Posted on 09/27/2007 5:19:27 AM PDT by xzins
Spec. Jorge Sandoval lay face down in the foot-high grass, staring through his sniper rifle scope at the Iraqi man holding a rusted sickle. The man had crouched down, only his head was visible. Sandoval's spotter, Staff. Sgt. Michael Hensley, relayed the order to kill.
On April 27, in dangerous terrain south of Baghdad, Sandoval pulled the trigger to fire a bullet hundreds of yards into the man's skull, killing him instantly. Moments earlier, the man, according to testimony and court documents, had been fleeing an attack on U.S. soldiers and was holding the sickle to masquerade as a farmer. After killing him, Sandoval and Hensley allegedly placed a spool of wire -- commonly used to make bombs -- on the man's body to ensure the shooting would not be questioned.
Sandoval's court-martial on premeditated murder charges for this killing is scheduled to begin today in Baghdad. As he and two other snipers face charges of killing Iraqis, legal experts are debating how large a role a classified program of "baiting" their targets played in the cases. The soldiers in the unit had the spool of wire, defense attorneys said, only because the Army's secretive Asymmetric Warfare Group had given it to them -- along with other items, such as plastic explosives and AK-47 rounds -- so the snipers could boost the number of suspected insurgents they killed by shooting whoever picked up the materials.
However, some soldiers serving in Iraq said that the program and the subsequent murder charges have caused them to rethink pulling the trigger in the field out of concern that they could be charged with crimes for doing so....make a split-second decision ...the man and possibly face scrutiny, or let him go and possibly put...service members in jeopardy in the future.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is a 3rd tier law school.... it has produced maybe one JAG out of 3 yrs.
“It is obvious to me that we’ve got either outright traitors or committed peaceniks in the Defense Department.”
And it all makes sense when you look at the decrease in personnel end strength under Clinton. There are still some impressive warriors in the senior levels of the military, but during the huge drawdown of the Clinton years a lot of good officers left in disgust and a lot of good officers were forced to leave. Many of those midcareer officers who hung on have now brownnosed their way to the top. They are the bureaucratically-inclined, politically correct risk avoiders in charge at the Pentagon who are letting the JAGs run the war.
The sad thing is that the President doesn’t seem to be doing much to clean up the mess.
Thanks for the compliment, though. I am kind of proud of that one.
Just another example of poor writing skills in the MSM. I may make mistakes like that, but I'm not paid for my writing. I blame it on schools of journalism teaching liberalism when they should be teaching grammar.
There’s a very simple way to help idiots understand war.
Smack them!!
And keep smacking them until they learn that curling up into a ball and whining “Stop it!!” doesn’t have any affect - they’re still being smacked.
And they’re going to continue to be smacked until they hit back. At that point, the smacking stops and you tell them “Welcome to war!!”
Obvious benefits aside, it makes them crazier than they already are!!
It is incomprehensible to me that this is happening. Who is deciding to prosecute these soldiers like this, and why are they doing it? I was thinking that this plea from Army Ranger Sgt. Evan Vela's father should be posted in every recruitment office:
"...We are proud Americans. We fly our country’s flag with pride at our home. We are a hard working, blue-collar family who has always believed that we could take care of our own problems, as well as those of our children. Yet in this instance, our family has exhausted all of our resources. We have mortgaged our home, drained our savings accounts, and gotten as much help from family and friends as possible. We have given our children and our financial security to this war. What lies ahead is beyond the scope of our abilities. We have nothing more to give and desperately need your help."
Then again, is it actually possible that drying up recruitment may actually be the intent of whoever made it into a policy to persecute these soldiers?
Cordially,
I fear you may be correct and at the risk of sounding like a looney tune I believe the left is using the JAG Corps and the investigative services to try to make killing the enemy a thing of the past thereby eliminating war as an option. It's believable to me because the leftists minds are so twisted.
Something really stinks, and this latest tactic to have the trials out of the country, forcing family and defense to travel to a war zone to support their Marine has raised one explosively large WTF!!! in my mind.
Paypal sent, heading north for a day or two.
If anyone wants to see how a war should be fought with national immunity, watch “War” now being shown on PBS. THAT’S how wars used to be fought. TO WIN.
