd Kos diary where the poster asserts that Bush is executing this man because he's black and wants to make Obama look bad, but it's very devoid of reasoning and not a CHUD attack per se. But good job to Mezzo for catching this one, as it shows how CHUD patterns can be unpredictable when there is seemingly little disturbance.