Marine Guilty of killing - do you agree?

Wow.... this has certainly stirred up a hornets nest! However much sympathy we may have with the marine the courts simply couldn't overlook the evidence. Marine A shoots the Taliban and then says, ' This goes no further lads. I've just breached the Geneva convention.'

In other words, he knew that what he had done was wrong. The courts cannot allow emotion to cloud their judgement and have to be detached from sentimentality and only rely on the facts. Nothing else matters in a court of law.

However unpalatable it may seem, we have to remember that the Taliban consider us and the Americans as foreign occupants invading their land.

The lesson here is that if you are going to carry out these acts then make sure your head cams and microphones are bloody well switched off!

The guy was a prisoner of war and was murdered in cold blood, Guilty as charged. He even told Tosser B & Tosser C to keep Shtum.

wessy wrote:The guy was a prisoner of war and was murdered in cold blood, Guilty as charged. He even told Tosser B & Tosser C to keep Shtum.

I certainly wouldn't describe them as tossers, Wessy. They do an extremely dangerous job in very difficult circumstances. None of us know how we would react if we were in their shoes.

There but for the grace of god etc etc.

Nor, technically, was he a prisoner of war, but they did have a duty of care.

Why didn't the Americans take OBL as a prisoner of war then?

scottjames30 wrote:Why didn't the Americans take OBL as a prisoner of war then?

Because they had no intention of making more lawyers even richer by having a lengthy trial which would have ran for months and months, plus they didn't wish to make him a martyr any more than he already was.

The plan was clearly to kill him at all costs and then dump his body where nobody could ever find it.

Murder? You decide..

ffs sake next they'll be saying before you shoot anyone you must let them know ' excuse me sir, i'm about to execute you'.

PC bollocks.

OBL was a legal decision taken by an elected government, against a terrorist who had been found guilty and whose sentence was death The politics and process in which it was carried out may not be the norm, nor the disposing of the body, (its as RT says). No doubt there are many who could drive a lorry through the logic, but thats how it looks to me.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Wow.... this has certainly stirred up a hornets nest! However much sympathy we may have with the marine the courts simply couldn't overlook the evidence. Marine A shoots the Taliban and then says, ' This goes no further lads. I've just breached the Geneva convention.'

In other words, he knew that what he had done was wrong. The courts cannot allow emotion to cloud their judgement and have to be detached from sentimentality and only rely on the facts. Nothing else matters in a court of law.

However unpalatable it may seem, we have to remember that the Taliban consider us and the Americans as foreign occupants invading their land.

The lesson here is that if you are going to carry out these acts then make sure your head cams and microphones are bloody well switched off!

Agree with this RT.

and me

I was never a great fan of Culture Club but Boy George nailed it with this one.

https://youtu.be/Pxw-vnYtSp4

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.


Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.


And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.


But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Joe has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.


He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,

Very quiet sort of life.


He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,

'Tho a Soldier died today.


When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,

And proclaim that they were great.


Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.


Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?


Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?


The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.


While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.


It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.


Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?


Or would you want a Soldier
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.


He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his likes again.




For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.


If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.


Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:

"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."





















Pass on the Patriotism



- and stuff the politicians who think they are the be all and end all but are just lying self important nobodies who unfortunately can affect our lives disproportionally.

   

Well said that man.

Never been a fan of the Royals but at least there men put their clocks on the block in one way or another. Show me a politician who's kids went there, certainly not Blurrs!!
Btw a fitting post RT.

Nice one RT, and very timely too.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

A Royal Marine who murdered an injured insurgent in Afghanistan has been named as Sergeant Alexander Blackman.



Three senior judges sitting at the High Court in London lifted an anonymity order which prevented him from being identified.

Arguments made for Blackman and other marines in the case suggested their lives would be at "real and immediate" risk if their names were released.

But the judges upheld a decision to name him and two others.

The anonymity order for the two other marines, who were acquitted, will remain in place until the court publishes its full judgement and lawyers decide whether to appeal.

Of the decision to lift Marine A's anonymity order, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "We presented our security concerns in open court, and an independent legal process has now concluded; we respect the decision of the court."

Blackman was 39 years-old at the time of the court martial and had 15 years' experience as a Royal Marine,

He had completed three tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan and one in Northern Ireland during his military career.

Prior to the video of the murder coming to light, Blackman was being considered for promotion to Colour Sergeant

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25232808


What a waste of a career because he killed someone who was trying to kill him yet we allow the killers of Lee Rigby who cut his head off in public to have international attention by holding a trial when everybody know they did it - the CCTV alone shows that.

This country has it all back to front in my opinion.

It does seem twisted and bizarre but that is what sets us apart from the oinks. Our sense of fair play, justice, compassion and humanity are the envy of many other nations.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Our sense of fair play, justice, compassion and humanity are the envy of many other nations.  

You're living in 1950 RT. We are not the envy of the world - they're bloody laughing at us.

They probably see us as a soft touch no doubt. Nevertheless it is essential that there are rules of engagement otherwise we are no better than the animals who are trying to kill us.