This is outrageous! This is WAR, for crying out loud! Let our troops do the job WE SENT THEM THERE TO DO! (Yes, I am yelling)
This legal game they are playing with our troops is putting our troops in serious danger.
Exactly! Where is the OUTRAGE from the “pro-war” congresspeople? Where are the hearings on the Hill- from the senators and representatives that claim they support the troops- regarding this unconscionable treatment of US Marines? Where are the “Big Guns” on this? (McCain, and I am so angry I cannot think of any other senators right now-go figure) WHO in Washington is acting like they give a damn about this? Do they even READ our letters and e-mails?
WHY is the conservative media mostly silent or basically ill-informed on any of these cases when they are asked to comment on them??
WHERE ARE ALL THE ADVOCATES RIGHT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THESE TROOPS??(sorry about the caps, but I am screaming in my head, as I type.)
I am just sick. I cannot even fathom how the families of these Marines feel.
ABSOLUTELY!
And why are Hannity, North, Limbaugh and the conservative talking heads afraid to stand up for our troops until they’re sure that they are innocent. Not a peep from those guys about Haditha. They were afraid to stand up in favor of “Innocent until PROVEN guilty.”
With Nifong and the Duke lacrosse boys, they were all over that from the beginning. Why? Who knows?
But with our troops, they lag behind writers like Helms and sites like Free Republic where folks give our troops every single benefit of the doubt. I would rather be proven wrong for supporting one of our troops than have some innocent guy whose life is on the line think we don’t care.
BTW, this case is about Army infantrymen and not Marines. Not that it matters — they are ALL our troops and they deserve our support always.
After reading / hearing more regarding this case/situation - First off, I firmly believe (know) JAGs and REMFs are screwing up our efforts tremendously - It is complete BS the lengths JAGs are going to prosecute and second guess guys who are in the sh*t in both Iraq and Stan (who have split second decisions to make).
With that said - The more I hear about this particular case.....”Classified”, “Operational” missions are not usually assigned to conventional E-4s/5s....(I think some “story telling” may be being done here).
Also, how are these guys "Rangers"?? Out of the 501st Airborne?? - Have they ever served a day in the 75th? They may be "ranger qualified" via a tab.....But there is notable difference there (could simply be a MSM error trying to suggest something they are not).
War is not crime; Crime is not war!
Lawyers should absolutely NEVER be allowed to participate in or have any influence whatsoever in a war. ...EVER!
Oh how I loathe the very class...
You are correct that some of these troops have Ranger tabs, but that they are not in Ranger assignments. Those are limited to the regiments in USASOC.
However, the point of the supporters of these men is that they have been prodded to use these techniques by the Assymetric Warfare group, which has SpecOps ties. Some of them might well have been in Ranger units or have qualified as Rangers and been taught these special techniques as well.
I would think that any sniper is told not to speak of his mission, and infantry units do have snipers.
It is a fact that Special techniques enter into regular line units because those units are regularly cross-fertilized with officers and NCOs who come from SpecOps units.
IED material drops (in specific AO) are one thing - No one has ever been prodded to place AK-47s on KIAs (by AWG). Though, I am in no way suggesting this is in fact what happened for certain (this soldier could simply be lying for various reasons).
Earning a Ranger Tab (while honorable) is different from serving in the 75th and being a Ranger.
Again, I know JAGs are costing us in this WOT. They are in fact making guys triple guess their decisions constantly (and in fact, may cause some to make stupid decisions on righteous kills to begin with.....by needlessly manipulating evidence).
Disgusting. Reminds me of the border agents rotting in jail now for doing their jobs. Nobody in the military or feds will do their job anymore without consulting their attorney first.
This was the known reason we never took out Bin Laden in the Clinton presidency. The Justice Department under Reno felt thier was no ‘legal’ precedence to kill Bin Laden despit him killing civilians during the first Trade Tower attack and Navy personell on the USS Cole.
Our intellgence agencies say that a nuclear terrorist event is a ‘when’ and not an ‘if’. I can see why they say that now. It will indeed happen and then you and I get to clean up the traitorous actions of the left and the cowardly do nothing about it actions of the right.
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