Things not mentioned in the story.
“...while returning the prisoner to a checkpoint as ordered, Behenna and his platoon stopped at a bridge and, with the help of his Iraqi interpreter nicknamed “Harry”, tried to question Mansur on the April 21st attacks.”
“According to the interpreter, “Lieutenant Behenna started talking with Ali Mansur and Sergeant Warner followed them. Behenna and Warner started taking off Ali Mansur’s clothes with their knives. They then cut his handcuffs.”
“Behenna ordered the detainee to sit, the interpreter said, adding that Behenna seemed to be keen to get information from the detainee regarding the IED attack on U.S. troops in April. Behenna asked the detainee several times: “What do you know you have to tell me.” “Ali Mansur said I will talk to you but Lieutenant Behenna pulled trigger and killed him,” the interpreter said, speaking in English.”
A very different story than self defense.
“Before we started the patrol, Lieutenant Behenna told Ali Mansur ‘I will kill you’. I thought Lieutenant Behenna was trying to scare him. I did not think he would go through (with it),” the interpreter added.”
“I was standing 10 metres (yards) back during the shooting — I could see everything even if it was getting dark — and Sergeant Warner was next to me.”
“Warner then “took the grenade from his pocket, pulled the safety ring, walked around and put the grenade under Ali Mansur’s head. “Then they hid his clothes, and Behenna and Warner went back.”
“Two U.S. soldiers from the same battalion as the accused also testified against Warner. Corporal Cody Atkinson said that Behenna and Warner, armed with a grenade, took Mohammed out of the vehicle and under the bridge.”
“...the next day local villagers found Mansur’s naked, burned body in the culvert. On July 31 of 2008 Behenna was relieved of his command and charged with the premeditated murder of Ali Mansur Mohamed.”
What are the names of these three “judges”? What are their backgrounds? Where do they live? They need to be identified and shunned by all decent people.
Sorry, I don't buy it.
vaudine
Whatever occurred it does sound like a trifle more than just a question of a split second decision under panic. There was a very risky situation being deliberately built up here.
The prosecution’s own forensic expert concluded Behenna’s version of events was not just plausible, but was “the only explanation” for his assessment of the evidence. He conveyed this to the prosecutor, who proceeded to bury it until after the trial. I’d trust him before the interpreter.
Behenna likely wanted to do an unauthorized field interrogation. But that doesn’t mean he then had no right to fight off an attack, to save himself. Bang him for the interrogation, but don’t imply he was then had a legal obligation to let himself be killed.
The bottom line is Behenna should have at least had a new trial.
Please send the link where you got this information. List your source!
Please send the link where you got this information. List your source!
Please send the link where you got this information. List your source!
I couldn’t care less what actions were taken by this soldier in the course of war. My maternal grandfather served in WWII. My paternal grandfather served in Korea. I have 4 uncles who served in Vietnam. I have three cousins and six friends, 5 of whom lost their lives, who served in Iraq/Afghanistan. I have heard stories from every last one of them that would make the hair on your neck stand on end. I have heard stories of bravery, stories of sacrifice, stories of valor, and stories of pride. I’ve heard stories of shame.
War destroys the man and leaves behind a husk. It turns on its ear the very notion of morality and ethics. It makes men out of boys. It turns cowards into heroes. It kills those who would sacrifice everything. War, put simply and succinctly, is HELL.
Put yourself in Behenna’s shoes. Imagine you’re out with a bunch of friends doing a job. You’re a lineman for a phone company or a cable rat for a satellite installer. You’re an electrician or a plumber. You hook up your phone, your line tester, your ammeter, or your a flow meter, and BOOM! Just like that, every man in your crew is dead or injured. You’re alive but barely, and you see a bunch of slimy assholes running from you laughing. I don’t know about you, if I lived to see it, I would hunt down every last one of them and ensure they died the most horrific deaths they could possibly ever imagine.
My best friend Alan killed himself just 8 days after returning from Iraq. In those 8 days, he told me things that made me cry. He told me things that gave me pride being an American. He told me things that made me question who I was and what it meant to be alive. The last thing he ever told me was over a beer at a local Winghouse. He said, “Never let war come to these shores. Never let it infect you. Never let it turn you into what I’ve become.”
It destroys the humanity in a person. I don’t blame Behenna for what he did, regardless of the actual events. He was fighting in a war and did what war makes a man do: react. God bless him and may he be pardoned at some point before his release. I’d be there to shake his hand.