Update: Army Sniper Sent To Prison For Shooting Iraqi Man

[BruteForce]

WASHINGTON - A military jury on Sunday convicted an Army sniper of murder and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for killing an Iraqi civilian who wandered into the hiding place where six soldiers were sleeping.

Sgt. Evan Vela, 24, was found guilty of murder without premeditation, of aiding and abetting in planting an AK-47 on the dead man's body and of lying to military investigators about the shooting. He had faced a possible life sentence.

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Not certain how I feel about this, primarily due to this statement:

"The snipers detained al-Janabi and the man's 17-year-old son Mustafa. They freed the boy, but minutes after he walked off, the commander ordered Vela to shoot the father. The soldiers said al-Janabi was making noise and they feared he was trying to attract the attention of a group of military-age males they thought they saw nearby."

Considering they were on-mission and in a hide, I think we should have backed these guys in their decision to eliminate a possible threat. We've seen other instances where a threat wasn't eliminated only to have that threat bring insurgents to the hide and attack our troops.

[EvilCouch]

I donno. If he had been forthcoming right off the bad, yeah, probably. If you're ordered to take a shot and it seems like a legal order, you take the shot. But once the cover up starts, morals and integrity go out the window and that's bullshit.

[Nomad]

Bottomline is that you do not kill people for no reason other than the suspicion that they might give you up. Worst case scenario they could have flex cuffed the man, gagged him and then taken off to find another hide site.

Instead they executed an innocent man, planted shit on his body and then lied to their chain of command about it.

Those guys had it coming and I hope they feel the wrath of the system.

[GSXRanger]

Over the years, this is what sets the MAJORITY of American Fighting Men apart from the rest of the world. We run by a set of Ethics that are not common out there.

I couldn't agree more.

Once you turn your back on ethics... you are on your own.

[Nomad]

Its pretty simple really, like Nomad said, we had the man and his kid sit under guard just out of eyesight of the MSS while we conducted our recce and when it was time to exfil, we let them go and even gave them some extra money for their trouble.

That makes perfect sense. When they let the kid get away they'd already compromised themselves anyways.

What you guys did was smart, plus giving them a little something for their "troubles" makes them feel like you're the good guys.

[Ranger Bill]

In war, mistakes is judgement happen. A cover-up is not a mistake. It is wrong. "We" are not "them."