CNN: Marine enters plea in case of killed Iraqi civilian

[Blue-Jay]

CAMP PENDLETON, California (AP) -- A Marine pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice before testifying that his squad was ordered to execute a known insurgent who turned out to be a civilian.

.....

Three members of Jackson's unit went into the village of Hamdaniya on April 26 and returned with a prisoner who was then shot by the side of a road on the orders of squad leader Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, Jackson said.

"Sgt. Hutchins ordered us to get on line," Jackson testified. "Everyone fired rounds, including myself, but I fired my rounds above him. I knew he was going to be shot, but I didn't want to be the one to do it."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/06/marines.iraq.shooting.ap/index.html

[provis99]

1. to paraphrase Apocalypse Now,

"charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500."
Get the troops out now and we won't have to deal with the moral degeneracy of war any more.