When killing the enemy is a crime.

There are too many cases of warriors being sent to prison for killing people in a war zone.  In the most recent report, a Navy SEAL is being detained.

A Navy SEAL is being held in a military brig while authorities investigate the stabbing death of an Islamic State combatant while he was subdued in Iraq last year.

The Navy Times reported Friday the unidentified SEAL based in California was being held in the brig at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, though he has not been charged with a crime. Such confinement is allowed in the military justice system.

One of the cases I have followed for years is Sgt. Derrick Miller’s.   I find his story so disturbing because I can envision myself doing exactly what he and multiple witnesses testified that he did.

During a combat mission in a hostile area of Afghanistan in September 2010, Sgt. Derrick Miller’s attention was drawn to an Afghan national who had penetrated the defense perimeter set up by the US Army. The Afghan man was positively identified by another soldier under Sgt. Miller’s command who recognized him from a detainment the previous day. The man in question was the driver of a truck reported by military intelligence as transporting members of the opposition to a nearby combat firefight. US military intelligence let the trucks pass. Sgt. Miller was sent to question the Afghan national after observing the suspicious behavior of the man as he reconnoitered their defense perimeter. It appeared that the man was gathering information, and since he was already identified as an enemy combatant, Sgt. Miller was acting instinctively to protect his unit by detaining this man. During the questioning, which took place in an open area with another US soldier and an Afghan interpreter present, Sgt. Miller asked the man why he was within the perimeter. The man initially claimed to be an electrician who was responding to a downed power line, but later claimed to be there to fix a water pump. He had no tools with him, and no apparent means of carrying out the repairs he was supposedly there to address. The man was originally observed accompanied by two men whom he claimed were his sons and helpers. Both of those men had returned to the village without having performed any electrical work, and both in separate directions. They were not present during Sgt. Miller’s questioning. During the harsh questioning, the Afghan insurgent attempted to grab Sgt. Miller’s weapon, and was shot and killed in the struggle. Within 45 minutes, SGT Miller’s unit was attacked on three sides by Afghan insurgents. During Sgt. Miller’s trial, all the soldiers who appeared from his unit testified that the enemy had to have reconnoitered their position closely in order to attack in the manner they did. There was also testimony that the incident with Sgt. Miller forced the entire unit into full alert / 100% security, which prepared the soldiers for the attack. Because of Sgt. Miller’s actions, no American lives were lost due to the level of their preparation. As the details of the events of that day came to light, the US soldiers were suspicious of the Afghan man and the two other young men with him that he claimed were his sons and helpers. Yet at different times during the few hours that the Afghan was inside the perimeter, each of these men were sent back to the village by different routes. The Afghan interpreter testified that this happened. It is believed by the soldiers present at the time that these two men were carrying information to the insurgents detailing the most effective targets for the ensuing attack. Sgt. Miller believes, despite his conviction and sentence of life in prison for the murder of this Afghan insurgent, that he was acting solely in self-defense and with sound judgment.

Another link on Miller is HERE.   We are not alone in dealing with these cases, Canadian Robert Semrau and British Sergeant Alexander Blackman are just two more examples.   I am not suggesting that crimes are not committed during a time of war, I am suggesting that we no longer engage in war.  What we do is deploy Americans into places where we expect them to only kill people that don’t offend our social pallet.

Conducting operations that require warriors to seek permission from people who are at times not even in the same hemisphere should not be classified as a “War”.  The  Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E holds the remains of many thousands of service members.  We now know that too many of them should have never been buried among the dishonored.  This is not a new problem, we have just not learned to deal with it very well.

Too often the enemy of a warrior is a peaceful citizen with offended sensibilities.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Military issues, Terror War