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 ...
See #16, 30, 40.
IED drops are part of a mindset, Dev6. (Are you a commander?)
The purpose of the drop is to CATCH the insurgent, but you can bet it was mentioned that they also make any kill look righteous.
In this case, they saw the bad guy do bad things and then run. They took out a real bad guy and supposedly planted IED material on him.
Who did they fear would not believe them that this was a “good” kill in the first place?
I can’t get back to this until later. Gotta scoot for a bit.
Sorry, I was late getting your FRmail. My post # 56 is based on what Sgt Vela’s father told me. Sgt. Vela’s father is not military and may be confused about the difference between a Ranger and being Ranger qualified.
If it’s a mistake on his father’s part (and mine for passing it on), it’s an error of ignorance—not of trying to falsely claim Ranger status.
Just wanted to be sure that was clear.
This guy was killed after stumbling upon their hide site (which, if he posed a threat while doing so...made it a righteous kill - No need for the AK-47 placement...IF, that is what happened).
Now, why are our guys second and triple guessing themselves....Because of out of control, "I want to be relevant" JAGs.
JAGs and DEM Congress are costing us in this WOT. No doubts.
All you say is true but......
Most skulls only let you shoot a bullet into them perhaps a foot at most before the bullet comes out the other side.
This bullet went hundreds of yards into the skull..........
Yes I know what the author meant but it sure sounded odd.
ping
Uh...8 hrs later I just got the joke thanks to festus.
Of course! Thank you for the correction. I was so steamed when I wrote that, as you could probably tell.
send the jags in first
"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."
This should have been the end of it, right there.
You know, Sarge -- you just hit on one of the main things that has allowed the US Military to become the potent, justifiable, and creatively experienced force that it is. All other Forces, even Britains, never gave their Non-Comms the level of trust and authority the US did. I know from comments my father made, as he served with the Brits alongside the US troops in France, that they were amazed with the depth and breadth of activity the US troopers took on their own initiative. The Brits couldn't do that, and no one else did as far as I know -- although maybe the Aussies came close.
Our DoD is employing UN rules to run our operations, and as the Michael New case showed, they will brook no opposition. We need to find a way to pull JAG out of the field, and shut down these show trials engendered by the propagandists both there and here, or we will lose the initiative and the field, and ultimately the battles and the war.
God help us all, and bless our troops.
Meant to ping you to my #91 above.
As has happend in the Haditha Marine cases, once the full set of facts are layed out these Army snipers will most likely be freed of all charges.
Freepmail!
The prosecuters should be turned loose in Iraq, on the other side.
It takes place a lot lower in the chain of command, with the officers, especially the JAG prosecuters. They are the real enemy here.
Already has...Lone Survivor...he’s out due to this.
Agree completely, brityank. We must get back to fighting the enemy to include insurgents/terrorists, whatever the pc nuts want to call them, like we've fought wars in the past and just kill them.
Post #93.
Praying the AP really got it wrong and they didn’t know anyone would be looking over their shoulder.
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