http://news.aol.com/story/_a/marine-acquitted-in-haditha-case/20080605062909990001

excerpt:

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (June 5) - A Marine intelligence officer accused of trying to cover up the killings of 24 Iraqis appeared stunned at first when a jury acquitted him of the charges.
For more than two years, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson had been under suspicion, accused of ordering the destruction of evidence in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving Iraqi deaths to come out of the war.

"I didn't really believe it was going to end until they said not guilty," Grayson said in his first public comments following the verdict. "The case was so volatile, you didn't know which way it was going to go."

Grayson had always maintained his innocence. On Wednesday, a military jury agreed with him.

Cheers erupted as the jury found him not guilty of ordering a sergeant to delete photographs of the bodies from a digital camera and laptop computer.


Commentary from a Poster Who Read the Article:

Report This! I remember Jack Murtha, democrat knuckle dragger, informing the world that our troops comitted cold blooded murder. Like Kennedy telling the world that Abu Grab was under new management ... ours.

With friends like liberals ... who needs traitors?

I read an article that stated a military court marshal is set up to find a defendant guilty, and that rarely are they acquitted. He probably was stunned, if that story I read was true.

I'm sure Mr. Murtha will be issuing his apology shortly

That is very good news.

"Grayson said the charges appear to be the result of a misunderstanding. He has always maintained he was following Marine Corps policy that prohibits the keeping of pictures on personal computers of Iraqi bodies."

nevertheless, what does this have to do with military personnel engaging in a little ethnic cleansing on some a-rabs? it seems like they tried to cast a wide net to bring down a ton of people like grayson that weren't involved. still, there are some bad apples that participated in this event and they ruined our image more than it already is.

i hope the tenor of your post is not that our military professionals should have carte blanche to do whatever the **** they please. the title of the thread sure makes it seem that way... (ie "finally they are showing that them boys did nothin' wrong in haditha")

What does this have to do with Murtha? The lieutenant was accused of covering up, not murder. Apparently there are a few marines still facing murder charges. Let's see how those trials go.

I could not agree with you more MB. Bu tthis will likely get very little coverage on the major news networks, except Fox of course, and probably few of the very unbiased pubs, you know like the NY Times, Washington etc.

Murtha made no apology when one marine last year was acquitted of all charges, I doubt that he will apologize for this one either.

Sigh. I am glad someone who wasn't guilty wasn't wrongly convicted. That is all.

i wasn't replying to you. i just replied to the last post, mark. i will take you at your word. hwoever, amlf's subsequent post indicates to me that i was right about my assumption.

Even though he was acquitted in this case, he's got to be guilty of something. After all, he's a member of the U.S. military! [/sarcasm]

True GD, they'll find something, and if they don't, they'll just cook something up for another soldier or marine to pin it on.

as usual, you are way off base...

off base or right on the money? amlf's posts are right here! and they are multiplying! which only serves to confirm the correctness of the assumption.

Unfortunately that is true GL, they always find someones head to roll, just look at what happened in the AIr Force today

What aggravates me is how the so obviously biased media absolutely jumped at, and expanded to the point of overkill, every last incident where a military abuse, including alleged ones that were found to lack any substance (the majority I might add).

Where is the overwhelming media coverage of not only the marine who was acquitted of murder last year, but now this marine? Where are those media now?

And where is the media coverage of the Navy SEAL who survived the massacre in Afghanistan? Are the "journalists" bothered that those SEALS discussed the lambasting the liberal media would dole out to them and the U.S. Military in general if they eliminated the person who would out them? Which he did because they did not eliminate him, and all but one died.

And you all think Fox news is biased? I do not see alot, if any, coverage on CNN, MSNBC, and the various paper media sources.

This is part of why we are the way we are.

Oh that brings tears to my eyes about the seal in Afghanistan, such a story

What aggravates me is how the so obviously biased media absolutely jumped at, and expanded to the point of overkill, every last incident where a military abuse, including alleged ones that were found to lack any substance (the majority I might add).

Where is the overwhelming media coverage of not only the marine who was acquitted of murder last year, but now this marine? Where are those media now?

And where is the media coverage of the Navy SEAL who survived the massacre in Afghanistan? Are the "journalists" bothered that those SEALS discussed the lambasting the liberal media would dole out to them and the U.S. Military in general if they eliminated the person who would out them? Which he did because they did not eliminate him, and all but one died.

And you all think Fox news is biased? I do not see alot, if any, coverage on CNN, MSNBC, and the various paper media sources.

This is part of why we are the way we are.

I fail to see any post here that even alludes to "they got what they deserved." Of course, I live in the real world, so maybe you can help me out and both highlight and point out the specific phrases that he used that say this.

War is [censored]. How many people screamed murder when we bombed Berlin. After all, there were civilians there, not only Nazis. That's why America is becoming weaker, because we're afraid to do what we need to do or else the "international community" will call us names and denouce our actions. Let them! I'd rather be the country nobody wants to mess with than the one they know won't do anything when they do.

To this point, Kruschev once told JFK, that America is too liberal to fight its enemies.

I like the idea of another rolling thunder!!!( I know not wwII but vietnam for those of you who were about to correct me)

A strong country protects its people. It is compassionate and just towards them. It protects and is compassionate towards its allies. It is brutal and ruthless towards its enemies.

Weren't you getting all "this is such a grey area" with regards to eliminating the PKK in the Kurdish region of Iraq just yesterday? And today you're willing to carpet bomb broad swaths of countryside...

I live in John Murtha's district, and have voted for him several times despite being a Republican. He is a Marine and huge backer of the military, especially the troops. All along I have felt that his remarks were taken out of context. I have always interpreted his comments as 'the conditions that our soldiers have been placed under are so bad that some have resorted to committing cold-blooded murder'. He has never really addressed the comments either way, to my knowledge, but I believe there are few politicians that support the soldiers more.

Well then I wouldn't have to worry about the grey area!!

Your interpretation of his comments is probably right on the money DS. But that is the problem, a ranking U.S. Congressman, during a time of war, stood on the floor of congress and made these statements for the entire world to hear far and away before any of those Marines had their day in court. He basically said they were guilty of murder minus any investigation. As a highly decorated vet and senior member of the House, he should have known better.

And with subsequent acquittals, at least one of those marines' family members contacted Murtha's office and recieved no response. This was sometime back.