shiznit770
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
- Messages
- 1,393
- Reaction score
- 279
- Location
- Naperville, IL
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
I am 90% in agreement, There does need to be more clear rules and oversight, but to put 5 people in prison for the rest of thier lives because as you say they may have panicked in a war zone is a travesty.
That can be spelled out in the contract.
I do sympathize with their situation. I can only imagine what it is like to be in combat, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. Personally I do not feel it is appropriate to label these contractors as civilians specifically due to the environment they are in. There should be understanding in situations like this, but first there needs to be a sound system in place to analyze it.
Imo they should be held under stricter codes of conduct than a civilian due to being in an environment where they hold every advantage over the Iraqi citizen, but with that comes exceptions for conduct while under duress. A scared civilian shooting others in New York City should be charged with manslaughter but the situation in Iraq cannot be defined by our domestic justice system. It would be more appropriate to place those contractors under the military's jurisdiction.