A Marine corporal guilty, not even accused of firing any shots in the April 26, 2006, slaying. His squad leader facing the same charges, could end up in prison for life. I do not by any means condone their actions if the allegations are true. Defense lawyers argued the squad leader participated in the plot because his officers had set a poor leadership example and given approval for Marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents.
Here's what bugs me:
Yet none of the witnesses, among the very highest-ranking military officers at the time, said they could or should have done anything differently to prevent the mistakes that kept the truth from Tillman's family and the public. Are these officers being questioned in the Tillman case the very same officers who had set a poor leadership example and given approval for Marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents? What will their penalty be?...Exactly!!
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Marine found guilty over Iraqi's death
August 2, 2007 - 8:54AM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Marine-found-guilty-over-Iraqis-death/2007/08/02/1185648014122.htmlA military jury has found a Marine corporal guilty of conspiracy to murder an Iraqi man in Hamdania last year, but acquitted him of premeditated murder and kidnapping.
Corporal Marshall Magincalda was also found guilty of larceny and housebreaking, and he was cleared of making a false official statement. He could face life in prison.
<<snip>>
A separate jury continued to deliberate in the case of his squad leader, Sgt Lawrence G Hutchins III, who faces the same charges.
Magincalda was not accused of firing any shots in the April 26, 2006, slaying.
<<snip>>
Hutchins' defence lawyers argued the squad leader participated in the plot because his officers had set a poor leadership example and given approval for Marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents.
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Rumsfeld Denies Cover-Up in Tillman Case
Wednesday August 1, 2007 11:01 PM
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6821229,00.htmlWASHINGTON (AP) - Ex-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other former Pentagon brass denied a cover-up and rejected personal blame Wednesday in the public deceptions that followed Army Ranger Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in 2004.
During four hours of questioning by a House committee, Rumsfeld and former generals expressed regret at the Pentagon's five-week delay in telling the truth about how Tillman died. He was cut down by bullets fired by his fellow soldiers, not in a firefight with the enemy as the military initially claimed.
Yet none of the witnesses, among the very highest-ranking military officers at the time, said they could or should have done anything differently to prevent the mistakes that kept the truth from Tillman's family and the public.
Several of the officials could barely recall how they themselves came to learn the circumstances of Tillman's death, which attracted worldwide attention because he had walked away from a huge contract with the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
``I don't recall when I was told and I don't recall who told me,'' said Rumsfeld, who was making his first public appearance on Capitol Hill since President Bush replaced him with Robert Gates late last year. He was greeted by protesters denouncing him as a ``war criminal,'' but he ignored them.