[ April 20, 2024 ]
Obama is never going to lift a prayer mat to help Michael Behenna, but Mitt Romney might. Romney must be urged to act and right this godawful miscarriage of justice. Behenna is a hero; he shot a known al-qaeda killer. We are all safer because Lt Michael Behenna fought for us. Here is part of the statement issued by Michael Behenna's family and supporters:
Michael and his grandma pre-deployment
Story continues below advertisementOn July 5th, 2012, we learned that the majority on the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), in a 3-2 split, upheld the unpremeditated murder conviction of our son 1LT Michael Behenna. Needless to say, we are very disappointed in the decision of the CAAF.
The CAAF had accepted two issues in Michael’s case (1) the improper self-defense instruction, and (2) Governments failure to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense, ie. MacDonell’s expert opinion. We know from reading the 2 dissenting judges opinion that the arguments by Michael’s lawyers were very compelling. In fact, the entire court agreed that the self-defense instruction was erroneous. However, the majority court ruled Michael used deadly force by threatening the terrorist with a gun and had no right to self-defense in his given situation – a fact strongly disputed by the dissenting judges – so the majority ruled the self-defense instruction written by trial judge Steven Dixon, even though incorrect, did not prejudice Michael’s defense. The entire court agreed the expert opinion of Dr. MacDonell should have been turned over to the defense, but the majority dismissed the potential Brady violation as irrelevant to Michael’s defense, as MacDonell’s opinion only strengthened Michael’s version that he was attacked, but Michael had no right to defend himself.
The CAAF basically ruled that Michael made a mistake by taking the terrorist to a culvert for an unauthorized interrogation and in the process gave up any right to defend himself no matter what happened in the culvert (note that no police officer in America loses their right to defend themselves in similar situations.) If you recall, the military prosecutors originally prosecuted Michael for executing the terrorist in the culvert, and no evidence or even any mention of Michael losing his right to self-defense was presented to the jury (panel). Michael had no opportunity to present a defense to an allegation of loss of right of self-defense, because that was never the theory presented by the prosecutors. As stated in the dissenting opinion, “was it murder, or was it self-defense.”
Obviously we were one vote away from having Michael back home with us, and the dissenting CAAF judges widely diverged from the majority, which gives us hope that perhaps Michael’s legal battle is not over. Michael remains in prison today for a mistake he made in a combat zone while facing a terrorist who had killed at least two American soldiers and for whom the military had issued a kill/capture order. The court did not believe that Michael executed Mansur as originally charged and for which he was convicted. We will continue to pursue all legal avenues including the Supreme Court, and in search of relief for Michael, we will also contact officials who can understand the perspective of what Soldier’s encounter in a war zone and how dealing with terrorists cannot be equated to a drug deal gone bad in America.
Michael and our entire family want to thank all of those supporters who have taken their valuable time and effort to help Michael’s cause and we know that your continued support will lead to Michael’s ultimate release. We will begin a campaign to contact President Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney to take notice of Michael’s case and request they use their influence to pardon Michael or reduce his sentence. The people’s voice must be heard in a case where a Soldier faced his enemy in a war zone. Although Michael has told us he was disappointed in the ruling, he remains a man of integrity and character, and will not be broken by this latest setback. He said that when he walks through the doors of Ft. Leavenworth military prison to freedom he will be a much wiser man than when he first went in.
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20 Comments
11 years ago
Our military are not allowed to defend themselves! Bring our military home immediately! It is a wicked violation of human rights to not allow our military to defend themselves. Self defense should be the right of every human!
The judges are EVIL, as is every person responsible for jailing Behenna and other military innocents.
FREE Behenna and other unjustly imprisoned, now!
11 years ago
I don’t know if I would convict him of murder, but he is unfit to be in the military. This young man has no honor. What legitimate purpose could he have for being alone in the middle of the desert with a naked prisoner?
It was not his job to conduct an interrogation. What unauthorized methods of interrogation was he going to use? Was he going to torture? He must have known that any answers he got would not be usable. So maybe interrogation is a little euphamism and he was just going to torture.
It might not be murder, but he should be dishonorably discharged and be making big rocks into little rocks for a long time.
He is a disgrace. He does not deserve a pardon.
11 years ago
I can only imagine the feeling this young man of honor must have been dealing with. Ali Mansur Mohamed working for Al Qaeda in Iraq was the man who military intelligence claimed was responsible for the attack on Behenna’s platoon killing two and seriously wounding several others.
