Marine who pissed on dead Taliban wins in court
Just in case some of our readers need a “refreshing” course in how to best win the hearts and minds of our enemy:
A military court has dismissed charges against a former Marine scout sniper who pleaded guilty to urinating on Taliban corpses, finding that former Commandant Gen. James Amos had illegally interfered with the legal process at the outset.
Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin was reduced in rank to sergeant and ordered to pay $500 after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 2011 incident in Afghanistan, which became a national scandal after video of the Marines urinating on the bodies was posted on YouTube in January 2012.
But neither Chamblin nor his defense attorneys knew at the time that Amos had replaced Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser as the first convening authority in the case after telling Waldhauser that he wanted the Marines involved with the urination incident to be “crushed” and discharged, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals found on Wednesday.
“This is an unusually flagrant example of UCI (unlawful command influence),” the court ruled. “We find that UCI this direct, and occurring at this level is highly corrosive to public trust in this proceeding.”
In an affidavit to the court, Waldhauser wrote that Amos asked him why he did not feel that the accused Marines should be sent to a general court-martial, which is reserved for the most serious offenses. When Waldhauser said he did not believe the cases warranted a general court-martial, Amos said he could appoint a new convening authority.
Amos later “admitted that he had crossed the line” and told Waldhauser he was being replaced as convening authority to avoid the appearance of interfering in the case, Waldhauser wrote.
But appointing a new general officer to be in charge of the case did not solve the problem, the court found. For example, Corps officials argued they did not tell Chamblin’s defense attorneys about Amos’ comments to Waldhauser to avoid exposing all involved in the trial to Amos’ act of unlawful influence.
“The appellant had a right to discovery and a right to judicial process free from UCI,” the court found. “An accused does not forfeit his right to discovery because the government’s preferred UCI remedy requires it.”
Some of Amos’ other actions undermined the general public’s confidence in the proceedings independence and impartiality, such as holding a briefing that included pictures of the Marines urinating on Taliban corpses along with the words, “What Does America Think of Her Marines Today,” the court found. The ruling was first reported by Military.com.
The court agreed with Chamblin’s defense that an impartial observer would believe that Amos and Corps attorneys “severely and systematically interfered” with the legal proceedings, the ruling says.
I was never a big fan of Amos.
Source: Marine who pissed on dead Taliban wins in court
Category: Breaking News, Dumbass Bullshit, I hate hippies, Liberals suck, Marine Corps, Marines, Politics
Stupidity should be painful, and it should be handled at the lowest possible level. Office Hours would have settled this.
Well that’s what you get when you have a winger commandant who did TBS via correspondence course.
Shhh, let’s not tell the whole world that Obama had an imposter as the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Paper hanging son of a bitch, but thats just my humble opinion of the REMF.
C’mon Dave, don’t hold it in. Tell us how you really feel.
I wonder what the odds are that some of this was O’s idea and he just called Amos up and told him to do it his way.
TBS can be done by correspondence? Is that because he was a Navy transfer?
Apparently…
I did part of TBS by correspondence as an Air Force officer years ago. My thinking at the time was that I had already completed the Air Force Squadron Officer School (SOS) by correspondence, and if I added TBS to it, it would boost my chances of getting a slot at the residence SOS course, but I didn’t stick around on active duty long enough.
Each module was a separate mini-course, and surprisingly, the Air Force put the modules I did complete on my DD-214. I thoroughly enjoyed what I learned, and it significantly increased my respect for my Marine brothers. Marine Corps History and Traditions was amazing!
One of my regrets from my military service is that I never finished all of it. I still have all of the books around here somewhere, though.
Gen Amos is an obummer appointment. We’re gonna continue having problems with these types. Should counsel the Marine involved in the pissery photo in re: his poor judgement. Oughta be some restrictions on using social media whilst serving in the military.
Fucking phones don’t go forward of the wire, and anyone found in possession of one in the field, gets it destroyed, and goes to immediate battalion commander article 15.
But then they have to remember how to read a map and use a PLGR.
Tough call. I used my phone for the camera and sometimes as an audio recorder on most every mission. it lessened carrying a separate camera with me to get pictures of everything and everyone.
The only problem with this situation at the event was that no one was smart enough to say, “maybe you shouldn’t get this on video?”
Acknowledging I am a geezer and not a huge fan of social media, although I text when absolutely necessary, for the life of me I cannot understand why 1) people film themselves doing dumb things; and 2) post it on social media for the world to see what a dumb shit they are.
I’m an old geezer, too, and the son of a WW2 soldier. I grew up reading/looking at books about the war that showed a lot worse. That said, I agree, some things are best kept “in house”.
All of a sudden I gotta piss.
And it’s not even nightime.
This is the pain revealed
And this is the truth unsealed
And this is the sword I wield
And this is my battlefield
Yes, you’ve heard about it
Pissed off and mad about it
So let me scream and shout it
Pissed off and mad about it
Pissed off and mad the f**k about it
~ Pissed Off and Mad About It by Texas Hippie Coalition, 2010
Another Social Justice Assclown revealed in an Obama appointee, damn who knew?
Dumb fucks for filming their dumbfuckery, but fuck our dead enemies…piss on ’em, burn them with bacon fat…I don’t a rat’s ass how we dispose of these dead pieces of shit.
These were the guys who killed little girls for wanting to go to school they should have taken a shit on their dead faces and left them to be picked clean in the dirt by rodents.
Can’t top that, check please!
Ditto! I’ll leave the tip.
Shit, I’ll buy a round! VoV, you get two drinks!
Amos was a leg too.
what are they doing for Sgt. Rob Richards,
If you are going to do stupid things (such as this bit of stupidity), don’t do videos of it and don’t post anything online about it.
Just shut the F— up, and go on about your business.
If you can’t understand that, then get some professional help with your need to be the center of attention.
The entire thing, although stupid on the part of the GI’s, smells just like oblowme administration dealing with troops that won’t bow down to the obvious king of America……
And that is an entire description of something that has a combination of odoriferous amalgamations of substances that defy description.
Just imagine Burrito farts, skunk, C-ration turds, dead deer on the side of the highway in Texas for about two weeks, blue waffle, yeast infection and something akin to tar being spread on a Texas side road in August.
If that doesn’t stink, I have no clue what does…
“What Does America Think of Her Marines Today,”
We think our Marines are perfect bad-asses, who willingly piss on the ventilated corpse of their enemy, because drinking from their skulls is not an option in a dynamic battlefield.
some of us think that they’re a bunch candy ass boots who wouldn’t last a day in the old Corps. At least that’s what the LCPLs told me when I got to the Fleet. 😉
Lest we forget, Also likely has SGT Robert Richard’s blood on his hands.
https://www.stripes.com/news/marine-who-urinated-on-taliban-in-video-found-dead-1.298282
Goddammit!
*AMOS likely has SGT Robert Richard’s blood on his hands.
//f’n autocorrect
Well, I guess we know why this Amos will be Famous years from now . . . .
This article is quite dated, but summarizes Amos’ tenure a little.
His “Heritage Brief” speech was a joke. Quite a few officers and SNCOs left the auditorium after hearing his bullshit.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/16/the-post-amos-marine-corps-a-big-sigh-of-relief-hopes-for-a-change-of-course/
While at least a few might agree that pissing on a corpse is distasteful, most of us just don’t care much. If any – especially under the circumstances that this one got his. The real offense, as others have already commented, is the stupidity for documenting the event.
Oh, well.