I'm hoping these guys didn't do what they're accused of and that they get out of their 8X9 cells. Well at least the shackles came off. We're trying for one of their attorneys for tonight's show.
Here's the Wall Street Journal's take on the above story today. Get the rest here.WASHINGTON - Seven Marines and a sailor were charged with murder yesterday in the alleged planned killing of a disabled Iraqi civilian whose shooting death was staged to look like a foiled roadside bombing. In a separate case, a fourth soldier from the Army's 101st Airborne Division was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of three prisoners north of Baghdad.
The new cases bring to 12 the number of servicemen facing the death penalty for actions on the battlefield. Military law experts could not recall a previous time when so many troops faced capital punishment, suggesting the heightened awareness of commanders to the impact of atrocity allegations on the Iraq war effort. Charges also are expected to be filed soon against several more Marines in the shooting deaths of 24 unarmed civilians in the western town of Haditha on Nov.19. At Camp Pendleton, Calif., Col. Stewart Navarre said the Marine Corps "prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions" as he announced the charges against the seven enlisted Marines and a Navy corpsman or medic. The next step in the case will be an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury probe, of the charges that the troops dragged disabled Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home in the town of Hamdaniyah near Baghdad on April 26 and shot him at least four times in the face. The accused then allegedly took a shovel from Awad's home and put it next to his body, along with an AK-47 rifle commonly used by insurgents, to make it appear that he was shot while planting a bomb by the side of the road.
The Pentagon yesterday announced the names of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged with the April 26 kidnapping and murder of a 52-year-old Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania. The accusations are grave and, if proved, will almost certainly lead to severe sentences. We suspect no parallel process is taking place among Iraqi insurgents for the weekend murders near Yusufiya of U.S. soldiers Thomas L. Tucker and Kristian Menchaca. That's a distinction worth pondering the next time you hear Iraq war critics carp at the U.S. refusal to apply Geneva Convention privileges to enemy combatants. The Convention extends those privileges to combatants who abide by the laws it sets for war, including the treatment of prisoners.Combatants who fail to obey those laws--by not wearing distinctive military insignia or targeting civilians--are not entitled to its privileges. If they were, the very purpose of the Convention would be rendered a nonsense. And this is why the U.S. has refused Geneva privileges to the enemy combatants at Guantanamo, which we hope is an argument heeded by the Supreme Court as it decides the Hamdan case.We'll see. We'll keep up with the case at Camp Pendleton.
Semper Fi, Marines, the American public is with you.
5 comments:
What is really sad however is the people where they are from decrying their indictment. Several people referred to them as heroes without needing any evidence that they dragged an innocent Iraqi out into the street, shot him to death, then planted a gun and shovel next to him so they can claim he was planting an IED.
Now I will give them the same deference that all defenandants deserve and that is innocent until proven guilty BUT one does have to wonder about the military charging them on no evidence of a crime committed.
We'll see what the court says.
Gosh, if they're guilty, do you suppose they'll be lionized like Mumia Abu-Jamal or Tookie at the local protests? Well, sure those two are/were guilty but that hasn't stopped people from proclaiming their innocence. Wonder if one of our Marines will give any graduation addresses at the evergreen "college"?
Threlfeld: What is really sad in this whole thing is that so many people, including yourself, that are rushing to judgement against these nine guys. Threlfeld, were you there when this was allegedly done? Were John Murtha and Kennedrunk there? Was the commandant at Camp Pendleton, the guy that ordered these unaccused prisoners put in chains BEFORE they had bee charged with any sort of crime, there when this allegedly happened. Of course not. And, one more question: Who has made the accusations against these nine men? An Iraqi suspectedof ties to the insurgents and/or alQaeda and a reporter from Time Magazine. This reporter was not there either, but he is coming off as if he is the know-all, sees-all of the incident. One has to remember that this reporter is from Time Magazine, one of the foremost liberal news magazines in the US, second only, arguably, to Newsweek. Both magazines are devoutly anti-Bush, anti-war, and anti-administration. The only print-media more anti-everything the Bush administration does is the New York Times and the LA Times. And none of their people were there either.
My concern is that after outburst and declarations of guilt by prominent members of Congress, these guys will get a fair trial with a fair representation of evidence.
Our troops deserve no less than we afford and demand of hardened criminals in our courts.
They surely don't deserve automatic condemnation by Senators and Representatives.
Where are the leaders who put these young people in Iraq?
It sounds like we are asking our military to act like the FBI, policing and investigating 'bad guys'. Have we given these young guys and girls the type of training the FBI and other law enforcement officials receive? If they are not properly trained, who is responsible for that?
In the corporate world, we Sarbanes-Oxley laws, which say the leaders of a company are responsible for assuring the correct financial controls are in place. This applies to companies of all sizes, including very large companies tens of thousands of employees; comparable in size to a large military operation. Should we not hold our military leaders to the same standards? Where are the leaders stepping up to take responsibility for the alleged actions of their troops?
We send these young people to war, in life-and-death high stress conditions day after day, and then we're shocked when they kill in manners deemed inappropriate? This is not to condone the alleged behavior, but let's be realistic.
Get 'em properly trained, get 'em out, or don't be surprised when this type of thing happens. And hold our leaders responsible, not these young people who our leaders placed in Iraq.
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