[Keith]

Please forgive me.

I'm so ashamed.
They don't represent me.
They are weak and spineless.
They are self indulgent and have no right to TELL the people of this Nation what should happen to our Marine A.
I expect a Royal Pardon.
Sgt Blackman broke rules, yes.
There is a good case for him being discharged too.
But for me, beyond all that, he should NOT be in jail.
I could go on but i won't.
I just needed to air my grievance on behalf of Sgt Blackmans colleagues and family.

Thank you to all our Military and your loved ones.

The UK government has, once again, let you down.

[Shambles]

Sorry Keith - gonna move this to World News.

Don't forget, he was convicted of cold blooded murder, supported in no small part by his own recorded words.

[Keith]

Yes Steve, cold hard facts those, and under civilian law-guilty.

But I haven't served in the traumatic circumstances these guys and girls have.
I've never faced the limbs and skinned bodies of my fellow soldiers hung from surrounding trees.
I can't imagine what the stress of that does to a person, can you?
They went because they were told to.
They were trained to de-humanise enemies.
Killing is their stock in trade ultimately.
I think it's easy to state the Geneva Convention and point a finger at a killer.
But I don't think Sgt Blackman poses a risk or threat to society.
But his target did.
So do the 2 murderers of Drummer Rigby.
What they did was witnessed by the world and his brother.
Beyond that there is no comparison in the crimes.

[asathorny]

Once we set aside the rule of law, who is going to protect you and you wife and your children.... ????

This man knew the rules, he said so BEFORE he shot the man dead.

If you say, 'so what', then you reduce us to their savagery.....

He committed a crime now he must do the time

[Surferdude]

I can see both sides of this argument.

As Phil says, our armed forces are subject to stresses and dangers and horrors we can't even begin to understand. So I can see where this guy is coming from.
On the other hand, once we lower ourselves to "their" level, there is nowhere else to go.

Unfortunately, with the increase in incidents like that of the off duty soldier killed in the street by those two muslims, I forsee a time coming where more and more of thhe ordinary populace will start reacting in kind.
And once revenge killings become commonplace, the admirable ideal of multiculturalism may well prove the undoing of humanity.

[AlanHo]

So it's OK for the US government's men to murder an unarmed terrorist (by armed men who were not at that time serving in the war zone) in cold blood is it (Bin Laden) but no allowance is made for a soldier in the thick of it and clearly under severe stress to put a severely wounded and dying Talibanist out of his misery and send him up to heaven to be greeted by 40 virgins.

[asathorny]

So it's OK for the US government's men to murder an unarmed terrorist (by armed men who were not at that time serving in the war zone) in cold blood is it (Bin Laden) but no allowance is made for a soldier in the thick of it and clearly under severe stress to put a severely wounded and dying Talibanist out of his misery and send him up to heaven to be greeted by 40 virgins.

What was that you said to me tother day Alan,,,   Ya know, about quenching the fire with petrol 

The Americans and the Israelis (which actually means just the Americans) have been above the law since the end of WW11, as you well know Alan.  They base the style of government on the Al Capone school of rule.   If ya want to live your life to that standard please close the door as you leave     

[diablo]

It would say something about our country if a soldier who killed a prisoner was allowed to walk free - and I don't want that.  It would also give the green light for others to follow the example.

Thank God we will have left all war zones by this time next year. Iraq was a mistake and Afghanistan should have been a 6 month operation.

[Keith]

I realise my lack of military experience shows up here.
The people who train Marines have an impossible task delivering a soldier who at all times, every time, can balance what he thinks is needed against what Barrack Room Lawyers have written into Law. I propose what was wrong here was the film being made then being found.
I'd also propose this happens many, many times in all conflicts but never gets the story told.
So far we haven't hit the depths of community depravity suggested above, this being the case.
I think our soldiers actually do the right things mostly but are not perfect.

So for me Sgt Blackman did exactly the right thing to protect himself and his patrol.

I don't think anyone should expect fighting men to have instant recall on the facts of Law or the Geneva convention, but what do I know, unlike you guys I never had to fight on a terrorist front line at the behest of a Government that cheaply throws the flower of our youth in support of a corrupt American government like little lap dogs...

[asathorny]

I realise my lack of military experience shows up here.
The people who train Marines have an impossible task delivering a soldier who at all times, every time, can balance what he thinks is needed against what Barrack Room Lawyers have written into Law. I propose what was wrong here was the film being made then being found.

T'was ever thus, nothing has changed !!!

I'd also propose this happens many, many times in all conflicts but never gets the story told.

On this point you are right...  The most appalling things happen in war situations, such as, in Vietnam SOME of the Americans would destroy and village rape the females (many of whom where children) then to try to avoid being caught would put a bullet through the child's head.  My question then is:-  is this allowed in your world ????

So far we haven't hit the depths of community depravity suggested above, this being the case.
I think our soldiers actually do the right things mostly but are not perfect.

So for me Sgt Blackman did exactly the right thing to protect himself and his patrol.

Blackman is not a sergeant, he is stripped of rank and is now a civilian, or will be very soon...

I don't think anyone should expect fighting men to have instant recall on the facts of Law or the Geneva convention,

But, but, this Blackman character did have that recall, he said so moments after the murder !!!!!!!!

but what do I know, unlike you guys I never had to fight on a terrorist front line at the behest of a Government that cheaply throws the flower of our youth in support of a corrupt American government like little lap dogs...

I have some direct reason to want to maintain the rule of Law...   My Uncle Bill was a victim of murderous bastards who refused to obey the law or the Geneva Convention...   He was beaten and starved to death and now is buried close to where he died building a railway track, in Burma (Company Sergeant Major William (Billy) Harrison).  He was murdered by people like Blackman who were just bloody minded savages    ...       So it beginning like you want this to become the norm Keith, do you?

[Just Rick]

ASA,sadly you are right,the greater sadness there is NO ONE who truly knows how to help these people when they come back from conflict,not all,but some never get over what they have witnessed and can snap at any time when back in the community.

I knew of one fellow who returned from Vietnam(again a war we should never have been invovled in)for years due to an incident he was invovled in so many years after this conflict,he is unable to go out in public unsupervised.

[asathorny]

ASA,sadly you are right,the greater sadness there is NO ONE who truly knows how to help these people when they come back from conflict,not all,but some never get over what they have witnessed and can snap at any time when back in the community.

I knew of one fellow who returned from Vietnam(again a war we should never have been invovled in)for years due to an incident he was invovled in so many years after this conflict,he is unable to go out in public unsupervised.

Never a truer word Rick....   A home fit for Hero's was the promise and the reality was, don't forget to hand in yer rifles and ammunition lads, we're gonna need them to shoot YOU with when the General Strike starts.

Governments don't give a single shite about the lads returning from conflict, and your correct, there lies the real SHAME 

[Phil №❶]

My friend is STILL in hospital, some Christmas for him and his family. 

[Ugly Mongrel]

IMO, there is no excuse ever for any soldier to murder a prisoner. Never, ever..full stop.

[Keith]

Asa-totally different scenario and not applicable.
Rick-so you know what the stress of combat does to a soldiers mind.
UM-there is no evidence the terrorist was in captivity.

Let's agree to disagree early on eh?

[beerman]

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”   Theodore Roosevelt

If jail time is due it should be done in a military prison. Someone who errs in battle or immediately after should not have to associate with the common drug addicted scum.

Unfortunately I am not privy to the full defence so I don't know how his mental state was portrayed, but one would think that at best manslaughter given a defect of the mind. I wouldn't like to speculate on the political pressure on the tribunal to give the right result for the media.

Goes to show what I say about cameras......