Kill 24 people, Get three months in Jail. God Bless America.

[m72_ar]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

Collateral damage and friendly fire happen in combat, and civilian casualties are to be expected in a warzone.

But six people shot in the head in 1 house, sounds more like an execution instead of stray bullets (ever hear about anyone firing blindly "accidentally" hit 6 people in the head?).

This behavior is just inexcusable

 

[jdun]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

Yes there are. Go do a search on the fight. IIRC almost all the Marines got off.

 

[WanderingFool]

Im gonna get flak for this probably. While I find it dusgusting that only one marine is being punished, and said punishment is a mere three months, I cant say for sure that a find the marine truely at fault.

I say because, as I never been a life or death situation for God knows how many months or years, dealing with people that more of less hate you, and in some cases, are actively trying to kill you. And save for a possible few, I dont think many Escapists have been in such position either. Its easy to say you would never do the same thing, it another to actually prove it.

All Im going to say is, When the FUCK are we pulling out of the Middle East?

 

[ecoho]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

But how can you justify ""Six people were killed in one house, most shot in the head, including women and children huddled in a bedroom.""

its called panic fire, cops do it all the time and get off. Now before you say this is more complex remember these guys were trained to act without thinking if things got bad so they most likly went into "full auto" and didnt know what they were doing only that there was a threat and they were in danger.

 

[Gmans uncle]

*sigh*
I have no national pride anymore.
Seriously, we suck guys, we really, really do.

 

[jdun]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

Collateral damage and friendly fire happen in combat, and civilian casualties are to be expected in a warzone.

But six people shot in the head in 1 house, sounds more like an execution instead of stray bullets (ever hear about anyone firing blindly "accidentally" hit 6 people in the head?).

This behavior is just inexcusable

Do a search on the fight and you understand.

It's unfortunate that civilians are killed but the Iraqi War is by far one of the longest war with the least civilian casualties in history. You compare it with WWII where one night of carpet bombing did more damage and kill more people than the nuclear bombs that drop on Japan.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

This is sick. The Marines attract a lot of undesirable recruits nowadays. Hardcore right wing people completely brainwashed by ethnic stereotypes.

 

[TaboriHK]

I didn't know there were so many legal experts in here who have clearly studied the case. I'm glad to see at least that personal bias and politics aren't coloring anyone's decision making and perception of this event.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

*sigh*
I have no national pride anymore.
Seriously, we suck guys, we really, really do.

I'm with you. We really need to pull out of this country. We've fucked up bad here.

 

[blindthrall]

Anybody that thinks this is new behavior doesn't know about the My Lai massacre. More Vietnamese died with less provocation, and the commanding officer was pardoned by Nixon and put on house arrest.

Yes, this happens in every war. But America prides itself on being the good guy that doesn't do it, even if we've been doing it for some time, as long as the enemies aren't white...although that's a whole other can of worms. And this war didn't have to be fought in the first place.

You know why this shit is unavoidable? Because every military dehumanizes not just the enemy, but the enemies race and culture as well. I like to think most humans would have a harder time pulling the trigger on someone they respect. This kind of behavior is ingrained and encouraged, not overtly in all cases, but it's there. An actual punishment would deter further actions like this, and that's the last thing the military wants.

 

[jdun]

I didn't know there were so many legal experts in here who have clearly studied the case. I'm glad to see at least that personal bias and politics aren't coloring anyone's decision making and perception of this event.

Yes it was well studied. IIRC almost all the Marines was found not guilty. I provided two good links on the firefight a few posts above this. You should check it out if want to learn more about the event.

 

[jdun]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

But how can you justify ""Six people were killed in one house, most shot in the head, including women and children huddled in a bedroom.""

its called panic fire, cops do it all the time and get off. Now before you say this is more complex remember these guys were trained to act without thinking if things got bad so they most likly went into "full auto" and didnt know what they were doing only that there was a threat and they were in danger.

What happen was the Marine got ambushed. The insurgents was using civilians homes and civilians as shields.

The comments on here shows how easily people can be brainwashed or too lazy to find the other side of the story.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Proves yet again that the justice system needs a bloody serious revision and modernization...

 

[Evil Smurf]

It is war. Despite what many people want to believe war has no rules, it is the very embodiment of might is right.

Yet we would demonize the enemy for doing the same things we do. Compare the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings to 9/11...

To be far my American friends,
your country is not the most loved, infact some demonise you for trying to police the world. Your policing got al-Qaeda into power.
I don't hate you, just stupid leaders, but some hate your guts.

 

[My name is Fiction]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

But how can you justify ""Six people were killed in one house, most shot in the head, including women and children huddled in a bedroom.""

Dunno, wasnt there. Maybe they were sweeping rooms so fast they didnt take the time to check their targets? Not that I know what its like to be a soldier.

But I do find it hard to believe only one guy would get three months if there was some evidence these guys actually intentionally commited murder.

They could have been pumped up on adrenaline and disorientated by the explosion that just went off.

A marine is trained not to run by instinct. To kill one innocent is a gravous error. If he was fired apon and there was clear ID of subject he could fire but 23 counts is purly calculated murder. The room only SWEEPED WHEN they have positive ID on targets. If you wonder why the terrorist hate us its because of this. This is all the justification they need for a decade.

 

[My name is Fiction]

*sigh*
I have no national pride anymore.
Seriously, we suck guys, we really, really do.

I'm with you. We really need to pull out of this country. We've fucked up bad here.

You want to start a revolution?

 

[renegade7]

Probably an insanity plea, that he as grief-stricken by the loss of his comrades (would be my guess).

 

[jdun]

There must be more to it than this.

There must have been a decent argument, something to cast doubt on the events.

They must have decided the marines made a terrible mistake. Something to be punished for yes, but not the same as intentional murder.

Okay...reading up, well it says that a bomb had just gone off and somebody was shooting at them and they didnt know where from. Im not going to judge these guys. They could have paniced from the and we will never know all the facts. Its not easy to make the right choice every time in a combat situation.

But how can you justify ""Six people were killed in one house, most shot in the head, including women and children huddled in a bedroom.""

Dunno, wasnt there. Maybe they were sweeping rooms so fast they didnt take the time to check their targets? Not that I know what its like to be a soldier.

But I do find it hard to believe only one guy would get three months if there was some evidence these guys actually intentionally commited murder.

They could have been pumped up on adrenaline and disorientated by the explosion that just went off.

A marine is trained not to run by instinct. To kill one innocent is a gravous error. If he was fired apon and there was clear ID of subject he could fire but 23 counts is purly calculated murder. The room only SWEEPED WHEN they have positive ID on targets. If you wonder why the terrorist hate us its because of this. This is all the justification they need for a decade.

Marines are not train to run from a fight even greatly out number. In fact they learn to close in and kill their enemies.

There was this ambushed a few years back where a Marine Platoon got ambushed by over 200 insurgents. Outnumber and out gunned by over 6 to 1 inside a kill zone. What did the Marine do? Close in and kill over 150 of them and none of the Marine was killed.

The Taliban learn really quick not to get close to Marines in a firefight. Their tactics is to fight Marines 200 or more yards away from them. This allows the Taliban to run away before the Marine close in and slaughter them.

Again do a search on the firefight.

 

[mexicola]

The number of people justifying the act is simply disgusting. At least it makes it easier to comprehend how they got away with it, if people like that were handling the punishment.