U.S. Marine Pleads Guilty For Urinating On A Taliban Corpse That He Thought Was Responsible For The Killing Of A U.S. Marine Earlier In The Day

U.S. Marine Pleads Guilty To Urinating On Taliban Corpses -- Reuters

CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine pleaded guilty on Wednesday to urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and then posing for photographs in a scene captured in a widely circulated video on the Internet and denounced by world leaders.

Staff Sergeant Edward W. Deptola said he knew desecrating the corpses and posing for the "trophy photographs" was wrong and he offered no excuse for the behavior during his court martial at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune.

"I was in a position to stop it and I did not," said Deptola, a native of Southold, New York, and married father of two.

Read more ....

My Comment: In Russia .... (and this is the Russian in me speaking) .... they would probably have promoted him .... quietly of course. But in America .... different rules.

The Case Of Afghan Massacre Suspect Sgt. Bales Unfolds

'I Also Want To Know How This Came To Be': Wife Of U.S. Soldier Accused Of Afghanistan Massacre Speaks Out For First Time As She Is Placed Under Guard Protection -- Daily Mail

* Karilyn Bales says her family is 'profoundly sad' for the deaths
* Moved with children to Ft Lewis-McChord base for protection
* Family 'stunned but standing by devoted husband and father'
* Charges to be filed against Robert Bales on March 22
* Accused of killing 16 civilians, including 9 children, in Afghan village
* Claims he was NOT drunk and cannot remember shootings
* Soldier, 38, 'did not want to go to Afghanistan' after three tours of Iraq

The wife and two children of the U.S. soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, have been placed under protection at a Washington army base for their safety.

Speaking for the first time since the killings, Karilyn Bales, the wife of Staff Sgt Robert Bales, said she was as confused as everyone else about how her husband carried out the crimes he is accused of.

She added she is 'profoundly sad' about the murders - allegedly committed when her husband went from house to house, firing at civilians as they slept before attempting to burn some of the bodies.

Read more ....

More News On The Case of Sgt. Bales

Karilyn Bales, Wife of Robert Bales, Protected in Washington Military Base -- ABC News
Soldier in Afghan shooting to face US court -- Al Jazeera
Murder case against U.S. soldier poses challenges for prosecutors -- Seattle Times
Death penalty for Staff Sgt. Bales? Not likely. -- Houston Chronicle/AP
Death penalty for US ‘rogue’ soldier? Not likely -- Zee News
Analysis: Combat stress rarely successful as defense for serious crimes in military -- Stars and Stripes
Accused Sergeant Heads Down A Long Legal Road -- NPR
Interactions limited to guards and chaplain for alleged Afghan shooter at Ft. Leavenworth -- MSNBC
Villagers: Afghan slayings were act of retaliation -- MSNBC
Suspect in Afghan case a profile in contradictions -- AP

Drone Secrecy Is The Reason Why The Bin Laden Death Photos Will Not Be Released

Reuters

Administration Uses Drone Secrecy To Justify Concealment Of Bin Laden Photos -- Atlantic Wire

The Justice Department has a new legal argument for why the government should be allowed to conceal the postmortem photographs of Osama bin Laden: It's doing the same thing with the CIA's classified drone program.

On Wednesday, the department filed court papers [PDF] asking a federal judge to rule against the government watchdog group Judicial Watch, which is suing for the release of "all photographs and/or video recordings" taken of bin Laden during the May 1, 2011 raid in Abbottabad. The filing rehashes many of the government's stated reasons for concealing the photographs (inciting violence in the Muslim world, revealing classified "operational methods," etc) but also leans on the CIA's refusal to acknowledge its widely-publicized drone program.

Read more ....

Update: DOJ Defends Keeping Bin Laden Death Photos Secret -- Blog: Legal Times

My Comment: Drones .... what drones? Hmmmm .... this argument is gong to wear thin after a while.

Citizens Targeted If At War With US

Obama Lawyers: Citizens Targeted If At War With US -- Yahoo News/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday.

