Posted on 03/30/2008 4:46:45 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
On a mountain ridge in Afghanistan in June 2005, on a mission to capture or kill a Taliban commander, the four Navy SEALs were discussing ... the American media. Three shepherds, including a 14-year-old, had crossed their path, and the SEALs had to decide what to do: kill them, or let them go and risk exposure to Taliban forces.
On elevated ground near Iskandariyah, Iraq, two years later, American snipers faced the same dilemma: kill or release two civilians who had discovered their hideout, Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi and his 17-year-old son, Mustafa.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
While I fully support that sentiment, that is not the case for Sgt. Vela. The poorly written article is short on facts and you'd think it was about Luttrell since there's more info on his circumstances than on Vela. That said, this case is 1000 times WORSE. I'd rewrite your line as:
May God above damn the traitors alive and well in the United States Military Command Structure. May God Damn them all.Consider ... Sgt. Vela obeyed an order from his team leader. Even if arguendo we assume it was an unlawful order and a complete violation of the rules of engagement, the punishment should have been worse on the giver of the order. We do not have much info from Vela's court marshal, but I'd think the defense had to weigh heavily on Vela's reliance upon 1) the military immediacy of the situation and 2) following an order in a combat situation.
It would seem that Sgt. Vela is guilty of not overriding his team leader and not committing mutiny under fire (hey, if Hillary was taking rounds, then these guys were being strafed). I hope he had a competent defense attorney but that seems doubtful given the outcome.
No, I say 1000 times worse because each and every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine now puts themselves in Sgt. Vela's position and will hesitate when given the order to shoot. It isn't the press they're worried about, it's the REMFs. And that's infinitely worse. This could undermine everything!
what say you? did I get it right? what’s the scoop on this?
It’s not one that I’ve been privy to. I know what the code says, but just on the story content I question the combat awareness of the Maj. quaoted in the article.
How much more of this before our army fights with less than a 100% effort?
There are two missions.
In the first, a sniper team was deployed to a remote location, with a rapid reaction force to be deployed by helicopter to extracate them or reinforce them as might become necessary, possibly to exploit a developing situation.
This unit did the right thing to let the herdsmen move along. But, upon the arrival a hundred armed insurgents, the plan to deploy the rapid reaction force broke down when their helicopter was shot down, leading to the deaths of something like twenty of our guys.
Hopefully, our commanders - up to and including the President - learn from experiences like this, so as to provide the back-up needed by small, remotely-deployed units, so they maintain their discipline when put to the test.
Possibly, it is a rare thing for a helicopter to be shot down, and you don’t need to accompany troop carrying helicopters with escort helicopters to suppress ground forces, and this was just a very unfortunate instance. Perhaps you have to be able to call in fire support from ground-based artillery, or have high flyers in the air 24/7 that you can call in. Perhaps missile-carrying drones can do the job.
In the second instance, the commander of the small unit thought to take matters into his own hands, instead of following the rules of engagement, and killed/murdered a passerby.
Loyalty is a two-way street. Our people have to be loyal to us, maintianing their discipline, and we have to be loyal to them, backing them up as we have to. When this two-way street breaks down, it is a sure sign we are stetched too thin.
Staff Sergeant Hensley was the man to pull the trigger, not order someone else to do so.
I agree with you. My brother Raymond GIrouard had to make a loyal decision. He did what he thought was best at the time and followed orders. He is also serving ten years with Evan at Ft.Leavenworth.
The USDB has a nice collection of Ranger heroes and they aren’t going to keep them very long.
A person who makes a bad decision while trying to do a great good is not evil. We should all be happy to see these men restored to their families and communities, in full brotherhood and with their honor and privileges of citizenship restored, when they have served their sentences or before, if commutation or some form of early release becomes possible.
I’m praying Ray and Evan are both back with their families very soon. Evan has some kids to help raise and Ray’s got some writing to do.
Ray has a mini me Ranger to catch up with as well.
Yes that is true I think Ray has been at the DB way to long. We need our Ranger back home.
New report on the Evan Vela prosecution.
The Pendleton 8 and Vela, etc., kind of get lost in Haditha....
but not forgotten.
Army Staff Sergeant Nominated for Medal of Honor used a Gerber knife to silence an insurgent.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994010/posts
Exactly. They aren’t going to be repeat offenders.
First off, they (Hensley,Vela) were following their ROE. They were given the green light to kill anyone who they felt posed a threat.
Secondly, this supposed "passerby", a "taxi" driver, was also purportedly in that area to turn on a pump on that didn't exist. He was never positively identified as the person they said he was, and intel reported, in the weeks following his killing, insurgent activity dropped by 90% in that area. In fact, when investigators showed area residents his photograph, no one could identify him.
Third, it was testified that Vela was so sleep deprived he was running on autopilot, they all were. Check out the Hannity story on DefendOurTroops.
And for all this, you only pay the unbelievably low price of TEN YEARS IN LEAVENWORTH. But wait there's more...
President Bush pinned a Navy Cross on Luttrell in July 2006. Vela was court-martialed. Last month, a military panel found him guilty of murder without premeditation; he has begun serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Americans should be deeply disturbed by the contrast. If Luttrell and his fellow SEALs had done what Vela did, they all probably would be alive today. The media and our military, with the latter quick to charge murder, are impeding the judgment, mission and survival of our fighters.
One of Vela's court-martial prosecutors, Maj. Charles Khufahl, argued, "It was murder, plain and simple. United States soldiers do not kill unarmed, detained individuals." But is it so simple?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits killing an unarmed civilian detainee - unless he represents an imminent threat. But how can we expect a soldier to determine, in a split second, what represents such a threat? Does a civilian who, if released, might bring back armed fighters qualify?
There are three MOH recipients and two MOH nominees. Only one is alive. The one above who used a Gerber knife to silence his captive.
Evan Vela is alive. The Haditha Marines are alive. The Pendleton 8 are alive. Nazario is alive. Had these men operated as their persecutors demand they should, the odds they would be alive are slim to none.
Our military leadership apparently doesn’t want to win the war (and I cannot help but wonder about the current administration as well). The WOT is a joke if we are tying our soldiers hands. This is no different than our national sovereignty that is being given away by our lack of border enforcement.
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