Ironic "Death Sentence" Recommendation For 3 Soldiers

Army Official Recommends Court-Martial for Soldiers
Charges Could Carry Death Penalty

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 3, 2006; Page A06

An Army investigator has recommended a general court-martial, on charges that could carry the death penalty, for four U.S. soldiers who killed three Iraqi detainees during a May raid, according to a copy of his findings made available to The Washington Post.

The soldiers, all members of the 101st Airborne Division, maintain that they acted in self-defense after the detainees resisted, and further that they had been ordered, before the raid on an al-Qaeda training camp, to kill all military-age males they came across, attorneys for the soldiers said yesterday.

In a 10-page report dated Aug. 31, Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr., the Army investigator, recommended that three of the soldiers -- Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spec. William B. Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett -- be charged with conspiring to commit premeditated murder of the detainees and then threatening another soldier not to tell anyone. Daniel found that Spec. Juston R. Graber withdrew from the conspiracy but still should face murder charges for following Girouard's order to shoot a detainee in the head.

In light of aggravating factors, Daniel wrote, the soldiers' alleged offense "warrants a sentence of death," should they be found guilty. All the soldiers are from the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Is anyone as struck by the irony of this recommendation as I am. These guys risked their lives in Iraq fighting for our safety against an enemy who, if positions were reversed, would award their fighters with praise and honors and this clown Lt. Col. James P Daniel, Jr. wants to sentence them to death. There is good reason to doubt the story as laid out by the accusers. If memory serves, the one American soldier who made the allegations actually had his back turned what the shots occurred. That means he only saw the aftermath of what happened, and what his imagination constructed at the time of the shootings. The other witness is an Iraqi civilian whose allegience is in doubt.

If events went down exactly as Daniel states, then imprisonment would be appropriate, but the death penalty? This doesn't even come close the that level. Now in the other incident in which a rape alledgedly occurred and the family was executed, there is good reason to make such a recommedation, but this case is too close to the "fog of war" for such a penalty to be suggested. It is not even clear that these men did anything wrong at all.

I have to question the motives of this Lt. Col. Daniel, Jr. Is he just an overzealous prosecutor or is he a guy with some sort of an agenda against the troops, the war, or the President? Sorry, I just can't help myself, anytime I run into a non-sequitor, something that gives me a shock because it seem illogical, I begin to get the old "L-word" suspicion. Believe it or not, their are Liberals in the military and there are even some Bush-haters. I have to wonder if this guy is one of those who when he retires will be a member of Iraq Veterans for Peace, or some other radical Leftist group.

Full Story: Disproportionate Recommendation from Prosecutor?

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