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Official: U.S. soldier opened fire on Afghan civilians

Iirc, insanity doesn't work in a military court. If it doesn't, then he could be the first military execution in a while. The Ft. Hood guy escaped execution via insanity? No, he got shot and messed up, right? I don't remember what happened with that guy.

He's in a padded cell most likely. And happened to be rather insane.
 
I checked wiki, see edit above.


What if the Ft. Hood guy gets death and the guy in Afghan doesn't?

The guys are terrorists. I think they both get firing lines. Isn't that how the military does it? I don't support capital punishment, but if it must happen then I'd let some of their soldiers/family stand in the firing line for the guy in Afghan.
 
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Really? That's disconnected. It gets worse if someone presumes that Afghans do not understand that there are crazy people and we prosecute them. We do not hold them up as idols or glorify them as 'martyrs'. We prosecute them; they are criminals. Losing sight of this simple concept is like losing sight of illegal/improper use is misuse.

There are crazies in every group. The only real question is, does the group support, condone or otherwise advocate such atrocity. In the case of the US, no. In the case of terrorists, yes. He could very well be put to death via military court. I'm not sure how insanity pleas work in the UCMJ, but some member probably knows.

Yes, we're sorry that we cannot catch all the crazies before they go total wackjob. We don't manage to do it in the US either, military nor civilian. We are also committed to seeing justice served. He's not a hero.


You need to convince the Afghans of this, not me! It is the Afghans that may retaliate and kill coalition forces, not me. It is the Afghans that can kick our ass out of their country, not me?
 
I'll reserve judgement. It just sounded strange to me, to do something entirely irrational and then something completely rational within minutes rang alarms.

The effects of combat fatigue are unpredictable. I don't know what happened to him, but he definitely needs to be examined by a psychiatric specialist before further actions are taken.
 
When we are interacting with other cultures, it is imperative that we operate within those cultures....snip....

I suppose this incident can be viewed as "Operating within the Culture"....a rogue Afghan soldier shots our guys, and then one of ours shoots Afghans. It seems the culture we are operating in has no problem killing their own civilians, but Allah forbid we burn a damn book.
 
It is unfortunate that three disturbing events happenned within the last 8 weeks - one was accidental and the other two as some say attributed to combat fatique.

U.S. 'can't whitewash murder'

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
 
Absolutely tragic. This soldier clearly had a breakdown, and his immediate superior should have seen it coming and done something about it. Now more than a dozen Afghans are dead, the soldier's life is basically over, and this all could have been avoided if we hadn't mired our poor soldiers in a decade-old war where they are unable to tell friend from foe.

As for Obama apologizing, sure. Just as soon as Karzai starts apologizing every time our soldiers are murdered by Afghan police and Afghan military, which has been happening for years.

I don't think this about alot of stuff you post... but A-F'ing-Men, sister.
 
The effects of combat fatigue are unpredictable. I don't know what happened to him, but he definitely needs to be examined by a psychiatric specialist before further actions are taken.

In a previous post someone suggested that in US military justice there is no insanity plea available. Can anyone throw some light on this? Is this true?
 
In a previous post someone suggested that in US military justice there is no insanity plea available. Can anyone throw some light on this? Is this true?

I can, that statement is crap. Soldiers that have psychological breakdowns are "section 8'ed", and put into a secure installation for detainment, psychiatric observation, and care.
 
In a previous post someone suggested that in US military justice there is no insanity plea available. Can anyone throw some light on this? Is this true?

It is called:

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
ART. 50a. DEFENSE OF LACK OF MENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

(a) It is an affirmative defense in a trial by court-martial that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the accused, as a result of a sever mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of the acts.
 
It is unfortunate that three disturbing events happenned within the last 8 weeks - one was accidental and the other two as some say attributed to combat fatique.

U.S. 'can't whitewash murder'

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

Nope, they just blame the symptom, instead of the cause. This guy had 4 deployments, 3 in Iraq, 1 in Afghanistan. There's absolutely no reason why any Service Member should be deployed that many times in one war. You have no idea what that can do to a person.
 
This seems pretty simple. Assuming hes guilty, either the guy should be an institution or executed. But none of this changes the original mission, to stop Afghanistan from being a safe haven for enemies of the US. If the NATO leaves, what happens to Afghanistan? To the security of the US, as well as the innocent people who live there?
 
