Posted on 01/06/2009 7:35:55 AM PST by BGHater
A White House letter tells the father his request on behalf of Sgt. Evan Vela will be 'seriously considered.'
The father of an eastern Idaho soldier convicted of killing an unarmed Iraqi says the White House has confirmed that President Bush is considering a request for a pardon.
Curtis Carnahan said he received a letter from the White House last week.
"Please know that your views on this matter will be seriously considered," it said.
Sgt. Evan Vela,a 24-year-old U.S. Army sniper,was convicted in February and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian who stumbled upon him and five other soldiers sleeping on May 11, 2007.
Vela also was convicted of planting an AK-47 rifle on the dead man's body and of lying to military investigators.
Vela is serving his prison sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth,Kan.
Carnahan has mounted a campaign to get his son pardoned, recently sending 235 letters to the White House asking Bush to set aside Vela's conviction.
"We're still hopeful he'll do something," Carnahan told the Post Register newspaper.
Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson,both Idaho Republicans,last month sent letters to Bush asking him to pardon Vela.
Carnahan said the letter he received also noted there are other ways for his son to be released.One of them, he said, is for his son to be granted clemency.
Carnahan, who lives in the eastern Idaho town of Parker, said Vela's case will automatically move to the military appellate court.
"We're not going to stop until someone lets him go," Carnahan said.
Under the Constitution, the president's power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled - meaning he can forgive anyone he wants,at any time. Bush has so far granted 189 pardons and nine commutations.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatesman.com ...
Free Scooter Libby!
bttt
I’d be inclined to support this young man’s pardon if he had not planted a weapon on the person he accidently killed and then lied to investigators about it.
Pingaling
Here’s one worth our attention, GOP_raider.
I am more inclined not to punish those who come home alive, vs. glorifying those who should have done the same thing as Vela, but came home in a box instead. There’s the media version, and then there’s the truth. You made your choice already.
Pardon for the shooting (which just happens in war), and keep the portion of the sentence related to lying, with time served as punishment.
“I’d be inclined to support this young man’s pardon if he had not planted a weapon on the person he accidently killed and then lied to investigators about it.”
Exactly.
What a ridiculous remark. He should just trust his ENTIRE LIFE to the current political machine and our MORALLY IMPOTENT PRESIDENT ?!!
You are forming an opinion based on a couple of lines in an article that reveals none of the facts of the case.
Holding his trial in Baghdad, inflenced by High Iraqi government officials, with a jury hand-picked by the prosecution, with evidence buried under secret classifications, Vela was the sacrifice to help bring about part of the Sunni awakening of a tribe of people described by one of his commanding officers as “all Al Queada”.
He did the job he was sent there to do.
FREE EVAN VELA!
There’s a huge difference between what he was convicted of and what he actually did. You should read a little more on his case.
For anyone interested:
So, obstructing justice and lying to investigators is all right because he was a soldier and the president is a weakling? Not buying it. Like the previous poster, if it had been just the shooting (an accident of war, by all accounts) I would be in favor of a pardon, but pardoning him after this dishonorable behavior would send the message that military personnel are above such petty things as law and order. An idea made all the more frightening by the fact that law and order are the very things that the military is in place to protect. When the military is above the law, the result is a Banana Republic.
You can’t really expect people around here to actually read what they are commenting on. We have many people around here that are just to important for that don’t you know. /s/
That’s true, I shouldn’t expect so much from the masses.
He gave his ALL, his gift to YOU—the young man we call Evan
The blow that breaks his brow tonight shall break the dome of heaven
The chance of battle changes, So may all battle be...
Your talking out your a$$ today, cause Evan kept you FREE.
I wish I still had my innocence when it comes to exactly what the government is willing to do to the soldiers who are fighting to protect our rights..... Back to that innocence thing again lily.
This is good news, smokey, even if it did draw a few uninformed posters who had nothing but ignorance and judgement to pay their bar tab with.
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