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| Iraq |
| US army drops murder charges against 2nd Lt Anderson |
| 2005-12-06 |
| The US army has dropped all charges against an officer accused of murder while in command of a platoon in Iraq. The officer, 2nd Lt Erick Anderson, 26, was charged in 2004 after two soldiers under his command alleged he gave permission to kill Iraqi civilians. One has since refused to testify and the other has changed his story. The charges against Lt Anderson were brought after four platoon members were convicted of killing Iraqis in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. Investigating officers said that all charges against Lt Anderson had been dismissed and no further inquiries would be carried out. "Today's a pretty good day," Lt Anderson told the Associated Press. "Right now, shock and awe is pretty much still in effect." He had faced a possible life sentence if convicted on two charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He also faced charges of dereliction of duty, giving a false statement, and conduct unbecoming an officer. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 He'll get a retroactive promotion to 1st unless the command can show reasonable reason why not. He has an administative recourse which is the sort of like a nuclear handgrenade, takes out everyone, if someone in the chain of command screws with this. I don't think an O6 or above wants to end their career for something petty like that. He then has to apply for a correction of military records to adjust his promotion date to what it should have been originally and to claim the back pay he would have received with that date. However, the reality is that even with a cleared proceedings in his military record, the simple reason that his file is now larger than his contemporaries and that it will require a minute more of reading to understand that the dude is good, means that future promotion and selection boards (O4, CGSC)will pass over his file for consideration. Cause the boards are given less than two minutes to review each file, therefore anything that takes longer than normal doesn't get real consideration. Its broke, but its been broke for decades. |
| Posted by: Cravitle Elmeremp2989 2005-12-06 10:15 |
| #2 He was a 2LT in 2004. He is already behind. He should be a 1LT by now. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-12-06 09:19 |
| #1 OK now, as long as they don't retaliate against his promotion capability |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-12-06 09:15 |