Please Withhold Judgment Until AFTER The Trial Is Finished
From the WaPo today:
Seven Marines and a sailor have been charged with murder in the April death of an Iraqi civilian, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.
All eight also were charged with kidnapping, according to a Marine statement issued at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Other charges include conspiracy, larceny and providing false official statements.
Separately, the U.S. military in Iraq announced that murder charges were filed against a fourth Army soldier in the shooting deaths May 9 of three civilians who had been detained by U.S. troops. Spc. Juston R. Graber, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division was charged with one count of premeditated murder, one count of attempted premeditated murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and making a false official statement.
On Monday the military had announced that three soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the May 9 killings. It was not clear why charges against the fourth soldier were not announced until Wednesday.
In the case of the April killing of an Iraqi civilian, the allegation is that Marines pulled an unarmed man from his home on April 26 and shot him to death without provocation. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq in late May and put in the confinement at Pendleton pending the filing of charges.
The Marine Corps identified the eight as: Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka, Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, and Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda.
The case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.
The accused in the current case will be assigned military lawyers at no cost, although they have the choice of hiring their own civilian attorneys. Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the senior commander at Pendleton, will decide whether and how to proceed with preliminary hearings known in the military justice system as Article 32 proceedings. Those in turn could lead to courts-martial for some or all eight.
On May 24 the Marines announced that Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the commander of all Marine forces in Iraq, had asked for a criminal investigation after a preliminary probe.
Together, the Hamdania and Haditha cases have generated international criticism of the U.S. and unfavorable publicity for the Marine Corps.
Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, visited Iraq to reinforce the importance of adhering to ethical standards.
"As commandant I am gravely concerned about the serious allegations concerning actions of some Marines at Haditha and Hamdania," Hagee told a Pentagon news conference June 7. "I can assure you that the Marine Corps takes them seriously."
I'd love to urge patience to the MSM, but the WaPo jumped the gun by including not one, but TWO mentions of Haditha in the opening paragraphs of this piece. The MSM just can't get over the fact that the Haditha story looks more like the Duke rape case as the investigation unfolds.
But the Marines do take this seriously. Not just from a PR point of view, but a professional one, as well. These are trained soldiers. They know the ROEs (Rules Of Engagement) as much as any other Marine. They also know that what they did, if they did it, was wrong. There will be repercussions that they'll have to deal with if they are proven guilty of the murder charges.
But the media running into this case as headstrong as they did on Haditha won't change the outcome, and no amount of screaming about guilt or innocence is going to influence the Article 32 procedures, the cases in general, or any court martials that arise from this case. So, just chill.
And I'd like to assure our readers that we believe this simple fact: If they are found guilty, I want them hung from the nearest yardarm. But if they aren't, then they should be freed. We're not moving in the direction of any sort of cover-up. The military in this war has been more than transparent in dealing with issues like this. They did it over Lt. Pantano and the Abu Ghraib soldiers. Let the military do its job. If they're guilty, the press will have all the time in the world to beat on these guys. This should not be a "We taint them today, we make them look good on Saturday." moment for the news media. That may be their normal MO, but these eight soldiers are literally on trial for their lives.
Let's just show a bit of respect, and let the procedures move forward. The military is more than capable of handling this without any outside intereference, and I'm sure their families would appreciate that greatly.
Publius II
From the WaPo today:
Seven Marines and a sailor have been charged with murder in the April death of an Iraqi civilian, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.
All eight also were charged with kidnapping, according to a Marine statement issued at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Other charges include conspiracy, larceny and providing false official statements.
Separately, the U.S. military in Iraq announced that murder charges were filed against a fourth Army soldier in the shooting deaths May 9 of three civilians who had been detained by U.S. troops. Spc. Juston R. Graber, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division was charged with one count of premeditated murder, one count of attempted premeditated murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and making a false official statement.
On Monday the military had announced that three soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division were charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the May 9 killings. It was not clear why charges against the fourth soldier were not announced until Wednesday.
In the case of the April killing of an Iraqi civilian, the allegation is that Marines pulled an unarmed man from his home on April 26 and shot him to death without provocation. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq in late May and put in the confinement at Pendleton pending the filing of charges.
The Marine Corps identified the eight as: Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka, Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, and Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda.
The case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.
The accused in the current case will be assigned military lawyers at no cost, although they have the choice of hiring their own civilian attorneys. Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the senior commander at Pendleton, will decide whether and how to proceed with preliminary hearings known in the military justice system as Article 32 proceedings. Those in turn could lead to courts-martial for some or all eight.
On May 24 the Marines announced that Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the commander of all Marine forces in Iraq, had asked for a criminal investigation after a preliminary probe.
Together, the Hamdania and Haditha cases have generated international criticism of the U.S. and unfavorable publicity for the Marine Corps.
Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, visited Iraq to reinforce the importance of adhering to ethical standards.
"As commandant I am gravely concerned about the serious allegations concerning actions of some Marines at Haditha and Hamdania," Hagee told a Pentagon news conference June 7. "I can assure you that the Marine Corps takes them seriously."
I'd love to urge patience to the MSM, but the WaPo jumped the gun by including not one, but TWO mentions of Haditha in the opening paragraphs of this piece. The MSM just can't get over the fact that the Haditha story looks more like the Duke rape case as the investigation unfolds.
But the Marines do take this seriously. Not just from a PR point of view, but a professional one, as well. These are trained soldiers. They know the ROEs (Rules Of Engagement) as much as any other Marine. They also know that what they did, if they did it, was wrong. There will be repercussions that they'll have to deal with if they are proven guilty of the murder charges.
But the media running into this case as headstrong as they did on Haditha won't change the outcome, and no amount of screaming about guilt or innocence is going to influence the Article 32 procedures, the cases in general, or any court martials that arise from this case. So, just chill.
And I'd like to assure our readers that we believe this simple fact: If they are found guilty, I want them hung from the nearest yardarm. But if they aren't, then they should be freed. We're not moving in the direction of any sort of cover-up. The military in this war has been more than transparent in dealing with issues like this. They did it over Lt. Pantano and the Abu Ghraib soldiers. Let the military do its job. If they're guilty, the press will have all the time in the world to beat on these guys. This should not be a "We taint them today, we make them look good on Saturday." moment for the news media. That may be their normal MO, but these eight soldiers are literally on trial for their lives.
Let's just show a bit of respect, and let the procedures move forward. The military is more than capable of handling this without any outside intereference, and I'm sure their families would appreciate that greatly.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 5:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home