Marine 'devastated' at sentence

[mistermack]

I'm not sure he did break the Geneva convention because we are not legally bound to it since the Taliban are neither signatories of it nor do they follow it's protocol.

He needed you in court then. The judges and lawyers must have been idiots.

[PsychoSerenity]

"We accept that you were affected by the constant pressure, ever present danger and fear of death or serious injury.
-
"We also accept the psychiatric evidence presented today that when you killed the insurgent it was likely that you were suffering to some degree from combat stress disorder.

Wouldn't it just be better to not put people in that sort of situation in the first place?

[mistermack]

"We accept that you were affected by the constant pressure, ever present danger and fear of death or serious injury.
-
"We also accept the psychiatric evidence presented today that when you killed the insurgent it was likely that you were suffering to some degree from combat stress disorder.

Wouldn't it just be better to not put people in that sort of situation in the first place?

Isn't it odd that the soldiers that get killed are always top-notch shining examples of soldiery, and the ones who commit atrocities are broken men, from stress?

Wouldn't it be refreshing if just once we got the truth?

'' Corporal Jones was a bit of an unstable asshole, but he died doing his job '' or,

'' Corporal Smith was not ill, he was just a murdering shit. What else should they expect, from a British squaddie ? ''

[Hermit]

I'm not sure he did break the Geneva convention because we are not legally bound to it since the Taliban are neither signatories of it nor do they follow it's protocol.

Bullshit. From the Preamble of the Geneva convention: "Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain bound by it"

[Tyrannical]

The Conventions apply to a signatory nation even if the opposing nation is not a signatory, but only if the opposing nation "accepts and applies the provisions" of the Conventions.

[Tyrannical]

I'm not sure he did break the Geneva convention because we are not legally bound to it since the Taliban are neither signatories of it nor do they follow it's protocol.

He needed you in court then. The judges and lawyers must have been idiots.

He probably was charged with breaking British military law and the Geneva convention. I'm sure all Western militaries have conduct at least as strict in law, so nothing would change even if the convention did not apply.

[Hermit]

The Conventions apply to a signatory nation even if the opposing nation is not a signatory, but only if the opposing nation "accepts and applies the provisions" of the Conventions.

Neither al Quaeda nor the Taliban are nations. In so far as members of either are regarded as terrorists, they may be arrested, but not killed unless they are armed.

[pErvinalia]

Seems a waste of resources keeping him banged up for years when a summary discharge would have dealt with the issue. Unlikely he'd repeat the offence on the streets of the UK. The law is a ass I guess.

I don't think you can be sure of that. It was an execution, not in the heat of the battle. He's probably not entirely right in the head.

[cronus]

Seems a waste of resources keeping him banged up for years when a summary discharge would have dealt with the issue. Unlikely he'd repeat the offence on the streets of the UK. The law is a ass I guess.

I don't think you can be sure of that. It was an execution, not in the heat of the battle. He's probably not entirely right in the head.

I'd only worry if I was a foreigner even then. Do I look foreign?

[Svartalf]

With your pumpkin head you look downright weird

[JimC]

Seems a waste of resources keeping him banged up for years when a summary discharge would have dealt with the issue. Unlikely he'd repeat the offence on the streets of the UK. The law is a ass I guess.

Pour encourage les autres...

[piscator]

Seems a waste of resources keeping him banged up for years when a summary discharge would have dealt with the issue. Unlikely he'd repeat the offence on the streets of the UK. The law is a ass I guess.

Pour encourage les autres...

Yep. And for the victim's family.
Of course he was an enemy, but if you give the impression you're unjust, it can only hurt your efforts in the long run.

[cronus]

Seems a waste of resources keeping him banged up for years when a summary discharge would have dealt with the issue. Unlikely he'd repeat the offence on the streets of the UK. The law is a ass I guess.

Pour encourage les autres...

Yep. And for the victim's family.
Of course he was an enemy, but if you give the impression you're unjust, it can only hurt your efforts in the long run.

Like the average Afghan is gonna be reading the international news and forming opinions.....according to Western thinking? He'd probably think it more unjust to lock the guy up given tribal loyalty as the top moral ace card. You are all out of your depth...go back to sleep?

[jaydot]

it could be the guy had form for this and his colleague wore a camera to get the evidence.

[Seth]

Haha... Seth supports wanton killing. Quelle surprise..

There's nothing "wanton" about killing a terrorist who has just tried to kill you in a gun battle. This wasn't a farmer tilling his field, this was someone who had engaged in hostile acts moments before. The Sergeant's mistake was in not shooting with his rifle from a distance because he saw the terrorist move towards his weapon. Doesn't pay to approach wounded terrorists anyway, they might well blow themselves and you up with a grenade or suicide vest. Best to just keep shooting at them till they quit moving for an extended period or brain matter can be seen through binoculars. War is hell, and if you don't want hell rained down upon you, don't make war on the US. If you do, then you die. It's that simple.