Undue influence, or How not to run a Marine Corps

Marines urinate on dead Taliban. Outrage! Why that might cause live Taliban to dislike us or something!

Dumb thing to do on camera.

But Afghanistan is not a schoolyard. If people think pissing on dead enemy is the worst thing Americans ever did … Move to another planet.

The Marines should have received an Article 15, maybe lost some pay, been confined to tents until the next patrol.

Turns out that is what the convening authority wanted to do, but the Commandant of the USMC, James F. Amos, said no. He wanted the Marines “crushed.”

Nine Marines were court-martialed.

Now there is an appeal, with undue influence at the center, the same kind as the Commander in Chief showed when he said he wanted any soldier convicted of sexual assault dishonorably discharged. The CIC so ordered, even if the dumbshit wasn’t aware of what he was doing.

The Commandant is a different story. He is a professional. He is supposed to know better

Article 37, UCMJ, spells it all:

“No person subject to this chapter may attempt to coerce or, by any unauthorized means, influence the action of a court-martial or any other military tribunal or any member thereof, in reaching the findings or sentence in any case, or the action of any convening, approving, or reviewing authority with respect to his judicial acts.”

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/ucmj/blart-37.htm

The original convening authority, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, “determined that the most suitable punishment for the Marines involved was nonjudicial punishment, which is less serious than court-martial.

“But a recent statement by Waldhauser to the Department of Defense inspector general obtained by CNN details how Amos tried to influence Waldhauser’s ruling during a meeting in February 2012.

“’I do not necessarily remember the exact words or sequence of what was said, but the [Commandant] did make a comment to the effect that the Marines involved needed to be “crushed,”’ Waldhauser said, according to the statement. “The CMC went on to say that he wanted these Marines to be discharged from the Marine Corps when this was all over.’

“After Waldhauser pushed back against the Commandant, he was removed as convening authority by the Commandant. So the conversation has become the basis for an appeal.

“What’s more, Amos and his legal team allegedly sought to have documents classified that would have revealed his attempted unlawful influence over Waldhauser.”

‘Hunting Marines’ heads’

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