Soldier Pleads Guilty in Beating Death of Afghan Prisoner; Gets 3 months

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB87D3I19E.html

Soldier Pleads Guilty to Assault in Beating Death of Afghan Prisoner; Gets 3-Month Sentence

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A military policeman has been sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to assault and two counts of making a false statement in the 2002 beating death of a prisoner in Afghanistan.

In a plea bargain, Army prosecutors agreed not to pursue a charge of maltreatment against Spc. Brian E. Cammack. Cammack also agreed to testify in other cases related to the deaths of two inmates at the Bagram Control Point.

Cammack was sentenced Friday during a court-martial at Fort Bliss. He will be demoted to private, fined more than $3,200 and given a bad-conduct discharge.

"I have come to realize what I did was wrong," Cammack said.

Cammack, a member of the Army Reserve's 377th Military Police Company in Cincinnati, said he was angry when he struck the prisoner, Mullah Habibullah, twice in the thigh with his knee. The prisoner had allegedly spit on his chest.

[thebigidea]

1. 3 months. 3 months!

as Lou Reed said about the sentence for Solanis' shooting of Warhol: "You get more for stealing a car."

[Demeter]

5. You'd get more for shoplifting!

Although indefinite forced service in the armed forces is a severe punishment, itself, under this regime (although I hope most of the prisoners aren't murderers this blatant).

[TahitiNut]

7. You'd get more in Texas for beating a horse to death.

:shrug:

[mitchtv]

13. You'd get more for shoplifting!"

unless, however, you are a white runaway bride in Georgia.

[mike_c]

2. beat someone to death and get three months in prison...

...among guards who are mostly sympathetic toward the crime, I'd imagine. THIS is why the U.S.-- and most especially the U.S. military-- needs to be held accountable by the ICC, and the very reason that the ICC exists.

[thecai]

14. It Happens In America's Jails and Prisons Frequently

Very few guards are held accountable.

[Barrett808]

3. Think there will be more protests because of this? n/t

[ogradda]

4. Three months for killing a man.

Un-fucking-believable. :(

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. People have gotten more than that for protesting out of the "free speech

zone."

[Eloriel]

8. Unspeakable travesty of justice

A mockery of human life, of human dignity, of the concept of "justice," of everything the U.S. has ever -- until now -- stood for. The shame and horror are overwhelming.

[thecai]

9. Martha Stewart Got Over Twice That Sentence

We must be much safer now with "hard core criminals" like Martha Stewart doing over twice the time as a soldier beating a prisoner to death.

"As you have done unto the least of these, My brothers, the poor, the needy, the prisoners, you have done unto Me"...Matt. 25:36-46

IMPEACH BUSH NOW
REPEAL THE P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Acts
DEFEND The Constitution

[Solly Mack]

10. 3 months? 3 months for a war crime? 90 days? that's it?

for a war crime?

Well, I guess that's 3 months more than the Bush Cabal will get for war crimes....but still...3 months? That's it?

[DeAngel]

11. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

I'm sick of the $&*^ing war, and every one of those criminals that orchestrate it! I support the troops, but I sure as sin don't support people like THIS!

:mad:

[struggle4progress]

12. kick

[ninkasi]

15. This whole thing, the war, the Bush administration...

is destroying this country. A man murders another man, and gets 3 months for a crime that could earn him the death penalty in Texas.Remember, many, if not most of these prisoners are never found guilty of anything, and eventually set free; unless, of course, they are killed by our soldiers.

I guess this quote on his part is supposed to make things all better

"I have come to realize what I did was wrong," Cammack said.

He didn't realize at the time that what he was doing was wrong? A brutal, illegal war, is turning our soldiers into brutal, barbaric, hate-filled people. Many men and women were sent to Iraq, and many of them truly believed they were keeping America safe and free.

Instead, at the orders of the Bush cabal, they are creating an image of the United States as an outlaw nation, who bullies, punishes, and answers to no international law, or treaty. We must leave Iraq immediately, and get this gang of thugs out of office as soon as possible.

[0007]

16. ..and the U.S. just doesn't understand why 95% of the nations

on this planet hate us.

How many terorist will be easily recuited because of this abuse of justice?

[OneBlueSky]

17. but . . . you don't understand . . . they're not REALLY people! . . .

I mean, c'mon . . . they're brown-skinned, foreign, and don't speak English . . . and they're Muslim! . . . so we're not REALLY dealing with people here, now are we? . . .


THAT's why it's okay to torture and kill them . . . THAT's why it's not big news . . . THAT's why our pets deserve (and recieve) better treatment . . . BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT LIKE US! . . . you know -- white, Christian, God-fearing Murkin patriots (i.e. the only ones who REALLY count!) . . .

it's really all quite simple if you'd just stop and try to UNDERSTAND! . . . that's what's wrong with this country . . . no one understands! . . .

(sarcasm off) . . .

[darkism]

18. "I have come to realize what I did was wrong"

Yea, because it takes SO long to know that BEATING SOMEONE TO DEATH is wrong.

I'm seriously speechless.