Posted on 07/28/2008 6:44:59 PM PDT by freema
Good.
Nice that he has that option. Something his victims didn't have.
He can dish it out but not take it.
Hang him high.
Great. It only took twenty years.
Leni
Dont understand your train of thought
What does this have to do with Bush or Iran
This POS raped and killed (at least two of the women were army privates)
Death is what you deserve
Fine actor and TV narrator, Stacey Keach, is one such mustache wearer. He was born with a cleft lip and a partial cleft of the hard palate. In his business, it was almost a necessity to camoflage all the scars from operations he underwent.
Leni
(Chapter 3)
Historically, US Presidents only permit military executions when there is a need for it unrelated to the crime.
Very few people are aware that the purpose of the UCMJ is not justice, but “to maintain order and discipline in the military”. For this reason, in the military, punishments are very different from what they are in the civilian world. For example, under some circumstances, even homicide may result in less punishment than say, homosexual rape.
I mentioned the case of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, because it is an odd one.
He deserted his unit, which was not uncommon during WWII, and was arrested. While desertion can be a capital offense, out of hundreds of cases, only Slovik was chosen to be executed. But this was done not directly because of his crime, but because military morale was very low. It was felt that the execution of a deserter would prevent other soldiers from considering desertion.
However, after his death sentence was confirmed, the Battle of the Bulge took place, as well as the Malmedy massacre. The US jumped on this situation to use as a propaganda tool, even bringing in extra bodies to make the photographs more graphic. To this day, the memorial includes the name of a local Belgian man who had died a few days before of pneumonia, but was dressed in a US Army uniform as a massacre victim. His siblings were still alive in the 1980s, and ran a nearby restaurant.
Because of the massacre, soldiers would not want to surrender to the Germans for fear of being killed, which raised morale significantly. In turn, this meant that the execution of Pvt. Slovik was unnecessary.
However, Slovik was a world-class dumbass. The military offered him a deal that, instead of execution, if he would just state that he had been separated from his unit, and would agree to return to his unit, his conviction would be overturned and all would be forgiven.
He was adamant that he had NOT been separated, but had deserted, and would desert again if given the chance. This left the military no choice but to execute him, and they did.
The current case that President Bush has selected is not special. Of the eight prisoners currently on military death row, their crimes are not simple homicide, but truly horrific crimes. And yet, only now, in the last year of the W. Bush Presidency, after having been “executable” for the better part of 20 years, is he to be executed.
Why? One and only one reason. Iran.
If the US, or Israel and the US, are involved in a war with Iran, many soldiers will want to quit. They are tired, and “fatigue makes cowards of us all”.
And you’ll note that before W. Bush approved this execution, he made very sure he had a fresh opinion from the Justice Department of his exact authority in the military judicial system process as to approving capital punishment.
This is very good prior planning.
If we do get into a war with Iran, there are going to be problems in the military, including desertions. And Bush wants everybody to be crystal clear that if he has to execute some deserters to stop desertion, if it become a problem, then he will do it.
“Currently, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 14 offenses are punishable by death. Under the following sections of the UCMJ, the death penalty can be imposed at any time:
94 - Mutiny or sedition
99 - Misbehavior before the enemy
100 - Subordinate compelling surrender
101 - Improper use of countersign
102 - Forcing a safeguard
104 - Aiding the enemy
106a - Espionage
110 - Improper hazarding of vessel
118 - Murder
120 - Rape and carnal knowledge
Four provisions of the UCMJ carry a death sentence only if the crime is committed during times of war:
85 - Desertion
90 - Assaulting or willfully disobeying superior commissioned officer
106 - Spies
113 - Misbehavior of a sentinel or lookout”
What else does he do but squawk?
However, you assume that our force could *continue* to be an all-volunteer force if we went to war with Iran. And while it is unlikely that this would be a problem for a while, W. Bush is creating a precedent that could be used by John McCain, if Iran proved to be harder than anticipated.
Despite the snarky comments about Bush’s intelligence, he has a masterful sense of prior planning and laying the groundwork for the future. Before his first primary race for President, he had already sewed up every major Republican contributor, so the primary was decided before it had begun. At the same time, he arranged to build his Crawford Ranch “Texas White House”, that was finished just before he gave his oath of office.
I might add, that there is another benefit of insuring that the President has a clear path to approve executions: the al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo. The ones convicted so far have gone to Florence, Colorado, but some to be tried in the future could receive the death penalty.
Since they are getting military trials, instead of their appeals going up through the civilian courts, they might need to go through the military appeals chain.
-PJ
Yeah, the President made his share of mistakes. The saying in business goes: Lack of research kills.
But this President was treated beyond disrespectfully, it was a coup de’etat. President Bush, you now have nothing to lose to have some heads roll at the White House. You will protect the American people to the last but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fulfill your promise to get rid of the snakes in Justice or your own cabinet that betrayed you. You acted compassionately and assigned trust, trust of the entire American citizenship and this was betrayed along with yourself.
Humiliate and fire them. You will be doing all of us a very big favor so We the People don’t have to deal with them for the next four years. October surprise should have a new meaning for you my friend :)
Agreed. Treason is treason and no reason to waste American’s taxpayers dollars debating whether it’s politically correct to fry a black man. White, black, purple, yellow. A murderer of his own people is called a traitor. Give a fair trial, bring out to the back of fence and shoot with high caliber rifles.
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