It is called:

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
ART. 50a. DEFENSE OF LACK OF MENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

(a) It is an affirmative defense in a trial by court-martial that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the accused, as a result of a sever mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of the acts.

Thank you. That does sound somewhat different although no easier to prove, I'd have thought. Is this what the Ft. Hood shooter is claiming?
 
Nope, they just blame the symptom, instead of the cause. This guy had 4 deployments, 3 in Iraq, 1 in Afghanistan. There's absolutely no reason why any Service Member should be deployed that many times in one war. You have no idea what that can do to a person.

You got to convince the Afgan people.
 
Not for nothin...but isnt it at least a LITTLE bit strange that the burning of the Kuran incites weeks of rioting and 2 score dead bodies (many of them Muslims), and yet the very tragic deaths of 16 men women and children...and...nothing? Guess the Taliban hasnt had enough time to gin up some outrage. Or maybe with 'only' 16 dead (chump change considering the number of Muslims killed by Muslims daily) they really ARENT all that worked up about it? Of course...many of the dead WERE women and children so its not like they were that important to them. Still...you would think they would follow the whole "never let a tragedy go to waste" philosophy and get things happening. I guess we can be thankful for some things...
 
Not for nothin...but isnt it at least a LITTLE bit strange that the burning of the Kuran incites weeks of rioting and 2 score dead bodies (many of them Muslims), and yet the very tragic deaths of 16 men women and children...and...nothing? Guess the Taliban hasnt had enough time to gin up some outrage. Or maybe with 'only' 16 dead (chump change considering the number of Muslims killed by Muslims daily) they really ARENT all that worked up about it? Of course...many of the dead WERE women and children so its not like they were that important to them. Still...you would think they would follow the whole "never let a tragedy go to waste" philosophy and get things happening. I guess we can be thankful for some things...


This just happened yesterday. Just because nothing's happened yet doesn't mean nothing will happen at all. I think it's very probable that there will be a great amount of backlash.
 
Nope, they just blame the symptom, instead of the cause. This guy had 4 deployments, 3 in Iraq, 1 in Afghanistan. There's absolutely no reason why any Service Member should be deployed that many times in one war. You have no idea what that can do to a person.

If a war is long enough, then there sure as hell is a reason. There are guys who have done six, seven, eight tours of duty without committing the acts that this guy has, not to mention the guy's comrades, some of whom I'm sure have been deployed just as much as he has without killing sixteen civilians. It is idiotic to attribute the cause of this incident to the number of deployments, seeing as this sergeant is an exception to the rule.
 
Nope, they just blame the symptom, instead of the cause. This guy had 4 deployments, 3 in Iraq, 1 in Afghanistan. There's absolutely no reason why any Service Member should be deployed that many times in one war. You have no idea what that can do to a person.

Or their family.
 
This just happened yesterday. Just because nothing's happened yet doesn't mean nothing will happen at all. I think it's very probable that there will be a great amount of backlash.
And hopefully it wont happen at all. Yet...they know about it. So either the Talibans special events coordinator has the weekend off...or it is taking time to gin up the same kind of 'outrage' that was expressed the day they found out about the Kuran burning. Heres hoping it never gets there. Still...

It really is time to get a finite direction and execute said direction.
 
Not for nothin...but isnt it at least a LITTLE bit strange that the burning of the Kuran incites weeks of rioting and 2 score dead bodies (many of them Muslims), and yet the very tragic deaths of 16 men women and children...and...nothing? Guess the Taliban hasnt had enough time to gin up some outrage. Or maybe with 'only' 16 dead (chump change considering the number of Muslims killed by Muslims daily) they really ARENT all that worked up about it? Of course...many of the dead WERE women and children so its not like they were that important to them. Still...you would think they would follow the whole "never let a tragedy go to waste" philosophy and get things happening. I guess we can be thankful for some things...

They spoke out on this today.

The Taliban vowed revenge. It also claimed responsibility for several attacks last month that the group said were retaliation for the Americans burning Qurans.

The al-Qaida-linked militant group said in a statement on their website that “sick-minded American savages” committed the “blood-soaked and inhumane crime” in a rural region that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years.

Afghan youth recounts US soldier entering his home and shooting his father during rampage - The Washington Post
 
Dont get me wrong BTW...the recent shootings are criminal, horrific...and can should and absolutely will be punished. Just sayin...a group of people that routinely kill women for the crime of being seen in public with men...well...Im not sure they are exactly the arbiters of morality and positive social interactions.
 
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