Posted on 07/28/2007 6:29:04 PM PDT by jamese777
The execution of an Iraqi man by Camp Pendleton servicemen began as fantasy fueled by a low-budget movie, combat frustrations and the idea of bumping off bad guys for the greater good, an officer testified yesterday.
The fantasy ended with seven Marines and a Navy corpsman snatching a grandfather from his bed, then pumping bullets into him on the outskirts of Hamdaniya, Iraq, in April 2006. Yesterday, 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan said he, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III and other Marines from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment talked regularly about killing local Iraqi crime figures, who often are also insurgents or their proxies.
Phan said their notion came from the 1999 film “The Boondock Saints,” a minor cult classic about vigilantes who take it upon themselves to rid Boston of the mob. He said his unit saw parallels between the movie's organized-crime figures and the many suspected insurgents they encountered almost daily in Hamdaniya.
Phan testified in a Camp Pendleton courtroom during the trial for Hutchins, who is accused of concocting the Hamdaniya murder plot and then leading his squad in carrying it out April 26, 2006. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Phan recalled that during the 2006 deployment, he and his troops found it very appealing to think about getting rid of “bad guys” instead of just arresting them.
He said it was a “slap in the face” for his men to risk death to turn over a criminal or insurgent to Iraqi authorities, only to see those suspects out on the streets again soon afterward. Sometimes, the Marines even had to drive the detainees back to their homes, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
So was this grandfather a crime lord or not?
I’ll say it again our guys are being told to arrest the enemy not kill them ,in fighting this war who is being forced to wear handcuffs?
The current rules of engagement will lose this war for us as surely as surrender.
If he was, the guys should get a pat on the back.
Don’t these movie lovers remember how Dirty Harry handled the gang of fascist Rangers in Magnum Force.
problem was they involved more than two guys...or three at the most. from what I’ve heard.
Based on your advice, I won’t even look for it. Let alone rent it.
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