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| Iraq | ||
| Iraq | ||
| 2008-02-09 | ||
| If the facts are as they are presented here, I find myself on the side of the soldiers, again. Seems like this Iraqi guy abandoned his family in favor of 72 virgins. What bugs me most about this incident is the fact that they felt a need to try to cover up what happened. The former commander of a U.S. Army sniper team testified Friday that he ordered one of his soldiers to kill an Iraqi who had stumbled on their hiding place, saying that was the only way to ensure the safety of his men in hostile territory. Justifiable. The testimony came as the U.S. military reported that five more soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq. You mean the sniper team could have been just as dead? Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, who was a staff sergeant at the time of the killing last spring but was later demoted, gave his testimony on the opening day of a court-martial hearing a murder charge against Sgt. Evan Vela. Murder?! This is an overcharge. Anyone involved in leveling this charge needs to spend a month on the front line as part of a refresher course in reality. Another member of the sniper unit testified the soldiers had been pushed to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion before the May 11 killing of Genei Nasir al-Janabi. Hensley said that he and the other members of the sniper team had all fallen asleep, then awoke to find an Iraqi man squatting about three feet from them. That's not part of sniper training school! Hensley said he ordered the Iraqi to lie on the ground and was searching the man when he saw "military-aged men" who he thought were carrying weapons about 100 yards away. Enough to make anyone nervous! Except an overzealous prosecutor, of course. He said the Iraqi on the ground began yelling and he decided that killing the man was the only way to keep the sniper hideout from being discovered by what he believed was a group of approaching insurgents. He issued the Iraqi his Darwin Award on the spot! "I told Sgt. Vela to pull out his 9-mm (pistol) and 'crack it.' I told Vela to shoot," said Hensley, who was acquitted in November of murder charges in this shooting and two earlier killings but was convicted of lesser charges. He received immunity for testifying Friday. When asked why he didn't kill al-Janabi himself, Hensley said: "Sgt. Vela happened to be the guy with the pistol. The Iraqi's head was at his (Vela's) feet. I would have gladly shot him myself." >:-} "Sadly, Sgt. Vela's foot was in the way." Military prosecutors say the killing of al-Janabi — along with two other slayings April 14 and April 27 — occurred near Iskandariyah, a mostly Sunni Arab city 30 miles south of Baghdad. Vela, from St. Anthony, Idaho, also is charged with planting an AK-47 on the dead man's body in an attempt to cover up what happened.
You'll have to talk to your father about that one when you get sent off to paradise. He's the guy on the bed with the 72 doe-eyed virgins. Wait until he takes a break before you bother him. You'll be the last one he expects to see there. He said he thought the court proceedings were fair, but added that if no one was found guilty in his father's death, "then I wouldn't say it is a just system — I would say it is a game." What if your dad is the one they find guilty? Earlier, Vela's lawyer said during his opening statement that his client was too exhausted to know what he was doing or to make any sort of moral judgment about the order Hensley gave him. Didn't he just wake up from a nap? "He was suffering from sleep deprivation and had no ability to think that morning," attorney James Culp told the court. Another defense lawyer, Daniel Conway, told reporters during the lunch break that Vela had slept just 2 1/2 hours during a 74-hour period last spring. "The Army took the best and brightest and pushed them beyond their breaking point," he said. Must be a defense lawyer from Berserkeley. On June 22, Vela gave a statement to military investigators saying he killed one of the Iraqis. But Culp said Friday that the statement was given under duress, saying Vela was not permitted to use the latrine or to eat during a seven-hour interrogation. Hey, isn't that "torture" of some kind? Two other soldiers — Hensley, of Candler, N.C., and Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., of Laredo, Texas — have faced similar charges in al-Janabi's killing as well as the other two slayings. They were acquitted of murder but convicted of planting evidence on the dead Iraqis.
Vela testified at Hensley's court-martial in late September, under a deal that bars his account of events from being used against him at his own court-martial. Vela said Hensley told him to shoot an Iraqi who had stumbled on their snipers' hideout although the man was not armed and had his hands in the air as he approached the soldiers. This means less than nothing to me. Perhaps the guy had decided that the risk of parading around in black jammies and sporting an AK-47 was higher than the risk of stumbling across a special forces hideout that particular day. Everything was understandable and by the book until the guy thought he'd raise a ruckus to try to direct the terrorists to the hideout before he got silenced for good. | ||
| Posted by:gorb |
| #2 Hey, isn't that "torture" of some kind? Only if the mean ole 'mericans are doing it to one of them nice Jihadi fellers,Gorb. |
| Posted by: GK 2008-02-09 17:49 |
| #1 I think we've seen a number of posts here on isolated sniper teams either killed or doing an Alamo to know what happens when 20/20 rear vision kicks in. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-02-09 09:17 |