May 20, 2019
By Fred Kaplan
President Donald Trump’s plan (click here) to pardon several servicemen and contractors charged with war crimes provides further proof that the commander in chief knows nothing about the basic workings of the U.S. military.
According to the New York Times, Trump has asked the Justice Department to expedite the pardoning paperwork for these cases so that he can issue the pardons by Memorial Day, presumably to display his love for the armed forces—though, in fact, it would reveal only his contempt and cynicism.
Chris Jenks, a scholar on the law of armed conflict who served as special counsel in the Defense Department’s Office of the General Counsel from 2017 to 2018, said in a phone interview that the pardons would express “utter disdain for the commanders” and for the military justice system that Trump himself, at least formally, heads. “It’s his system,” Jenks said. If he doesn’t like the way it works, “it’s on him to change it.” Or if he thinks these particular defendants were improperly charged, he needs to show how—a hard task, given that pardoning probes usually take months, whereas Trump wants these finished in a week....
... Blackwater...
Where did Trump get the information if the USA military is opposed to the pardons?
Erik Prince
...a group of Marines was charged with urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters (they videotaped the deed)....
Look, if it is a group effort no one will complain to the higher ups. Besides, it is just boys being boys with a healthy release of anger.
How is Erik Prince supposed to develop his private armies if they face this level of punishment for acts that were nothing more than laughs?
This level of punishment does not happen to Russians in their conscription military.
Russia is not the answer in the Middle East. I would think the conditions in Syria would be example enough. The USA demands moral conduct by their military or they are prosecuted, including the use of chlorine gas.
Mistreatment of Muslims will cause radicalization no matter the country.
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