It does not undermine the UCMJ. As the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, the President of the United States has the authority under both the Constitution and the UCMJ to issue pardons.
It's going to be pretty hard pretending to be the "good guys" when you're pro war crime.
I'm curious to hear what your actual opinion of this is. You are military correct?It does not undermine the UCMJ. As the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, the President of the United States has the authority under both the Constitution and the UCMJ to issue pardons.
Trump pardoned them because they were wrongfully convicted. Trump knows all. Trump can do no wrong.How do you know they where wrongly convicted?
How do you know they where wrongly convicted?
If I were in that situation. I'd be inclined to execute all prisoners in the field, orders or not. They could be concealing a grenade or IED. If they can not be easily detained, they may also report the squads position and tie up personnel. If they need information, they should use whatever means necessary, whilst retaining discipline.
The USA military should be securing the borders of the USA.
That was only one of the cases I mentioned (Behenna). And the arguable wrongful conviction was dismissed on appeal. It's pretty flimsy. In essence, an expert witness who agreed that he was acting in self defense did not testify. However, the court had ruled that, as the initial aggressor, Behenna forfeited the right to self-defense, so whether or not an expert agreed was irrelevant.You can look up the case. You can read up on what the case for the defense was, and the reasons why his conviction was appealed.
Put it this way: arguably he was wrongfully convicted. This pardon didn't just fall out of the sky.
The President is also supposedly looking at issues pardons to a couple of cases that haven't be tried by court-martial yet.You can look up the case. You can read up on what the case for the defense was, and the reasons why his conviction was appealed.
Put it this way: arguably he was wrongfully convicted. This pardon didn't just fall out of the sky.
I'm curious to hear what your actual opinion of this is. You are military correct?
The President is also supposedly looking at issues pardons to a couple of cases that haven't be tried by court-martial yet.
How long (especially considering how he's beating the war drums against Iran) before he starts pardoning war crimes that haven't been committed yet?
I anxiously await a modification to his speech telling police to be rough with those they arrest.How long (especially considering how he's beating the war drums against Iran) before he starts pardoning war crimes that haven't been committed yet?
I anxiously await a modification to his speech telling police to be rough with those they arrest.
You can look up the case. You can read up on what the case for the defense was, and the reasons why his conviction was appealed.
Put it this way: arguably he was wrongfully convicted. This pardon didn't just fall out of the sky.
The pardon just shows how poorly Trump thinks of the law.
Were you on the courts martial board and reviewed all the evidence?
How do you know they were not wrongly convicted?
There is a series on TV where a group of people review convictions for the purpose of getting prisoners released who were wrongfully convicted. The judges and persecuting attorneys adamantly maintain that they were lawfully convicted but in many cases the investigators find exculpatory evidence which was either ignored or suppressed.
I just watched one a night or two ago where a "witness" originally claimed that the suspect confessed everything to him in jail. The investigators questioned him and he admitted that the police fed him all the detail about the crime that the suspect supposedly said.
I don't think anyone posting in this thread can make an informed opinion on any of this.
FYI I am retired military I was courts martialed early in my career when I had been in the military for less than 4 years and I served as a defense counsel later in my career, when I had more than 15 years service. As a commander I referred service members for courts martial and appeared as a witness.