Marine sniper at center of viral video scandal found dead

the Washington Post ^ | August 14, 2014 | Dan Lamothe

[McGruff]

Retired Marine Cpl. Robert Richards, a combat veteran who was badly wounded in Afghanistan and later appeared in a controversial video urinating on dead Taliban insurgents, was found dead Wednesday night in his home in North Carolina. He was 28.

The death was confirmed Thursday morning by Guy Womack, a lawyer who represented Richards in his long legal battle with the Marine Corps after the video was published anonymously on YouTube in January 2012 and erupted into an international scandal. Womack said the death does not appear to have been a suicide, and the cause will not be known until an autopsy and toxicology tests are completed.

[McGruff]

Such a sad story. He gave so much for his country.

the death does not appear to have been a suicide?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

He had pretty severe injuries from his deployments.

[no-to-illegals]

Dang ... Prayers for this Man, his Family and Friends. Would like to know about this further. North Carolina has become a hot bed.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

What sickens me is that it appears highly likely that outgoing commandant Amos used undue command influence to push for as harsh a penalty as possible for these guys. Yes, they messed up, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Frankly, the biggest thing they did wrong IMO is to tape it.

[Pining_4_TX]

If he was taking medication for PTSD and/or drinking perhaps, it might be an accidental OD.

This is what we have been doing to our troops. Sending them back into hell 3,4,5 times, for what? There is no objective and no end. Tragic.

[MeganC]

RIP. He’s now patrolling the streets in Heaven.

[butterdezillion]

The video was on one of the guys’ phone and wasn’t going anywhere until that guy stepped on an IED and his phone landed in the hands of some other Marine. Makes me wonder what his group thought of that Marine putting this footage out there.

He said the terrorists had desecrated the body of one of their friends a couple days before this happened. Said he’s sorry it brought dishonor to the Marines but couldn’t say whether he’d do it again in the same situation because you sort of stop being “Joe the Family Man” in wartime situations.

I’ll pray for his family; sounds like he was a good sniper who cared about his men.

[rockrr]

Rest in peace Cpl. Richards - my hat is off to you.

[Cold Heat]

RIP....

Since Vietnam and even going back to Korea, I believe we have met the enemy head on and discovered to our shock and chagrin that the enemy is us.....

[Sir Napsalot]

Let me guess, VA at work here?

“Murdering” our own.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"He said the terrorists had desecrated the body of one of their friends a couple days before this happened."

I totally understand why they pissed on the dead ba$tard$. You do a lot of things in combat that you would never do in a normal everyday life situation. Patton pissed in the Rhine river and the press took pictures of him doing it. But he was a three star general at the time and it was a different era. In today's era, you should never have a video snapped doing that. I don't care if it was on a guys phone or however they did it. You take the photo/video, there's a good chance it gets splashed around the world on the internet.

[GladesGuru]

“Since Vietnam and even going back to Korea, I believe we have met the enemy head on and discovered to our shock and chagrin that the enemy is us.....”

Would you please explain why we are the enemy?

[Old Teufel Hunden]

So Obama can cut and run and in two years they get taken over by radical Islamists again. That way we can have another generation of young people go over and stop them.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Would you please explain why we are the enemy?"

[Cold Heat]

We are the enemy, because our public appears incapable of supporting the wars that we engage in.

In the end, on nearly every engagement that takes time or more than a year, the civilian overseer’s have tried to micromanage the fight and have essentially wasted blood and treasury as a result.

This is due largely to fractious politics led by a media who’s loyally to the country it operates in can only be described as Dubious, that have managed to infect and eventually damage our ability to actually win the war, the peace, or anything of lasting substance.

That’s why....

[Pining_4_TX]

What we have done hasn’t worked. The only way they hurt us is if we let them into our country, and we have been letting Muslims into the US in droves. For part of that, you can thank GWB who brought in thousands of Iraqi refugees, or members of the FTA (Future Terrorists of America) Club, as I like to call them.

In case people haven’t noticed, the US is broke. Our borders are wide open and we are being invaded and conquered without a shot fired. Our troops and their families are worn out from multiple deployments to do what exactly? Win hearts and minds? Build soccer fields and schools? Turn those dirtbag countries into modern democracies?

If the US had been serious about dealing with this problem after 911, it would not have involved troops toppling governments and staying there. It was the dumbest US military move since Gen. Custer decided to pimp with a few Indians. What was really needed was much more drastic and would never happen. Sending more troops now or in a few years will have the same result. Insanity.

[demshateGod]

I was talking about this at my old job and my old boss overheard me. I said, “I wouldn’t do something like this, but I can’t get too mad at the guy.” He strode out, faking a smile, “What if it was you lying dead and your family had to see that video?” My response, “I’m not a Taliban.” There are some real idiots in America these days who are accounted wise.

This is truly sad. Unjust. If he was murdered, may justice be meted swiftly.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Turn those dirtbag countries into modern democracies?"

That is the mistake we made. I have to admit I was for the idea of planting a democracy in the middle east and "Nation Building" in Iraq 10 years ago. However, I was wrong on that account. Sure, topple Sadaam, destroy the Taliban and destroy Al Quada, I will never apologize for those decisions. However, unless we as a nation are willing to commit to an American Empire along the lines of the old British Empire (which I am not in favor of) then we can't be nation building in these backwards third world cesspools.

When I justified it 10 years ago, my model was Germany and Japan. The one big difference I overlooked is that those nations had an educated middle class that could grasp these concepts. Iraq, much to my chagrin has had to grow that on the fly. Hopefully they get it right. I still think once we committed and actually won by the end of 2008 we should have left a residual force of 10,000. This could have been easily accomplished by pulling all the ground forces out of Western Europe (no longer needed) and re-deploying some of those ground forces to Iraq.

[Pining_4_TX]

We didn’t win anything. Maliki is every bit as much of a thug as Saddam was, just a different flavor. When the US pulled the plug (Saddam) that held that place together, civil war was inevitable. The history and makeup of Iraq should have told the dimwits in DC that. I don’t understand military men, who surely knew better, not objecting strenuously to invading Iraq. All those lives and money and things are worse than ever. The US has managed to arm the most violent, radical jihadists in the Middle East with our best equipment. Epic failure.

[a fool in paradise]

When are the trials for the Islamists who are beheading 5 year old children?

Was there a trial for the Islamonazis who tortured and killed and burned the corpses of some contractors?

Such disparity in “war crimes”.

Why was Osama Bin Laden’s corpse honored by our Commander in Chief?

P!ss on OBL too.