There are plenty of legal excuses why Wuterich's sentence is so light and everybody else has got of scott free, but the maximum three month jail sentence will not be well received by those in Iraq who wanted justice for the death of family members.

The Haditha killings severely tainted the reputation of US forces in Iraq, but by 2005, they had already been hit hard by the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. The Haditha killings were cited as a key reason why Iraqi officials refused to give US troops immunity from their court system. That sticking point helped contribute to the eventual pullout of US troops from Iraq at the end of 2011

According to reports of the BBC this morning, the Marine Core was eager to prosecute these men, but the bureaucraticy of the US military legal system was to blame. The defence was more adept at delaying than the prosecution was at bringing them to trial and as time progressed it become more difficult to prosecute .

This may be true, but why is the legal system structured as such to protect their own? There seems to be no difficulty in the US by-passing the law when they want to. Think Guantanamo and extraordinary extradition for example.

I will believe the blame can solely placed on the legal system when Nidal Malik Hasan the Muslim 'suspect' at the Fort Hood shooting of fellow servicemen is also let off with a light sentence!

I'm the first to go to bat for combat soldiers in very grey situations where it is hard to tell friend from foe...in this instance though, it seems pretty black and white. If they were simply fragging and clearing I wouldn't condone the action but I can understand it...the fact they were all shot in the chest and head means it was in close quarters and they likely were able see exactly what they were doing.

Where was the leadership on this? I understand in the heat of combat emotions run high and soldiers are tempted to do things they would not normally do...that's why we have experienced leaders that are supposed to channel this aggression in the appropriate way...not unload on a bunch of civilians who were obviously not caught in the cross fire. Even after it happened, if the leadership had taken an active role in investigating this matter before it reached the theatre level leadership it would have done a lot show that the US military does not condone the action and that we punish those who operate outside the rules and regulations set forth to prevent such a thing from happening.

I hate to be a Monday morning quarterback because I was not there when it happened...to me though, the evidence is pretty damning...

Shameful! It get's worse. Good job all the soldiers have left Iraq.

A US marine who admitted charges linked to the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2005 should face no time in detention, a judge has recommended.

The decision by the judge at Camp Pendleton, California, must be approved by the commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command.

Sgt Frank Wuterich faced a maximum of three months after admitting dereliction of duty in a plea deal.

He was one of eight marines charged over the killings at Haditha.

The charges against six were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted.
Military judge Lt Col David Jones said his hands had been tied by the terms of the plea agreement. However, he said he would recommend that Wuterich's rank be reduced to private.......

The judge said he had decided not to dock the marine's pay because Wuterich is divorced with sole custody of his three young children.

Prosecutors had asked that Wuterich receive the maximum sentence of three months confinement, reduction in rank and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay.

In Iraq, the plea deal that stopped Wuterich's trial on several charges of manslaughter sparked outrage.

Survivor Awis Fahmi Hussein, who had been shot in the back, said: "I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16712488

I vaguely remember a British soldier shooting an Argentine POW to put him out of his misery as he was engulfed in flames and being burnt to death. Apparently the British police wanted to prosecute the man for murder.

I can't remember the outcome of the case.

Anyone with a better memory then me?

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

I vaguely remember a British soldier shooting an Argentine POW to put him out of his misery as he was engulfed in flames and being burnt to death. Apparently the British police wanted to prosecute the man for murder.

I can't remember the outcome of the case.

Anyone with a better memory then me?

I remember this.
The Argentine soldier, a POW, had stepped on an anti personell mine and was on fire and dying so the British soldier shot him to end his suffering.
He was arrested by civil authorities, the Military didn't seem to be involved, but the case never went to court as the Crown Prosecution Service realised that it wasn't in the "Public interest" to pursue the matter.

Originally Posted by perseus

Shameful! It get's worse. Good job all the soldiers have left Iraq.

Don´t point fingers if you haven´t walked the path!

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

I vaguely remember a British soldier shooting an Argentine POW to put him out of his misery as he was engulfed in flames and being burnt to death. Apparently the British police wanted to prosecute the man for murder.

I can't remember the outcome of the case.

Anyone with a better memory then me?

The individual was asked to help the Brits to make safe an Argentine ammo dump. The British suspected that the ammo dump had been booby trapped. The Argentine officer in charge of the ammo dump was asked by his British captors whether the dump was safe he indicated that it was and volunteered the soldier in question. The Argentine soldier set off a booby trap and was set alight inside the ammo dump which also was starting to burn. I watched an interview of the soldier who shot the Argentine he said that the POW was isolated in the alight ammo dump he was screaming and in his words his legs and hands had melted to stumps and was unable to be rescued from the fire or make his own way out. After assessing the hopelessness of the situation he killed the POW. Personally if I was the POW I would want the same...

but this has very little to do with the original point of the thread.

Originally Posted by 42RM

Don´t point fingers if you haven´t walked the path!

Too true!

Originally Posted by captiva303

The individual was asked to help the brits to make safe an Argentine ammo dump. The britsih suspected that the ammo dump had been booby trapped. The Argentine officer in charge of the siand to his British captors whether the dump was safe he indicated that it was and volunteered the soldier in question. The Argentine soldier set off a booby trap and was set alight inside the ammo dump which also was starting to burn. I watched an interview of the soldier who shot the Argentine he said that the POW was isolated in the alight ammo dump he was screaming and in his words his legs and hands had melted to stumps and was unable to be rescued from the fire or make his own way out. After assessing the hopelessness of the situation he killed the POW. Personally if I was the POW I would want the same...

but this has very little to do with the original point of the thread.

It has everything to do with this thread, in this case it was unfair prosecution of a soldier carrying out a mission of mercy

Originally Posted by Trooper1854

I remember this.
The Argentine soldier, a POW, had stepped on an anti personell mine and was on fire and dying so the British soldier shot him to end his suffering.
He was arrested by civil authorities, the Military didn't seem to be involved, but the case never went to court as the Crown Prosecution Service realised that it wasn't in the "Public interest" to pursue the matter.

Thanks Trooper.

Originally Posted by 42RM

Don´t point fingers if you haven´t walked the path!

So you think everyone who hasn't been in combat should stay quiet about this and bury their head in the sand, how convenient! Is this what we call Brothers in arms? Perhaps you might feel differently if they came over here and did the same to our families Eh? Do we not have the right to talk about the Holocaust because we weren't in a concentration camp?

The conspiracy of silence on here is sickening to the extreme. Everyone has the right to condemn or everyone is in the firing line, ever heard of terrorism? If it makes me angry what do you think it does to them? Remember that the next time we have a terrorist incident in London and New York.

People say there are just a few bad apples, I can see that is not the case. Go on support one another, you only bring shame on yourselves.

What the massacre of young children has to do with mercy killing of a combatant, I have no idea!