Having promised a full and open inquiry, the Corps held many hearings in secret session, held the findings secret, and released its decision on the disposition of the case on the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day, the perfect time to bury such news in a long holiday weekend.
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Sunday, June 08, 2008
Marine Corps court of inquiry criticized
I was on the road most of last week, so I'm behind on my reading. Here's a link to an editorial from this past week's Marine Corps Times criticizing the level of openness in the proceedings and report of the court of inquiry examining the actions of a Marine Corps special operations company in Afghanistan. Here's the crux:
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8 comments:
CAAFlog & its readers,
Today, while I was driving, I heard one hour of the most riveting radio I have heard in a long time. "The Prosecutor" is the best one-hour legal story I have heard in my lifetime.
It is a mix of law, politics, ideology, ethics, and personality.
Its a must for CAAFlog and the people who frequent it. People who have been in government service will recognize some of the common themes running through this story. And I won't give away the moral of the story, because each listener will come away with a different lesson.
The story is posted on "This American Life," a Chicago Public Radio station.
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=356
Here's the lead:
356: The Prosecutor
A lawyer in the Justice Department gets the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to be the lead prosecutor in one of the first high-profile terrorist cases since 9/11. But things go badly for him. His convictions get overturned, he loses his job, and he ends up on trial himself, in federal court. His accusers? His former colleagues at the Justice department.
Is it a true story?
YES. The story is TRUE. Its amazing. You must listen to this story. Its YOUR government at work.
These anonymous posts are irrelevant to this blog (and of course to the original post).
Gene,
I understand your concern. I am a regular CAAF reader and mostly concerned with military justice.
But there is no other place to post on related news stories.
The military hook in this story is deals with the inherent issues of government service. Please take the time and listen to this story and you will NOT go away feeling that the story is irrelevant to military justice.
Anyone have any thoughts on the future of the U.S. military commissions? To trial the terrorists?
Thanks to whoever posted that radio show about Richard Convertino. I thought it was provocative and interesting.
RE: MSOC-F Marines expelled from Afghanistan by Army Gen. F. Kearney
There was never any evidence other than the word of the Afghans that any civilians were killed.
The various lists of injured and dead civilians cannot be verified by any source. The Army did not check the solatia list, instead, accepted the list from the Nangahar governor. Afghan testimony contained numerous instances of fraud. Tribal elders told some citizens to say they were injured to receive money.
Within 15 minutes of the attack, the first team of Military Police arrived on the scene; they saw no injured people or dead bodies other than the body parts of the suicide bomber.
No bodies were recovered; there were no autopsies, no forensic evidence.
Yet news articles continue to state that the Marines killed civilians.
Also debunked was Col. (now General) Nicholson’s accusation that the Marines killed 19 civilians. By accusing the Marines of killing 19 civilians and publicly apologizing and handing out money and turbans, like Santa Claus, Army Col. (now General) Nicholson played into the hands of our enemies, thereby demoralizing and undermining our troops. It was entirely untrue, but the truth didn’t matter. He had a great opportunity to demonstrate that in our democracy, a person is innocent until proven guilty, and he handed a huge victory to the Taliban.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSq8Z4qWQco (Nicholson pays the terrorists.)
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