Behenna’s platoon was ordered to raid the house that Mansur was at. They found the piece of dog crap and with him a lot of ammunition. Once they brought him back for interogation apparently the military intelligence didn’t have sufficient evidence to detain him any longer.
They had Behenna and his platoon return the dog crap Mansur to the town they captured him from. This Mansur dog crap was going to go free. The good Lord only knows what that sand flea was going to do next and get away with.
War is hell. The rules with these uncivilized animals go out the window, they have to. They are animals, but not while Obozo is occupying the White House. Our military men fight these wars with one arm tied to their legs and a bunch of wimpy rules suddenly added to change the way things used to be don. To what end, I don’t know, help the enemy I am guessing? That’s the way it looks to me.
We train these men (and woman) for combat, put them in places where time has stopped. They live under the most pathetic conditions, among the most uncivilized animals of which regular civilians cannot imagine. We tell them that they are killing machines, fighting to wipe out the enemy of the west, which are backward muztards, and then we let one of the most sort after terrorists go because we didn’t have sufficient evidence to keep him. SICK IN THE HEAD!
Behenna knew this dog crap muztard was a seething, evil and vile low life. I don’t doubt that backward, sun dried, crusty, dirty cave dweller did threaten him, and then proceeded to laugh out loud like he was untouchable. Don’t all the muztards do that these days? They know that the current wimpy girly boys in government, running the show today, are calling the shots and the muztards are using our laws against us.
Imagine this young man being mocked like that? It’s so easy to sit back and decide that this young man was wrong. Under the circumstances, morally, while in war, against a known Al Qaeda operative, he did exactly what every patriotic American would expect him to do.
Not to trivialize this real life situation but if this story was a war movie, if Americans were sitting in the theatre watching this play out. Americans would be biting their fingernails hoping that Mansor the flea parasite was killed, and if he wasn’t and if he was allowed to walk, most Americans would have been really disappointed with that outcome instead.
One less muztard flea bitten terrorist is off the map because Mr. Behenna was the exact soldier meant to be there to help him to his 72 virgin goats. Thank you Mr. Behenna. You did the right thing and you are living in the wrong time. In the good old days, men were certain about what needs to be done with an enemy. Today, girly boys who don’t and haven’t known a hard day in their life are calling the shots, right after they have their nails polished and play several rounds of golf.
Allen West, where are you?
11 years ago
To Matthew,
Too bad you don’t have to serve in the military! US and UK military are forced to abide by Rules of Engagement where the lives of barbaric Muslim terrorists are considered far more valuable than our military. Both American and British military have died because of this!
As I said, too bad YOU don’t have to serve in the military.
11 years ago
@Matthew:
YOU’RE A DISGRACE.
FK YOU !
You’re an Anti-American PIECE OF FECES,YOU LEFTY POS!
11 years ago
To Linda and Choi,
I did serve in the military. How about you?
You follow orders in the military or people die.
1LT Behenna didn’t do that. He thought he was smarter than his chain of command. He put other soldiers at risk.
He was judged by a military tribunal. He was not railroaded. I hope he spends a long time in jail.
11 years ago
@ Matthew:
I’m glad you asked:
YES!I DID!
U.S. ARMY!
SGT/E-5
Vietnam Era
And once again:
YOU’RE A DISGRACE.
FK YOU !
You’re an Anti-American PIECE OF FECES,YOU LEFTY POS!
And how do YOU know what orders were given to him?
BTW,in Vietnam there were FREE -FIRE ZONES which should have been instituted in Iraq and Afghanistan and ,get this Matthew,GUN SHIPS(Puff the Magic Dragon/Dragon Ships,Spooky,Cobra).
Now unless you were an Army Infantryman,Special Forces,Ranger,Navy Seal, Marine, or Marine Recon,STFU!
You’re a DISGRACE to the uniform that you VOLUNTEERED to wear( unless you were drafted pre-1974).
Your HATRED for Lt. Behenna is nauseating
You’re NO BETTER than Hanoi Jane Fonda.
11 years ago
As I am quiet new in Jewish, looking around for some Jewish information> Got something important here. Nice to get it.
This piece http://goo.gl/DT6FN of video helped me forgive and let go of my frustration.
11 years ago
@ Matthew…Good for you, buddy. I agree with you. Although I have never been in the military, I can only imagine what stress it is to be under fire with your life possibly on the line.
