You can kill and murder with impunity if you serve in AmeriKa's mass-murdering military!
"Marines’ Trials in Iraq Killings Are Withering" by Paul von Zielbauer/New York Times August 30, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 29 — Last December, when the Marine Corps charged four infantrymen with killing Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005, the allegation was as dark as it was devastating: after a roadside bomb had killed their buddy, a group of marines rampaged through nearby homes, massacring 24 innocent people.
In Iraq and in the United States, the killings were viewed as cold-blooded vengeance. After a perfunctory military investigation, Haditha was brushed aside, but once the details were disclosed, the killings became an ugly symbol of a difficult, demoralizing war. After a fuller investigation, the Marines promised to punish the guilty.
But now, the prosecutions have faltered. Since May, charges against two infantrymen and a Marine officer have been dismissed, and dismissal has been recommended for murder charges against a third infantryman. Prosecutors were not able to prove even that the killings violated the American military code of justice.
[So mass-murder is not against the American MCOJ, huh?
Oh, we are WORSE than Nazi Germany!!!!]
Now their final attempt to get a murder conviction is set to begin, with a military court hearing on Thursday for Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, the last marine still facing that charge. He is accused of killing 18 Iraqis, including several women and children, after the attack on his convoy.
If the legal problems that have thwarted the prosecutors in other cases are repeated this time, there is a possibility that no marine will be convicted for what happened in Haditha.
[But Bush talks about how transparent and accountable or system is, compared to the barbarians!
WE ARE THE BARBARIANS!]
In a wide range of cases involving abuses by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, prosecutions have tended to focus on enlisted men and noncommissioned officers — those accused of having personally committed the acts — not on officers who commanded the units.
[Or the lying war criminals that sent them there in the first place -- or the mouthpiece media that enabled them!!!]
Experts on military law said the difficulty in prosecuting the marines for murder is understandable, given that action taken in combat is often given immunity under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
[So the U.S. soldier really is free to murder at will -- WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE!
I think calling the U.S. military a bunch of murderers is ACCURATE, reader!
Sorry, America, but they are KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE BASED ON LIES!!!
If that isn't murder, what is?]
Gary D. Solis, a former Marine judge who teaches the laws of war at Georgetown University Law Center and at West Point:
“One could view this as a case crumbling around the prosecutor’s feet, or one could see this as the unique U.C.M.J. system of justice in operation.”
Prosecuting the Haditha case was especially difficult because the killings were not thoroughly investigated when they first occurred. Months later, when the details came to light, there were no bodies to examine, no Iraqi witnesses to testify, no damning forensic evidence.
Walter B. Huffman, a former Army judge advocate general, said it was not uncommon in military criminal proceedings to see charges against troops involved in a single episode to fall away under closer examination of evidence.
Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware, the presiding officer... recommended dismissing the charges... and he has said the killings should be viewed in the context of combat against an enemy that ruthlessly employs civilians as cover. He warned that murder charges against marines could harm the morale of troops still in Iraq.
[This rationalizes murder!
HOW DARE WE ACCUSE OTHERS of "terrorism!"
The U.S. military is a MASS-MURDER MACHINE!]
Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, whose decisions in the Haditha prosecutions are final, has given statements expressing sympathy for the plight of other enlisted marines whom he cleared of wrongdoing in Haditha.
[That's Amerika's military justice. None at all!]
Regardless of what happened to charges against the other defendants, there is still great public pressure on the Marine Corps to investigate and punish any wrongdoing in a case in which so many civilians died.
Michael F. Noone Jr., a retired Air Force lawyer and law professor at Catholic University of America:
“We can’t say those guys didn’t commit a crime. We can only say that after an investigation, there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute.”
[Which makes these all SHOW TRIALS, huh?
Like Gitmo, like ALL AMERIKA'S TRIALS!!!
That's why we have Dan Abrams and Nancy Grace, and all the other shit shows on about "American Justice."]