The lawyers were asked at a national security conference about the CIA killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and leading al-Qaida figure. He died in a Sept. 30 U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen.

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My Comment: If President Bush was doing this .... I can hear the screaming. But .... different President .... different reaction.

Can The ICC Charge President Obama For Launching "Illegal Wars" In Afghanistan And Elsewhere?

International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. Photo from Radio Free Europe.

International Criminal Court Proposes Powers To Try Politicians Who Wage 'Illegal Wars' -- The Telegraph

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague is proposing to take new powers to put politicians who launch "illegal wars" on trial.

At a special "review conference" in Kampala, Uganda, the nations which have signed up to the court, including Britain, will consider a proposal to let the court try the "crime of aggression" - the offence allegedly committed by Tony Blair.

If the proposal, backed by more than 70 countries, passes, national leaders alleged to have launched "illegal" wars could be seized, transported to the Hague, tried and imprisoned.

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My Comment: It is bad enough that we have US Justices trying to interpret US law on US foreign policy .... imagine having liberal justices in Europe deciding on what US foreign policy should be. President Bush was right to not sign into this legal train wreck, and I expect President Obama to do the same.

Campaign Asks For International Treaty To Limit War Robots

Robots are synonymous with modern warfare, but what are the ethical implications? (Image: Ethan Miller/Getty)

From New Scientist:

A robotics expert, a physicist, a bioethicist and a philosopher have founded the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) to campaign for limits on robotic military hardware.

Roboticist Noel Sharkey at the University of Sheffield, UK, and his colleagues set up ICRAC after a two-day meeting in Sheffield earlier this month. Sharkey has spoken before of ethical concerns about military systems that make their own decisions.

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My Comment: This is going to go nowhere. But I always give credit to people who are going to try.

Habeas Protections To All Detainees World-Wide Is Exposing U.S. Troops To Unneccesary Dangers

Suspected Taliban fighters in custody in northern Afghanistan
(File photo from Radio free Europe)

Disturbing Developments -- Michael Yon

Paul Mundt is a long-time friend from my Special Forces days. Paul emailed today regarding some disturbing developments on the home front. He emailed the following to the Special Forces Association. The reader should find it self-explanatory. I've known Paul for a long time. Considering the source, my instinct is that this topic is introduced with great merit.

The following email was written by Paul Mundt and transmitted to the Special Forces Association:

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My Comment: Talk about quagmires and a legal system running amok. Of course .... no news from the main stream media on what is happening to our troops in the field who are trying to accommodate these rules.

Kudos to Michael Yon for this report.

Scientists Find 'Law Of War' That Predicts Attacks

Frequency and intensity of Western Wars (1600 - 1945). The 1618-1648 interval marks the Thirty Years' War, the 1789-1815 interval marks the Wars of the French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and the 1914-1945 interval marks the World War I and II.

From The Telegraph:

Scientists believe they may have glimpsed a "law of war" that can be used to predict the likelihood of attacks in modern conflicts, from conventional battles to global terrorism.

The European Consortium For Mathematics in Industry was told today that an international team has developed a physics-based theory describing the dynamics of insurgent group formation and attacks, which neatly explains the universal patterns observed in all modern wars and terrorism.

Read more ....

My Comment: The first thing that went through my mind was that this new field of study has the potential to significantly affect military procurements, budgets, strategic policies and analysis, promotions, political decisions. etc. .... the list is endless. Investment houses and big money institutions pay big bucks in using math to understand economic trends and developments .... why not on wars and conflicts.

I have been reading and studying history and the history of wars for the past 35 years. I find that as I grow older, my prediction on trends when they pertain to wars and conflicts is now almost 100%. It is not because I am smart .... it is that I now find history is always repeating itself when it comes to politics, economics, and conflicts/wars. I will not be surprise if mathematical models will prove me right.

Plus ca change .... plus c'est le meme chose. The more things change .... the more that they stay the same.