Relatives shocked by Marine murder allegations....

[defiant1]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/22/hamdaniya/index.html

*snip*

"We were praying and hoping the charges would not be filed, because the allegations really are ridiculous, but they have been filed," said Terry Pennington, the father of Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington.

"He's told me that he is very upbeat, he feels great," Pennington's father told CNN Thursday. "He knows that he did nothing wrong, he knows the others did nothing wrong. So he's 100 percent confident that this will go away. When it does go to trial, they will be found not guilty."

*snip*

Don't know about you guys, but I, for one, am completely shocked by the possibility that these trained killers could have killed somebody in cold blood.

d1

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. upbeat

"We were praying and hoping the charges would not be filed" because god is on their side.

[saigon68]

2. It's just another day in Iraq-Nam

" Hey Calley got any more ammo?"

[ChicagoRonin]

3. Playing devil's advocate

With all due respect, I have a lot of sympathy for these soldiers, even if they committed a completely unwarranted and unjustified killing. The guys working street-level for the military are disproportionately drawn from the economically, educationally and socially disadvantaged of this country. For some of them, the military has offered them direction, discipline, purpose, and above all, a sense of self-respect. It's the guys in charge who I blame. Where are the commanding officers who should have been maintaining discipline and order? Where are the superiors who should have been the ones filing the reports, conducting investigations and delivering proper punishments? Where is our the civilian oversite that gives these officers their authority to begin with?

[saigon68]

4. These Guys will love your argument

[blonndee]

6. You'd have sympathy for people who "committed a completely

unwarranted and unjustified killing"? Wow. Not me. I agree that they're not the ONLY ones to blame, but if they're guilty, they're still cold-blooded murderers and they won't get one whit of sympathy from me.

[KayLaw]

9. I agree

I also hope they are severely punished for what they did to a helpless and disabled old man. They can rot in hell for all I care. I'm just plain sick of this evil crap.

[rocktivity]

8. DING DING DING! ChicagoRonin, you're our grand prize winner!

...I have a lot of sympathy for these soldiers, even if they committed a completely unwarranted and unjustified killing...It's the guys in charge who I blame. Where are the commanding officers who should have been maintaining discipline and order?

The soliders are responsible for their actions. But they're NOT responsible for being overdeployed, underequipped, outnumbered, and constantly outmanouvered. It is any wonder that their discipline and order have gone out the door? At least, unlike Haditha, the officers haven't superiors haven't tried to cover it up.

:headbang:
rocknation

[AndyTiedye]

10. They May Have a Case That Too Many Deployments Made Them Insane

I would be sympathetic to an insanity plea from these Marines.

Very probably the place for these men is not prison,
but a secure institution that can give them the help they need.

If these men are psychopathic killers, in all probability the
Army made them that way.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. They've got confessions.

And the parents are still saying they didn't do it.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. Yeah, but we

waterboarded them to get those confessions.:sarcasm: