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Petition for Marine A.







seagully

Cock-knobs!
Jun 30, 2006
2,960
Battle
I fail to see how he was 'protecting his country from a terrorist' to be honest.

A clear breach of the Geneva Convention which deserves punishment. Or we could always ignore the convention and go the route of the Japanese, Russians and Germans in WW2 and how they treated their prisoners...
 


itszamora

Go Jazz Go
Sep 21, 2003
7,282
London
I got into a lengthy argument with a fellow Albion fan on Twitter about this. My position remains the same - he knew exactly what he was doing and is nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer. For all those saying "You don't know what it's like out there," "You would have done the same," "It's war," bollocks to that. You don't execute unarmed, defenceless people lying on the floor in front of you, even in war. I can guarantee I would NOT have done what he did. He's a murderer and deserves his punishment, not public sympathy.
 




SeagullinExile

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2010
6,192
London








dougdeep

New member
May 9, 2004
37,732
SUNNY SEAFORD
Although we don't know all of the facts you still expect people to reach a conclusion of his innocence?
 




chucky1973

New member
Nov 3, 2010
8,829
Crawley
I got into a lengthy argument with a fellow Albion fan on Twitter about this. My position remains the same - he knew exactly what he was doing and is nothing more than a cold-blooded murderer. For all those saying "You don't know what it's like out there," "You would have done the same," "It's war," bollocks to that. You don't execute unarmed, defenceless people lying on the floor in front of you, even in war. I can guarantee I would NOT have done what he did. He's a murderer and deserves his punishment, not public sympathy.


The bloke he shot would not have thought twice about killing the solider if it was the other way round. I don't agree with what he done, but my nephew was part of K company at the same time as this incident and he said it was blooming awful at the time of the killing and all of them was on edge, they had lost a few men in the weeks leading up to the incident and ALL were in a bad place mentally because of the losses. For you to say you would never do the same is rubbish in my opinion because unless you are there and in those situations you don't know how you would react. My nephew said that even under attack they were not allowed to fire back until permission was given from above, this caused HUGE stress on a lot of marines who are trained to kill, but were not allowed too because of stupid rules agreed years ago. Unless you were there, I fail to see how you can make a comment like you have. for the record, 7 of my nephews company never returned including "fish" who was his room mate through training.
 


Bwian

Kiss my (_!_)
Jul 14, 2003
15,898
The Geneva convention should only be applied if the enemy also is signed up.

Horrible state of affairs

Unfortunately, if WE (our troops) ignore the Geneva Convention the 'enemies' will never sign up. Cases like this one only stoke up the fire of hatred. Thankfully it would appear to be an isolated incident but that doesn't make it acceptable and the 'enemy' will use it to their advantage when they go recruiting. Goodness knows, they don't need any help on that score.
 


nwgull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
14,533
Manchester
The Geneva convention should only be applied if the enemy also is signed up.

Horrible state of affairs

Given the amount of Germans that were executed following WW2 for war crimes, it would be very hypocritical to not apply the same rules to our own soldiers.
 




brightonrock

Dodgy Hamstrings
Jan 1, 2008
2,482
The Geneva convention should only be applied if the enemy also is signed up.

Horrible state of affairs

Why? We think of ourselves as better than the likes of the Taliban because we are disgusted by their brutality and backward views. As soon as we stoop to their level we are no better than them and have no right to pass judgement. I, like countless other, have massive respect for our troops. I don't think for a second I could do what they do, under the pressure and trauma they're under. But that does not justify what he did. It was not a moment of madness in the heat of battle, it was a calculated execution. He deserves punishment in the same way any other murderer does.
 


daveinprague

New member
Oct 1, 2009
12,572
Prague, Czech Republic
I think its difficult. I can understand the stress, but also understand that this was indeed a criminal act. I hope, this
was a very isolated incident. Think his sentence could be reduced somewhat, considering the local circumstances.
If the Taliban ever released a video of one of their combatants, shooting dead a wounded British soldier, there would be uproar.
 


itszamora

Go Jazz Go
Sep 21, 2003
7,282
London
The bloke he shot would not have thought twice about killing the solider if it was the other way round. I don't agree with what he done, but my nephew was part of K company at the same time as this incident and he said it was blooming awful at the time of the killing and all of them was on edge, they had lost a few men in the weeks leading up to the incident and ALL were in a bad place mentally because of the losses. For you to say you would never do the same is rubbish in my opinion because unless you are there and in those situations you don't know how you would react. My nephew said that even under attack they were not allowed to fire back until permission was given from above, this caused HUGE stress on a lot of marines who are trained to kill, but were not allowed too because of stupid rules agreed years ago. Unless you were there, I fail to see how you can make a comment like you have. for the record, 7 of my nephews company never returned including "fish" who was his room mate through training.

None of this matters. He executed a wounded, defenceless human being in cold blood, and knew exactly what he was doing in the process. I know enough about myself to know I could never bring myself to do that.
 






paul & shark

New member
Sep 17, 2013
192
The Taliban are not a uniformed military force, the uniformed military force of Afghanistan is the ANA. The Taliban also are not Private Military Contractors so they are not protected under the modern revision of the Geneva Conventions.

No the Taliban are what is classified as Mercenaries.
"Under Article 47 of Protocol I (Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts) it is stated in the first sentence "A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war".

Killing a Mercenary is not a crime as they are not recognized as being a Combatants protected by the Geneva Conventions nor are they protected as Civilians.
 


Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
30,464
Hove
How is the behaviour of your enemy a benchmark for how you behave? We are there to protect freedom, justice, and try to install some kind of democracy. You don't do that by executing your enemy, regardless of what they'd do to you in the same situation.
 






daveinprague

New member
Oct 1, 2009
12,572
Prague, Czech Republic
Sorry, but I cannot believe that British soldiers are denied the opportunity of 'shooting back' at enemies that are attacking them. The rules of engagement permit it.
Little point in being soldiers, if when under attack, you are not allowed to defend yourself. So think thats a bit theatrical.
Some rules were put into place to prevent civilians, of which there were many, being killed....
 


spig100963

New member
Mar 18, 2011
298
I think its difficult. I can understand the stress, but also understand that this was indeed a criminal act. I hope, this
was a very isolated incident. Think his sentence could be reduced somewhat, considering the local circumstances.
If the Taliban ever released a video of one of their combatants, shooting dead a wounded British soldier, there would be uproar.

I put this up to as I kind of wanted to hear the debate. As I am not sure what to think. I think you know my history. I have seen men do weird things under pressure. I was taught to fight terrorism with terrorism as was Marine A. probably. I also understand the criminal act thing. But there is no surgical war. War is not clean.
 


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