Who removed Backwards Observer's post?
Censor at work?
Who removed Backwards Observer's post?
nothing to see here
I removed it. I thought it might upset the natives. Henceforth, I should prefer to focus solely on the positive...it's time to laugh again.Originally Posted by JMA
What supprises me and also, I must say, piss me off a little, it the fact there are like 2 to 3 hours of video surveillance."S.Sgt X" surrendered, we know that. If there are two to three hours of video footage (and/or other sensors), evidence is coming on board - depends on its quality. We have already seen the forensics team picking up casings.
And nobody saw it happening?, No body reacted?
What are the video surveillance made for then?
I know this is kind of naive reaction but I would think that if you have video surveillance it is to actually have early warning mechanisms and immediat response team ready.
The man went mad for sure but it also feels like the whole system has failed somehow.
To borrow from Kipling's poem Gunga Din: "You're a better man than I am"
Ah, ha h..(choke), hahar, (cough) hargh, harrr (spit)...the hell with it.
The UCMJ was written as an adhoc justice system which-nominally-should be fairly swift--or at least swifter than most civilian systems.
What seems evident is that for whatever reason the UCMJ has turned glacial when it comes to high profile cases. Wuterich took 7-SEVEN! years to go to trial. Hasan is supposed to go to trial on June 12, 2012--almost three years. Better, but certainly not swift
By contrast, in the federal system the government is required to bring a case to trial within 70 days of indictment. The defense must consent if the government wishes to delay beyond that (in most circumstances).
There is no doubt that Sgt. X's court martial will take years to get to as well. My bet is 5 yrs minimum.
I’m not party to the details
but I am assuming it is no coincidence that Wuterich’s court martial took place the month after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
Exactly. My belief is that the convening authority is responsible for most of the delay and the delay is for political, not legal reasons.
Is that justice?
I'll bet Sgt. X's trial is years away as well.
Marc-:
Bonjour,
What I've read is that the video was taken from a blimp. If so, command & control over the blimp and its video feeds was probably not at the OutPost where the shooter was stationed. Or, were there multiple video feeds (and/or sound feeds) from other sensors - some under the OP's C&C ? "Prophet" might be all over the place, but he doesn't necessarily add 2+2=4. I don't know at this time.
For the sake of discussion, I've taken (from the Wiki) what could be the existing facts re: the geography and timeline (not known to me):
Footnotes omitted (see the Wiki).According to official reports, a heavily-armed American soldier left his base at 3:00 a.m. local time wearing night vision goggles. He was wearing a traditional Afgan clothing over his ISAF fatigues. The soldier proceeded to attack three civilian homes in the villages of Alkozai and Najeeban ... Eleven members of the same family were killed in Najeeban, then their bodies were partially burned. Four members of another family were killed in Alkozai. ...
...
Following the events at Alkozai and Najeeban a U.S. soldier handed himself over into ISAF custody. Afghan forces spotted him leaving his outpost before the massacre and U.S. commanders on base assembled their troops for a head count when it was discovered that the soldier was missing. A patrol was dispatched to find the missing soldier; it did not find him until the soldier turned himself in at the base after the massacre. He was reportedly taken into custody without incident. There were no other military operations being conducted in the area at the time.
The surveillance video from the base [JMM: "from the base" may not be accurate] reportedly shows "the soldier walking up to his base covered in a traditional Afghan shawl. The soldier removes the shawl and lays his weapon on the ground, then raises his arms in surrender." The video was not disclosed to the public.
So, before anyone gets pi$$ed off at higher-ups for not stopping the events that occured in the time between the shooter leaving and coming back, we have to know who knew what and when - and what the shooter was doing when and where. I don't have that data.
What is spooky here is the similarity with 1970 Son Thang (about 1500-2000 metres from the Marine Coy OP), where 16 people were killed at two separate locations (two houses in one; one house in another). The Marine patrol took less than an hour out and back. By a fluke, another Marine patrol (including an S-2 Lt. and a corpsman) were told by villagers of the killings shortly after. That patrol was able to make a good forensic investigation of the three scenes.
Once the facts are in, Lagrange would be a better judge of small unit reaction time than McCarthy. You've been in what, say, a half-dozen or more $hit-holes over the last decade.
If you end up judging, look at it not only from the standpoint of the villagers, but also from the standpoint of the person in charge at the OP.
colonialement,
Mike
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