[xzins]

According to information that came out during the trial, the unit’s patrol was fired upon, and the soldiers detained two Iraqi men who were seen running away from a place where weapons were found. Two more Iraqi men were later detained.

I bet money these troops believed these insurgents would be released....just like in the Behenna case. They thought they were preventing future dead Americans.

[SunStar]

Seven months isn’t that long...

[pierrem15]

Again, it's quite telling that it's the sergeants who acted, not the enlisted men. They understood themselves to be acting to protect their own men from insurgents whom they knew would be released.

Where are the dereliction of duty courts martials for the a$$hats who managed the 'catch and release' program?

[brityank]

As part of the [pretrial] agreement, Ramos agreed to testify against other members of his unit.

Ramos, 23, who appeared at a court-martial Thursday, was one of seven soldiers charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder stemming from an incident in March or April 2007 in or near Baghdad. Three of them — 1st Sgt. John E. Hatley, 40; Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo, 27, and Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr., 26 — also are charged with premeditated murder for allegedly shooting four Iraqi detainees in the head and dumping their bodies in a canal.

Ramos had waived his right to a pretrial hearing and pleaded guilty. Under military law, the pretrial agreement is kept secret until the judge sentences the convicted soldier. The soldier then is given the lesser of the two sentences.

Seems that after seeing their rail-road jobs being decimated in the Stateside courts by competent civilian attorneys JAG is no longer willing to allow these men access to other than JAG-sympathetic Defense-assigned officers. It's pretty sad when I feel I can no longer trust certain sections of our own military, but JAG has proven itself to be nothing less than useful idiots for the socialist US-destroying politicians, of which we have far too many.

Thanks, Chaplain; with sad prayers for justice.