U.S. Soldier's Plea Hurts Efforts in Iraq

~snip~

The conviction of Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., comes almost a month after the Nov. 13 killing of another wounded Iraqi found lying in a Fallujah mosque among the bodies of several people killed during a weeklong operation to retake that city from insurgents.


~snip~


Garlasco, speaking from New York, said there were 1,000 "questionable deaths" of Iraqi civilians at the hands of military forces between the start of the war in March 2003 until the fall of Baghdad three weeks later. The deteriorating security situation has made it impossible to count such deaths since then, he said.


"There are a lot of 19-year-old troops out there with weapons who are very scared and are facing a concealed enemy who is attacking them while not following any international standards of warfare," Garlasco said. "This doesn't excuse them, but it shows there is a level of understanding."


Another human rights group, London-based Amnesty International, said killings like the one in Fallujah must be treated as war crimes and the perpetrators brought to justice

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=3&u=/ap/20041210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

The "Plea" not the act of murder?? WTF?? :eyes:

if you question the reason why we went to war, you are endangering the troops. *sigh*

Media hit back at general's claim that Iraq reporting cost lives

Fri Dec 10,12:24 PM ET Mideast - AFP



LONDON (AFP) - The National Union of Journalists rejected allegations by Britain's top military officer that media reports were partly to blame for recent fatal attacks on British soldiers in Iraq (news - web sites).



The comments by General Michael Walker, the Chief of Defence Staff, that news reports about the redeployment of the Black Watch regiment within Iraq made it "easier" for insurgents to stage attacks were absurd, the NUJ said.


"When generals turn round and start blaming reporters for their own mistakes, it is a sign they aren't doing their own jobs properly," said union spokesman Tim Gopsill.


Four soldiers from an 850-strong Black Watch battle group, which moved from southern Iraq to the insurgency-plagued Camp Dogwood near Baghdad, were killed by bombs during their month-long mission, which has just ended.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=14&u=/afp/20041210/wl_mideast_afp/iraqbritainarmy_041210172456

CRITICIZES the government?

Their efforts in Iraq? Can't keep on "killing out of mercy?" Give me a break.

I wonder how these boys will like being mercy killed on conviction.
War seems an excuse for crimes, to unleash criminals, and the least
they should expect is the law to respond in kind. Perhaps some
videotape footage of americans convicted of murder being shot at
close range by mercy-killers will temper the bloodlust.