Hooray for war crimes?
Oh, this is ugly.
President Donald Trump on Monday granted a pardon to a former first lieutenant in the US Army who was sentenced to prison in 2009 for killing an Iraqi detainee, according to the White House.
…Behenna deployed to Iraq in 2007, according to The Washington Post. The following year, two soldiers and friends of Behenna were killed in a roadside explosion and he was on the scene, the newspaper reports.
Shortly after the soldiers’ death, there was an intelligence report saying then-Iraqi operative Ali Mansur possibly helped organize the explosion, the Post reports.
Mansur was interrogated but then freed, the Post reported, because the military did not have conclusive evidence tying him to the explosion.
Less than a month later, Behenna went to interrogate Mansur on his own, without authorization, stripped Mansur naked and shot him twice, according to the Post.
Behenna left the body and didn’t tell anyone, and the next day Iraqi police found Mansur’s body, the Post reported.
According to the report, Behenna maintained he acted in self-defense.
Military prosecutors told the jury at his 2009 court-martial that they believed Behenna killed Mansur to avenge the loss of the two soldiers, according to the Post.
Pardoning war crimes now. What next – Medal of Freedom for Lieutenant Calley?
Government by Rambo. Just what we needed.
Stripped him naked in self defense? Really? The Iraqi’s clothing was that potentially dangerous? Who was he, Venom? I just… ugh.
Freemage, I’m guessing that he claimed the stripping was an act of self defence in case Mansur had a bomb strapped to his body. The actual shooting was probably claimed to be pre-emptive self defence; Mansur was shot so he couldn’t kill anybody in the future.
I’d hazard a guess that Trump’s not alone in thinkng that Behenna’s a ‘True American Patriotic Hero’, either. I just wonder who’ll get to play him in the inevitable movie in a year or two.
Hey, there were very good people on both sides at the My Lai incident.
There is a Wikipedia article:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Behenna
The CNN article is very poorly written. Behenna was part of the the group that was returning Mansur to his home town after he was ordered released. While doing that he decided to interrogate him further. The CNN article writes it as if he’d been released and then Behenna went out and recaptured him on his own.
The best witness said Behenna shot Mansur in cold blood. He got 25 years for it. Later it came out that forensic evidence was consistent with his claim that he’d shot when Mansur had lunged at him and this evidence should have been presented. After two reviews his sentence was reduced to 15 years. He was paroled after 5.
I see no reason for a pardon. He got off with a pretty light sentence as it is. Trump is an idiot.
Re. Skeletor’s comment, it beggars belief that Behenna’s commanding officer detailed a soldier who had been on the scene when two of his colleagues and friends were killed to escort a suspect home after interrogation. That reeks of either incompetence or complicity. Even someone with the intelligence of Trump should know not to leave a friend of murder victims with a person suspected of helping cause those murders.
I wonder how many times, after Mansur’s arrest, Behenna had said ‘Just give me five minutes with him’?
Yeah but this Mansur guy? I’ll bet he was brown. Probably Muslim or Mexican or something. He had it coming. Due process, civil rights and the rule of law are losers. Omlettes, eggs, etc., you know? Trump will probably have him to the White House for hamberders. Maybe even hire him. His base would love all of the above.
Sigh.
Skeletor, do you mean the CNN quality of writing was very poor, or did they get facts wrong, or did they place a different emphasis on the facts than the US Military did?
I think AoS nailed it, but even putting the culpability/idiocy of the commanding officer aside for a moment, technically Mansur was free the moment they decided to send him home. Being restrained, stripped and illegally interrogated by Behenna is a fact. You appear to be arguing over a pointless distinction.
I’d love to know what this forensic evidence is that determines Mansur was ‘lunging’ at Behenna actually is? Presence of gunshot residue? Surely not angle of bullet entry? It seems very dodgy, especially as if he had actually been lunging at Behanna, I’m sure a witness would have said so. In any case, so what if he did. If I felt someone was about to kill me in cold blood, I’d role the dice too.
At least we agree that he should not have been pardoned and got a light sentence. But then, that’s a compliant nod and a wink from a military that sees human rights as an impediment for you.
Rob, the CNN report claims that Behenna was acting alone, and a month after Mansur was released, whereas the Wiki article states that Behenna was part of a group taking Mansur home immediately after his release. I think that’s what Skeletor was referencing in his comment about it being poorly written.
As for the forensics, it’s all a matter of how the evidence is presented. Consistent with is just a phrase used by lawyers on both sides to make the evidence look to fit the version of events they want believed. Forensic evidence consistent with the claim that the victim was lunging at the killer doesn’t prove the claim, it merely proves that the victim was shot at close range; consistent with the lunge claim, but also consistent with many other possible scenarios – the killer wanting to be close enough to look directly into the victim’s eyes when he pulled the trigger, perhaps.
No matter what the evidence may be consistent with, one thing not in doubt is that Mansur’s murder was pure vigilante justice.