Is this the right way to treat a United States Marine?

Question

Lansing-based Marine reserve convicted of killing Iraqi soldier
December 13, 2007
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Michigan-based Marine reservet was found guilty today of killing an Iraqi soldier while they stood watch together at a guard post in Fallujah.
Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes, 22, of Indianapolis, was convicted of negligent homicide, but acquitted of the greater charge of unpremeditated homicide. He was also convicted of making a false official statement.
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A panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines returned the verdict after two days of deliberating over whether the Dec. 31, 2006, killing of Pvt. Munther Muhammed Hassin was an act of murder or self-defense.

Answer 1

Other than hearing of this young Marine being convicted I have heard nothing of this case, But I have to think, that having grown up during the Vietnam era, that maybe just maybe there might have been a good reason for this American Marine to kill the Iraqi on guard duty with him. Like Vietnam in Iraq no one knows for sure who the enemy is and who the true friend is. No one knows what truly went on between these 2 except for them and sadly some people are not good at explaining or expressing themselves and I suspect that is one big reason that he is going to prison.

Answer 2

Wrinkly Lemon Troll, the guy faced a court martial, he was judged and sentenced, as by the UCMJ. for committing the crime of murder.

Many years ago in South Lebanon, during the night at an Irish U.N. checkpoint called "Tibnin Bridge", there was an incident in the night where 3 Irish U.N. peace-keeping soldiers were killed, when the reaction patrol went to investigate they found one Irish U.N. soldier holding two Lebanese civilians prisoner.

He, McAleiavy, stated the Lebanese drove into the checkpoint disarmed and opened fire and killed his buddies, subsequent investigation found out that he (McAleiavy,) had done the killing, the Corporal of the checkpoint was married to an old girlfriend of McAleiavy, back in Ireland, and he shot him out of jealousy.

The other two Irish Privates were killed because they were witness to the shooting, the two Lebanese were passing through immediately after the shooting, lucky for them that McAleiavy, did not shoot them dead and put one of the murdered soldiers weapons in their hands and claim they disarmed the soldiers and killed his comrades.

He was tried in Ireland and sentenced to LIFE imprisonment for the premeditated murder of his three comrades!

For Zurikon:

As Military personnel do not go on guard alone it was his duty to call the Sergeant of the Guard and have the Iraqi removed from the post, not get into a fight.

Is your answer because you were there and witnessed the event or just repeating what the US soldier claimed to have happened???

Answer 3

I say they got it wrong. He was guarding at a post with this Iraqi & the stupid Iraqi lights a cigarette & pulled out his cell phone in the middle of the night in a sniper zone & when the marine told him to put that **** away the Iraqi didn't listen, so he slapped that cigarette out of his hand & than the Iraqi & the marine wrestled to the ground cause the Iraqi is an idiot & on the ground the Iraqi was reaching for his weapon, so the marine did what he had to do at that point & he stabbed him to death. I don't know about you but I would do the same thing if I was in a sniper zone were in the middle of the night the guard posted with me starts acting like a idiot offering hajjis spot lights basically were we are at. Well I would do the same to any foreign soldier posted with me, not an American soldier because they are not stupid to enough to do that.

Conranger1:
I read it somewhere & then read it again somewhere else. But given the situation I can see how the escalation could have happened. I mean if your on guard & you look over at the Iraqi soldier who just whipped out & light a cigarette & is about to use his cell phone in the middle of the night knowing its a sniper warning zone & its the dark that might be saving you from getting spotted at any moment, then that beacon of here my *** is from the Iraqi soldier, your not going to go inform the sergeant, your going to have that cigarette put out & cell phone put away & giving the level of stupidity of the Iraqi I don't blame the Marine for running up to slap that cigarette out of his hand to get it put out. Each second that thing is lit is a possibility of getting spotted. And from there the situation just escalated because the Iraqi got belligerent & fought with the marine & on top of that in midst of the fight with another soldier you never reach for your weapon. It was unfortunate yes but justified if that is the way it happened. I see no other reason why the marine would just stab an Iraqi soldier to death without having just cause.

Answer 4

Dereliction of accountability and Violation of a Lawful Order in any branch of the protection stress is a intense offense of the Uniform Code of protection stress Justice. in case you particularly examine that article you will observe that the crimes that they are accused of, is what handed off after the incident no longer what handed off at a similar time as the incident got here approximately. the regulations of Engagement (ROE) are defined to all the protection stress. in the warmth of conflict would be deaths of harmless human beings. it extremely is a given. yet you will desire to never cover it up or make it look like it replaced into something else. The Lt. Col. and the others seem to have broken those regulations. I truly desire their are got here upon no longer to blame, yet while they are to blame then they'd desire to stand the leads to their strikes.

Answer 5

Let me think-He did some thing, lied about it (that's the false official statement) and got caught. Was tried and convicted..I would say yes it is. If he had not been tried or had been found innocent would have you thought it was right or a huge cover-up? But the answer is everything was done correctly and through a court of law so it is right.

Answer 6

Don't exactly get your point but yes if he did indeed kill the soldier then he needs to pay the piper. Eight men who have probably pulled tours in Iraq seemed to think the evidence was overwhelming and proved beyond the shadow that he did it. That's the way we in the USA operate. So in this one case my answer would have to be yes.

Answer 7

Yes. He committed a crime and got a fair trial with fellow Marines deciding whether or not he was guilty. A US Marine is not above the law nor are all Marines perfect beings who can do no wrong.

Answer 8

The uniform code of military justice is the Military's version of the penal code which all states have.
The UCMJ procedures were followed. You live by the UCMJ and face the consequences if you don't.

Answer 9

What's your point? Are you saying that because the victim was an Iraqi it shouldn't count? If they were standing watch together, they were on the same side, so it wasn't like killling an enemy combatant. The mission is supposedly to help the Iraqis to establish their own stable government. They can't accomplish that by killing the very people they're trying to help.

Answer 10

He is judged by 3 officers and 5 of his peers, are you saying they got it wrong after viewing the evidence ? I have no idea, I know nothing about the case? so I am just asking? do you know more about the case than the Marines do ?