Cowardice Case Against Soldier Dropped

[Rose Siding]

...After Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany asked for counseling while in Iraq, his commanders sent him home to Fort Carson to face a court-martial on a cowardice charge, which can be punishable by death.

The Army later replaced it with the lesser dereliction-of-duty charge, which could have put Pogany behind bars for six months.

On Thursday, Pogany and military officials confirmed the case is finished.

Sgt. 1st Class Blake Waltman, a public affairs officer with the Army's Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., said charges have been dropped because the military has learned Pogany "may have a medical problem that requires care and treatment."

Pogany, 32, had been the first U.S. soldier since Vietnam to be charged with cowardice.

A five-year veteran, Pogany said his problems surfaced after he saw the mangled body of an Iraqi man cut in half by American gunfire.


http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-cowardice-charge,0,4920307.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Cha]

1. Awww! I'm glad it was dropped!

Poor guy! He was right!

[yardwork]

2. Unbelievable that he was ever charged with cowardice to start with.

Just unbelievable. We have criminals running this operation in Iraq.