Sgt Danny Nightingale, a special forces sniper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan
Posted on 11/14/2012 7:51:09 AM PST by KeyLargo
SAS veterans ask PM to intervene over "monstrous" jailing of war hero
David Cameron has been urged to intervene to secure the release of a former SAS sniper who was jailed for possessing a pistol given to him as a present by Iraqi soldiers he trained.
By Sam Marsden
2:46PM GMT 14 Nov 2012
Four high-profile British special forces veterans have written to the Prime Minister appealing for help to overturn a “monstrous miscarriage of justice” in the case of Sergeant Danny Nightingale.
They compared his treatment by the judicial system to that given to Abu Qatada, the extremist cleric who was released on bail this week after winning an appeal against his extradition to Jordan.
A court martial last week sentenced Sgt Nightingale, a married father-of-two, to 18 months in military detention after he pleaded guilty to illegally possessing the “war trophy” 9mm Glock pistol.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sgt Danny Nightingale, a special forces sniper who served in Iraq and Afghanistan
Been a loooooong time sice trophies like that were permitted. When I was coming back from Desert Storm, we were explicitly told we would not be allowed any sort of battlefield trophy; anything like that either had to be disposed of or turned over to the command. Under special circumstances, and if the weapon was explicitly de-milled, then he might have gotten permission from his command to keep it. However, as it stands, it sounds like he specifically went against similar blanket orders, and military law being what it is, he got exactly what is prescribed in such circumstances.
Was this a “battlefield trophy”? OR was a gift? Of course, I realize that allowing one, but not the other sets up an insane grey area of difficult enforcement. Still..
"The weapon was packed up and returned to him by colleagues after he had to leave Iraq in a hurry to help organise the funeral of two close friends who were killed in action. The former SAS soldier, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan during a 17-year military career, said he could not remember having the gun. The court martial heard that he suffered severe memory loss due to a brain injury caused when he fell into a coma after collapsing on a fund-raising trek in Brazil in 2009"
It was a gift per the article and he was going to donate it but had to leave country for funerals and his friends packed it up and sent it to him.
He can fix the whole situation by donating the weapon to his local mosque, making the government and its muslim controllers happy.
Actually has not been that long. Desert Storm was the first war where they were not permitted. I was rather upset at Bush the senior for that break with tradition. Many war trophies were brought back by Americans from Vietnam.
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