[beckett]

There are a bunch of brown-nose ex-officers on the thread who ALWAYS suck-up to the higher rank. Can't think of a single enlisted man posting here who was supportive of either one of these prima donnas.

...critical of the officer class

The virtuous enlisted man disdainful of the "officer class."

Gag me with a spoon.

That stuff may fly with 18 year old kids, but where adult political discourse is concerned, it just sounds like the whining of loser. Nobody cares what your rank was in the military. The only thing that matters is your ability to analyze a situation based upon the known facts. In this case, an American soldier in a theatre of war accused another soldier on the same side of war crimes. He didn't see these "war crimes" himself. A little birdy told him about them. The so-called crimes, which could have landed the accused in prison if true, were unsubstantiated according to a military board of inquiry.

And oh, the accuser had a petty gripe against the soldier he accused. Apparently the poor man had been chewed out.

Now is that too tough for an enlisted man to figure out? Or should I go through it again, slowly this time.

[muawiyah]

Right up to the point where a formal investigation was made, you have exactly the same sort of thing with Mai Lai.

Rusty Calley got off easy, too, mostly because he was an officer. If you'd had an elisted man taking the lead in that sort of thing, the Army would have hanged him in a second.

This thing isn't over yet. Collins gumbahs may think they've covered it all up, but you also had Iraqi complainants.