The Murdering Marine

[shippy]

Just to play the devil's' advocate.

What if you've seen your brothers guts spread all over the street?

Accept it, oh it's just the allies. Or go with your feelings?

I'm not saying the soldier is wrong, man I've been in situations where I would rather kill, but it doesn't excuse it either way.

Either we're Great Britain or we're not.

Nobody said it was right what he did, but as Myrtle said, the fellow was pushed over the edge, and was not of sane mind..that was the verdict of the court, after hearing the affidavits of three psychiatrists stating such...

[Hamble]

Alexander Blackman is still guilty of Manslaughter and was dismissed from the Marines in disgrace.

Did anyone watch Panorama Marina A the inside story?

One fact that came out of the investigation is important.
Had AB called a medical Unit to the dying/dead victim it would have put in danger the lives of 4 medics and soldiers in a vehicle over mined land under enemy fire.

4 lives for sake of 1?

[Taxi Driver]

Glad he's being released and glad he shot the insurgent, who knows, if he hadn't he might of been shot himself.

[grassroots]

He may have been released but ,the poor guy and his family will still be suffering mentally. Only those who have served and been on operations will know of the stress a serviceman / woman goes through on Ops and afterwards .
PTSD is a terrible mental illness , my best mate took his own life , three years AFTER leaving the army , his wife had a breakdown and tried to take her life , but thankfully failed in her attempt but , she refuses to discuss what she went through after her husband left the army .
I wish Marine A and his family peace and happiness for the future.
And I say again no one know the mental stress only those who have been in such situations. And in later life because the images of hostilities never leave you .
Go well , Marine "A" and god bless .

[myrtle]

Alexander Blackman is still guilty of Manslaughter and was dismissed from the Marines in disgrace.

Did anyone watch Panorama Marina A the inside story?

One fact that came out of the investigation is important.
Had AB called a medical Unit to the dying/dead victim it would have put in danger the lives of 4 medics and soldiers in a vehicle over mined land under enemy fire.

4 lives for sake of 1?

Yes I saw it too and it just confirmed my opinion of what Sgt.
. Blackman went through in that hell hole.

[Hamble]

Yes I saw it too and it just confirmed my opinion of what Sgt.
. Blackman went through in that hell hole.

There was also two other points made quite clear.

A British Apache helicopter had shot down 2 enemy soldiers fleeing in a field.
One was killed the other injured was the man Sgt Blackman approached.

How was it ok to shoot to kill from the Apache helicopter a few minutes before?

The soldiers who served also stated an injured Taliban fighter was 'bait'
to an ambush from the enemy.

Knowing the Western soldiers are bound by The Geneva Convention regarding wounded soldiers unlike the themselves.

[grassroots]

He'll be free in weeks .

[myrtle]

Delighted to hear that it's only a matter of weeks before his release.

[Hamble]

Quote
"Post-traumatic stress

It is hard to imagine the daily pressures faced by Blackman and the 15 men under his command as they performed their duties at Command Post Omar - a remote compound at the very frontline of the UK’s efforts to wrest back Helmand from the tyranny of the Taliban.

Undermanned and overstretched, the Marines lived for six months in a cramped mud-brick enclosure, patrolling for up ten hours a day and living with the constant threat of buried IED bombs and attack. Seven Marines from 42 Commando were killed during this tour and after one IED explosion, soldiers from the unit found body parts of British troops deliberately hung from a tree to taunt them.

A psychiatric report on Blackman, presented only after his conviction, found that he and his men had been under near-intolerable stress. At sentencing, the court martial conceded it was likely the Marine had been suffering “to some degree from combat stress disorder”.

Campaigners argue that had this finding and other evidence been put to the court martial panel a different finding may well have been likely. Had he been found guilty of manslaughter, Blackman could have served around three years imprisonment and now been free.

“A flawed trial”

A new legal team representing Blackman believes there were several errors in the conduct of the court martial.

Most importantly, they argue that the panel was wrongly never given the chance to consider a lesser verdict of manslaughter against the Marine. Such a verdict, they claim, could have been reached on at least three grounds, including diminished responsibility due to post-traumatic stress - a condition which it is now accepted he was suffering.

It is also questioned why Blackman’s overall commanding officer - Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Lee - was not called to give evidence in his defence. Col Lee resigned from the Royal Marines in disgust at what he said was the failure of senior officers to allow the full facts of the circumstances in which 42 Commando was operating to be made public. There has been, he said, “a failure of moral courage” by commanders."


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-10508375.html


Good news on his release.

[Styx]

Quote
Good news on his release.

^^^^^
I second that.

I wonder how Sgt Blackman would have fared had the situation been reversed.

Edit. Just noticed this...

Seven Marines from 42 Commando were killed during this tour and after one IED explosion, soldiers from the unit found body parts of British troops deliberately hung from a tree to taunt them.

[Hamble]

^^^^^
I second that.

I wonder how Sgt Blackman would have fared had the situation been reversed.

Edit. Just noticed this...

'Hanging body parts'
Clearly dismembering a body is a war crime.

I feel so sorry for the family's of the British soldiers killed that day.

[Rockape]

Nomad has gone very quiet, I wonder why.

[shippy]

'Hanging body parts'
Clearly dismembering a body is a war crime.

I feel so sorry for the family of the British soldiers killed that day.

I feel sorry for any soldier who is forced into war due to terrorism.
I can't imagine what horrors that poor man witnessed and left him scarred for life..
Not to mention his family, who have, together with him, been through hell..

This morning, I watched the news coming out of Mosul, Iraq...It's mind boggling, that a whole country has been wrecked and left in ruins...
I honestly believe, many of these towns can never be built again..Millions of homeless people,living in circumstances, not even a dog would be exposed to...

I ask myself, what will happen when Mosul will be liberated, and the foreign troops and backing is eventually withdrawn..?
If Daish managed to get such a grip on that area in the past, they will do it again...that's for sure..

I'm sure, that many people like myself, feel that the West should never have interfered with the politics of those countries from the very beginning..(coalition interference))...that interference created ISIS..

Look what's going in Syria, Russia and Iran, now stepping one step nearer to taking control of that area and eventually will dispose of Assad....Bashir Assad won't stand a chance in hell if the Russians decide to take over...which they will..thus causing more danger for the west..

[grassroots]

Nomad has gone very quiet, I wonder why.

Yes I was thinking that , but then it's best all round . He has made comments / accusations about OP Banner in the past . But then it must be easy to make such comments without having " been there".

[grassroots]

I feel sorry for any soldier who is forced into war due to terrorism.
I can't imagine what horrors that poor man witnessed and left him scarred for life..
Not to mention his family, who have, together with him, been through hell..

This morning, I watched the news coming out of Mosul, Iraq...It's mind boggling, that a whole country has been wrecked and left in ruins...
I honestly believe, many of these towns can never be built again..Millions of homeless people,living in circumstances, not even a dog would be exposed to...

I ask myself, what will happen when Mosul will be liberated, and the foreign troops and backing is eventually withdrawn..?
If Daish managed to get such a grip on that area in the past, they will do it again...that's for sure..

I'm sure, that many people like myself, feel that the West should never have interfered with the politics of those countries from the very beginning..(coalition interference))...that interference created ISIS..

Look what's going in Syria, Russia and Iran, now stepping one step nearer to taking control of that area and eventually will dispose of Assad....Bashir Assad won't stand a chance in hell if the Russians decide to take over...which they will..thus causing more danger for the west..

Operation Banner wasn't nice ,but thankfully we now have peace .