There is only one question that I’d ask Carlisle.
“Did you see Sgt Nazario kill anyone?”
Perhaps I’d add: “Did you see Sgt Nazario even fire his weapon near the prisoners?”
Another: “Did you see anyone kill anyone?”
The storyline makes it clear that anyone inside that house had within minutes been actively engaged in trying to kill Americans, and their disposition was NOT one of prisoners of war.
They were attempting to fool the squad into believing they were non-combatants. Who knows what communication they had just made to other insurgents prior to the squad entering that building.
Nazario said that it never happened. I wonder if he means the entire event, or if he means only the killing of prisoners.
Any movement on the part of any of those insurgents could have been a pre-arranged signal. Any squad leaving that building could have meant pre-notified insurgents were to move into the building and free anyone left manacled. Any squad leaving that building with prisoners was to be tracked and killed now that the squad had been divided into prisoner guards moving to the rear and fire team moving forward.
It’s clear those men were fighters. The discharged weapons and other weapons prove that.
The only safe harbor for that squad was to move out of that building in force.
This sounds really jumbled though.
If some say there was a communication with higher, and the government insisted that was the reason for the prosecution, and now they’re not even pursuing it, then we’re left to conclude there was no communication because too many dispute it, most importantly, the radio operator.
If that story is false, then what other parts of the story are probably false. There can be no conclusion drawn, and Nazario’s version is as likely as anyone elses.
Not one person is testifying they saw him kill anyone.
These were out of uniform fighters trying to pass as non-combatants. They fall under the heading of spys and sabotures and can be summarily shot at will...
Concur, Chaplain; thanks for your thoughts.
This is a hearsay case that never should have been brought to court; the Judge is a freaking idiot for not tossing it and penalizing the prosecutors and their minions.