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US Army Sniper NOT Guilty of Murder
Newsday ^ | Septemeber 28, 2007 | KATARINA KRATOVAC

Posted on 09/28/2007 4:56:37 AM PDT by Paige

BAGHDAD - A military panel Friday acquitted U.S. Army Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval on charges he killed two unarmed Iraqis, but it convicted him of planting evidence on one of the men in attempt to cover up the shooting. Sandoval, 22, of Laredo, Texas, had faced five charges in the April and May deaths of two unidentified men. He was found not guilty of the two murder charges, but the panel decided he had placed a detonation wire on one of the bodies to make it look as if the man was an insurgent.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: courtmartial; iraq; middleeast; military; ruling; sandoval; snipers; terrorist
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To: xzins; Girlene
Just got this from the Sgt Vela camp in Iraq...

If your read anything from the Associated Press written by a reported named Katrina Kratovac disregard her information. She can not get an interview from any reliable sources on our story and is taking everything 2nd, 3rd, 4th, hand or who the hell knows. So pass it on.

101 posted on 10/01/2007 10:49:53 AM PDT by RedRover (DefendOurMarines.com)
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To: RedRover

Will do.


102 posted on 10/01/2007 10:59:42 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain And Proud of It! Those who support the troops will pray for them to WIN!)
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To: RedRover; xzins

Thanks for the heads up, Red. Just trying to catch up with all the latest.

xzins, the letter from Hensley’s parents is heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine what any of these families go through not knowing, hearing the worst.


103 posted on 10/01/2007 2:09:56 PM PDT by Girlene
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To: Paige

The Dimmycraps will be so disappointed!


104 posted on 10/02/2007 1:27:08 PM PDT by TBP
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To: driftdiver
If it works, then the Dems will seek to stop it.

This would make a great bumper sticker.

Not only do the Dems put a halt to things that work, they substitute a "Rube Goldberg" system that doesn't work.

105 posted on 10/03/2007 5:48:04 AM PDT by syriacus (The Summer of our Discountent -- Chap 20 of Steinbeck's novel about poor ethics of the NY Times.)
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To: TomGuy
It won't be long before the military will be mandated to replace weaponry/guns with tasers and pepper spray, so as not to inflict any permanent damage to the enemy.

And the millimeter wave RF weapon that makes the target *feel* as if they are burning alive, will be deemed "cruel and unusual" and banned... for US use that is.

106 posted on 10/03/2007 1:46:02 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: SomeReasonableDude
It’s sad that comments here so frivilously disregard the Rules of Engagement and associated military codes. Shooting unarmed, non-threatening civilians is dishonorable from a moral and military perspective.

One little problem with such high morals is that the other side does not share them. They *never* wear uniforms, so *always* are indistinguishable from civilians. In fact they hide among civilians, using them as human shields. They usually don't even shoot at our troops when the troops can see them, instead they plant roadside bombs and detonate them from "civilian" houses and shops, all the while having no visible weapons and appearing quite "non-threatening".

So just how do you propose to deal with such enemy tactics. Let 'em kill your buddies before you can go after them, and then only if you catch 'em in the act?

This particular case is just crazy, if Sgt. Sandoval was not guilty of murder in the shooting, does that not imply that the shooting was justified under the ROE? Which in turn implies that the targets were insurgents, or acting sufficiently like them in a war zone to justify shooting them. So the Sandoval is guilty not of a cover up of murder, since he was justified in shooting them, but of trying to avoid the very thing which indeed happened, being accused of killing them without justification. The real justification not being something obvious to an after the fact investigation.

107 posted on 10/03/2007 1:56:21 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: sure_fine
The article posted on the thread at your link says:

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

Thus the man was an insurgent, a valid target within anyone's ROE. That the sniper team felt the need to guild the lily says volumes about the effect of earlier prosecutions on our troops.

Not to mention the effect of having mere accusations of wrong doing trumpeted in the halls of Congress *and* in reelection campaign headquarters and elsewhere, including the Sunday morning TV talk shows, by the likes of Murtha, Kerry and Kennedy.

108 posted on 10/03/2007 2:10:19 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: RedRover
"Our rules for the use of force dictate that an individual must show hostile intent before they can be engaged," he said

Horsefeathers. Unless one means that they have ever shown hostile intent, or conducted actual hostile actions sometime in the past or are currently showing such intent, rather than just the latter, which is what the statement sounds like.

When we finally locate Osama's cave, he probably won't be showing any hostile intent either, but I'd hope someone would drop a thermobaric bomb into the entrance of that cave.

109 posted on 10/03/2007 3:12:42 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: Paige
According to the judge, “muslims don’t lie”

They aren't supposed to lie according to the Koran.

To other Muslims that is. Lying to Infidels is encourgaged to advance the Jihad and/or for the greater glory of Allah.

110 posted on 10/03/2007 3:20:26 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: El Gato

Agreed. And what’s good for Osama, is good for his followers.


111 posted on 10/03/2007 3:31:56 PM PDT by RedRover (DefendOurMarines.com)
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To: RedRover

Bro’s at JFK, will be home tomorrow.
FReepmail coming.


112 posted on 10/03/2007 5:13:57 PM PDT by bigheadfred (And there I see the Line of My Forefathers)
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To: Paige

Another falsely accused soldier.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters


113 posted on 10/03/2007 5:16:10 PM PDT by bray (Think "Betray U.S." Think Democrat)
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To: El Gato

“One little problem with such high morals is that the other side does not share them.”

Oh, okay. Let’s stoop to their level and share their disregard for human life. Sickening.


114 posted on 10/09/2007 10:24:02 AM PDT by SomeReasonableDude (Back it up.)
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To: SomeReasonableDude
Let’s stoop to their level and share their disregard for human life

Nah, let's just take statements out of context. Like those bashing Rush over the "Phoney Soldier" hoohah.

The thrust of my statement was that one make take into account the tactics of the enemy when evaluating the outcome of clashes and the actions of our uniformed military members.

If the enemy never wears a uniform, and even hides among civilians, then civilians *are* going to be killed. Either that or whole bunches of our soldiers are.. and probably some of each, because our soldiers *are* reluctant to fire at what appear to be civilians, until they demonstrate otherwise. In fact they are civilians, but they are also illegal combatants with pretty much the same status as pirates, which is to say, they are fair game for any military force of any nation.

115 posted on 10/09/2007 4:35:50 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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