US soldier will serve no time for Iraq Killings

A US marine accused over the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha was demoted to the rank of private but will serve no time behind bars, a military spokesman has said. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was sentenced to 90 days confinement but he will not serve it for procedural reasons, the spokesman said. The sentencing hearing was held on Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, south of Los Angeles. Word of the maximum sentence led to outrage in Iraq, where Ali Badr, a Haditha resident and relative of one of the victims, called it "an insult to all Iraqis" and "solid proof that the Americans don't respect human rights". Iraqi authorities had pushed for those accused in the case to be subject to Iraqi justice before the final withdrawal of US troops in December last year. Wuterich, 31, the commander of a unit whose seven other members have been exonerated through various legal rulings, pleaded guilty on Monday to negligence, ending the final prosecution stemming from the 2005 incident. He entered his plea as part of a deal with military prosecutors in which more serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed. Wuterich was initially charged with murder. "Staff Sergeant Wuterich accepted responsibility ... and agreed and admits that he gave a verbal order to shoot first, ask questions later, or don't hesitate to shoot, and words to that effect," said spokesman Joe Koppel. Follow in-depth coverage of the nation in flux "That verbal instruction caused his marines to [not] positively identify targets in the two homes. And now, at the sentencing phase, he'll be held accountable for those actions." The victims included 10 women and children killed at point-blank range. Six people were killed in one house, most shot in the head, including women and children huddled in a bedroom. Lawyers for the troops involved argued the deaths resulted from a fast-moving situation in which they believed they were under enemy fire. "No one denies that the consequences of November 19, 2005 were tragic, least of all Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich," his civilian defence attorney, Neal Puckett, said in a statement released shortly after the plea hearing. Article URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/01/201212423947590252.html   This article is in itself a crisis. Its link to crisis management is in regards to how a country (in this case the US) responds to such devastating acts by its soldiers in Iraq. So far there has been no up to or public announcement after judges rules that the Soldier involved in the death of innocent Iraqi women and children will serve no time in jail. He will be set free with no repercussions. This does not seem to be an issue, or a risk, but a full blown crisis. The reason it gets the value of a full blown crisis is due to the country that committed the atrocity...America...land of justice, home of the free, home of the brave, etc. This article exposes American laws and rules of war to go as far as their border alone. This article shows a clear misconduct of rules of engagement but no consequence of the action. American human rights seem to only matter within their border, if even that. Frank Wuterich authorised and proceeded in the killing of 24 innocent Iraqis. If he had killed 24 innocent Americans he would have served 24 life sentences but since he authorized and participated in the killing of 24 innocent Iraqis he gets a "get out of jail" free card. It is quite scary when the "most developed" country in the world is allowed to commit such actions and get away with it as if nothing happened at all. It has been handled in the poorest manner. It would have been a little less terrible if this was some developing nation and they didn't have a proper justice system intact, but the fact that this happened in America makes it all the more worse. The Staff Sergeant was sentenced to 90 days but will serve 0 due to procedural reasons. Even after the statement of the sentencing was released no statements have been released by any government official(s) in regards to this topic. It seems like the whole country is playing "hear no evil, speak no evil" It was believed that America had one of the greatest systems to deal with any crisis like this involving human life but it seems now that America only has that type of preparedness for these types of situations that occur within their border. It seems they have no preparedness for this situation in any other context. Within me, this article triggers much anger and sadness. The anger exists because women and children were shot at point blank range in the head that were huddled in a room together. Reading that statement over now even elicits anger. Anger at an unfair, hypocritical, double-standard judicial system. The sorrow due to the Iraqi families involved. There is much sorrow in me because this case shows clear disconnect between what is practiced and what is preached from the US to the world. I really do not have any advice to those involved. It seems to really not even matter what is advised. America will continue doing whatever it wants without any consequences while countries like Iraq will try and maintain some sort of dignity. Another war crime case occurred about 2 weeks ago. American soldiers were videotaped urinating on dead Afghan soldiers bodies. The soldiers laughed and made jokes about giving the soldiers a shower while they urinated. After reading about these two cases within days of each other there really is no advice I can give besides: "Its time to clean out your own closet before you decide to clean out someone else's"