To the above haters (Choi, Madeline, Linda)…What the hell is wrong with you? Our young men/women are sent to fight and protect our country and you sit back in your comfort zone at home, most likely in air conditioned offices/homes, eating 3 square meals a day and you have the gall to ridicule them? Seriously??? Have you even asked yourself what you would have done in a similar situation? Plus, to the women that responded (not sure which were women, by the names)…you disgrace my gender. I am ashamed of what you have written here. Michael was defending the honor of his fellow downed buddies. The enemy was about to be released with no punishment and future killings were also most likely to take place, I am sure. Does this give him the right to outright kill the enemy? No. But it does show that the US will NOT stand by while our men/women are viciously murdered for no other reason than for the enemy to laugh in our face while they become a martyr. Michael had a RIGHT to self defense. Get a grip, people. War is NOT pretty at anytime. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, we WILL get run over and a lot of our brave soldiers will die! Wonder if you would like to live in their country where women are disgraced every single day!…YET, you ridicule our soldiers who fight for that freedom…and also for the freedom you have right here on this page…freedom of speech. Really??? (shakes head) You all need a reality check.
Right on, Matthew……and God Bless you for serving our great country! Nice to know there are still a few good people left among the idiots!
Prayers to Michael…still, for his release!
Peace
11 years ago
I think my computer had comments made by others posted in in a way that led me to believe in what I previously posted. When previously viewing this, it seemed that most of the comments were against what Michael had done and Matthew was defending him. I backtracked and reread and it seems that it was Matthew that was against Lt. Behenna. Am I correct? Wow…unbelievable!
If so, I apologize for some of the statements made (Sorry ladies)If that’s the case, however…I can not believe Matthew, having served, would say such things.
Anyway, I am sure you can tell by my posting which side I am fighting for…Nonsense is just that…nonsense.
Love my soldiers, and yes, thanks to all of them for defending our country…including Michael!
Bring them home safe and sound and SOON!
11 years ago
One thing that always gets me annoyed is when someone doesn’t read, yes, read the comments of another correctly. You, Ms. Rita, are mistaken about me. I am 100% behind Lt. Behenna and if you read any of what I wrote you would have known that.
Matthew is the guy who took a hard line against Lt. Behenna, I believe the other ladies were defending Mr. Behenna as well, again, read! You are confused!
11 years ago
Once again…like you said. READ…I wrote a revision to my initial post after realizing the tags were not connected to the posts I originally thought they were. Once again…apologies.
11 years ago
So now there are rules about how to kill a terrorist. Is America serious about winning the war against terrorism???
It would appear that this is not the case.
If all else fails give Michael Behenna the chance to seek political asylum in another country.
This has been done for draft dodgers, as well as for brutal dictators, why not for a real patriot.
I’m sure either Canada or Australia could make room for such an individual.
11 years ago
@ Matthew,
Please re-consider your anti-American stance and support US soldiers’ dignity and right to self-defense against the barbarians.
11 years ago
I believe that this soldier, like so many others, is simply doing what he was trained to do. To put these warriors at risk for doing this undermines our fighting capabilities. Please save this innocent man and his brothers-in-arms.
11 years ago
I do support soldiers.
However, they break the law to.
He took a man, even a suspected terrorist into the desert, stripped him naked and for some reason uncuffed him during an unauthorized interrogation. If anybody can find an innocent explanation for why he uncuffed him I am all ears.
It was a mistake for his superiors to have him take Mansoor back. I would give him manslaughter because of Extreme Emotional Distress.
1LT Behenna is no hero.
11 years ago
What is the “Alone in the desert with a naked prisoner”? I followed this during the trial and never read anything like this.
11 years ago
@ Rita :
I’m glad you CLARIFIED things or this post would be questioning your sanity and your comprehension of English.
How can your computer change the meaning of Linda’s,Madeleine’s,and my post ?
That seems to be quite a magical computer.
Make sure when you type “Love” on your computer,the word” HATE” doesn’t appear instead.
11 years ago
You are right DAvid, he wasn’t alone, he had a sergeant and a translator. In fact, the sergeant helped him cut the clothes off Mansoor.
11 years ago
@Choi…lol. I misread where the persons name was on the post that they wrote. There was a line above the name, and that made me think the name went with the post below it. Totally my fault. I am sooo sorry for posting what I wrote, but as you can see from my words that I posted, I am deeply sincere in my feelings towards this horrible injustice. ROCK on girls…and guys. Keep up the good fight.
And as far as Matthew…shame on you!
