U.S. Marine Sgt. Jermaine Nelson was reduced in rank to lance corporal, but will face no other punishment for his role in the slaying of four unarmed captives in Iraq five years ago.
Nelson, 28, was given the light sentence on Wednesday after he agreed to plead guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty in exchange for dismissal of a murder charge.
That's from Mark Walker's "MILITARY: Nelson gets reduction in rank for Fallujah killing" (North County Times) and Steve Liewer (San Diego Union-Tirbune) notes:
Experts in military law said this final chapter of the Fallujah case also vindicated the legal strategy that Nelson and Sgts. Jose Nazario and Ryan Weemer took. The three Marines agreed to not testify against each other.
"They lawyered up early and got good legal advice," said Gary Solis, a former military attorney from San Diego who now teaches law at Georgetown University. "It was recognized: Hang tough, because the government has very little evidence."
Did you miss that part of the Marine code? Break the law, murder people and then agree that you're above the law and will not testify against one another.
Did you miss it?
You know, of course, that three civilians in a civilian court would not have gotten away with that. The judge would have imposed punishments. A military judge didn't do so, didn't stop the little clique. So the military approved it. That is how history will record it. Four Iraqis were killed, murdered, execution style and the US 'justice system' failed. Iraqi lives, we've seen, mean nothing. We've seen that repeatedly.
Four Iraqis are dead and a so-called law professor can't address life and death but cream his shorts over how the law was circumvented. Because, after all, it's just smoke and mirrors and cool tricks, it's not like this is life and death and certainly no one important was lost, right?
A law professor to busy being amused and bemused by the circumventing of justice to take a moment and note four people died as a result of the actions or that justice just went down the toilet.
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4346. Tonight? 4347.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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