Marine avoids murder charge, despite killing unarmed Iraqi. Where's Pres. Obama?

[LittleBlue]

Murder charges have been dropped against a US marine who admitted to a court-martial that he shot dead an unarmed Iraqi in Falluja in 2004.

Sgt Jermaine Nelson pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of dereliction of duty and faces a one-year sentence.

He is the last of three marines to face a military trial over the deaths of unarmed Iraqi detainees during fierce fighting in Falluja.

The other two men have already been acquitted.

Sgt Nelson, 28, was deployed in Operation Phantom Fury, a US assault on Falluja five years ago.

When his squad entered a house, four Iraqi men surrendered but were then shot dead.

He admitted that he killed one of the detainees, saying he acted on the orders of his squad leader.

Under a pre-trial agreement, the US government dropped the murder charge in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser charge of dereliction of duty.

Sgt Nelson, who could have faced life in prison, will be sentenced to a maximum of one year.

His lawyer said the plea agreement means he would not serve any time behind bars.

A former marine sergeant, Jose Luis Nazario, was cleared of the killings in August last year.

The prosecution's case fell apart when Sgt Nelson and another marine, Ryan Weemer, refused to testify. They were found in contempt of court.

Sgt Weemer was cleared in April.

Investigation into dozens of civilian shootings in Iraq have raised questions over military conduct and prompted accusations of cover-ups, says the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles.

A spokesman for the marines told the BBC that all the proceedings had been open and transparent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8282789.stm

Shot dead an unarmed civilian, and he gets away with murder with one year in prison. Where is the President? He's the Commander-in-Chief, doesn't he have something to say about his military letting their own soldier get away with murder? Do Arabs count like white people?

Edit: Go ahead and unrec. It's a sad truth, and if that's your way of coping with it, go ahead.

[Political Tiger]

1. Get real! What do you want Obama to do?

Obama is not in office just to satisfy your need for vengeance.

[Thothmes]

2. Believe he has no more legal authority to influnence the

outcome of a trial in the military system, then he as authority to influence the outcome of a civilian trial.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HamdenRice]

4. Yeah, the president should be able to intervene in individual cases to overturn plea bargains

and not guilty verdicts. That would have worked lovely when Bush was president, wouldn't it?

Imagine how useful that power would be to the "war on terror"?

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. What a dumb ass post. Ever hear of the three branches of goverment?

The president is the executive. He DOES not, and SHOULD not have any control over the courts. Since everyone here has probably figured out your agenda, I expect this piece of shit thread to be unrec'd x 1000.

[stray cat]

6. Was Obama on the court or jury?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. What a dumb comment.

Presidents don't, and shouldn't, intervene in areas outside their authority, which would include courts-martial.

[dionysus]

8. and you want him to do.... what exactly?

[Ikonoklast]

9. So, you want a Dictator with fiat powers over the courts, or a President that follows the law?

Unrec for dumbest OP I've read here in a long time.

[invictus]

10. US policy is to put Arabs in concentration camps (e.g. Abu Gharaib or Gitmo) and bomb them.

The US government has killed more Afghan and Iraqi civilians than al-qaeda has killed Americans. These marines are doing what the US government has trained them to do.