Friday, December 10, 2004

US soldier guilty of Iraqi murder

A US soldier has pleaded guilty to murdering a severely wounded 16-year-old Iraqi, the military says.
Staff Sgt Johnny Horne Jr was convicted of unpremeditated murder of the civilian in Baghdad's Sadr City suburb on August 18.
Under a pre-trial agreement, sentencing will be limited to 10 years. Otherwise, the charge carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Sentencing proceedings would take place later on Friday, the military says.

A crime is a crime. I think we will see more of this as the legal stuff makes it to court. Our administration likes to stand up and make speeches that will give our soldiers a false sense that all their actions are sanctioned by the government and noble. Our soldiers need to know that they are bound by rules of war. They must realize that there are proper ways to behave during war. I think that once we get deeper into the other big issue of prison abuse we will see the administration letting these people hang as the administration distances themselves from their own memos and directives.

UPDATE: He got 3 years

1 comment:

Steve said...

While I think individuals should be held accountable,and that "I was just following orders" is no defense, the neocons who dragged this nation into an unnecessary war are the true war criminals. Donald Rumsfeld's "redeployment" as secretary of defense indicates to me that this administration is utterly incapable of taking responsibility for anything.

www.shamelessantagonist.blogspot.com