[Ephedrine]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42233949...d_central_asia

Of course he rolled over on the rest of them to get a lighter sentence - who wouldn't?

I hate that people come up with excuses for these guys such as "Well the combat got to them" or with this Morlock kid "He had trouble dealing with his dad's death so he joined the Army." So that's an excuse to murder people in cold blood? The defense tried the same thing for that soldier who raped and murdered that Iraqi girl back in 06 and then murdered her family. "He couldn't handle seeing his friends killed." Then why don't all the other servicemembers who have seen that combat just go on murderous rampages? Oh that's right because most people have a conscience and morals.

I'm not going to say that the guys we lost I didn't get pissed off at the insurgents and think why are we there and all that. I nearly lost my brother when we were both in Iraq and trust me I would have definitely been pissed had he gotten killed. But that doesn't give the excuse to go killing people who had nothing to do with it. I also know the argument "Well you don't know who is the enemy and who is not." Okay well obviously these Afghan civilians weren't because it was staged to look like they attacked. Obviously that 15 year old girl wasn't because she just happened to live near that CP those guys were stationed at and they thought she was attractive and thought they could do whatever they wanted to her. Or just like I think it was 3-101 staged deaths of some Iraqis to make it look like they tried to escape being detained (but their commander was freakin nuts - COL Steele I think it was). A lot of those people don't like the Taliban or Al Qaeda any more than anyone else but when you've been used to war in your country for decades, what do you expect of them? A lot of them just want to have the same things we or other 'westernized' cultures have.

The point is that people can't use the excuse of combat stresses and all of that because otherwise EVERY single soldier or Marine would be on murderous rampages. I can't wait to see what comes of that SSG Gibbs who is allegedly the ring leader of it all. I also don't believe the excuse of "morale and discipline problems." Really? We had huge morale issues in my last unit but no one went around killing civilians.

I hope he is sincere in admitting his guilt and his regret and losing his 'moral compass.' I just don't see an excuse for murdering anyone in cold blood when self defense is not involved.

[tramdoctorsss]

War is hell, but it's not an excuse to kill. These guys had something wrong with them that had nothing to do with what they saw/heard in combat. When we make excuses for them, we deny justice to the victims and their families.

[shumozar]

He'll only do 8 years with good behavior.

[sXVUOUVC]

He'll only do 8 years with good behavior.

He's up for parole in 7 actually...