trump-army-commando-murder-case

He needs to leave this alone. He should look to what happened with Obama. "“The bottom line is: I have no tolerance for this,” Obama said, according to an NBC News story submitted as evidence by defense attorneys in the sexual assault cases. The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges". That simple and somewhat benign comment torpedoed a case then. Was Obama wrong? Not really, most would agree with him in this instance, BUT now it's Trumps turn and due to timing, almost everyone will question the motive, and there is no way Mattis won't "politely" tell him to butt out of his business.

There is a military legal system. It's not based upon "were you treated nicely", "can I change the news cycle", "or is it fair to all regardless of rank(we all know it's not). But we have the UCMJ and any president meddling in it is bad business for the commanders and convening authorities. That simple statement just put a target on the judge and GO's back depending on how the evidence goes, and depending on the ruling, that simple statement could be the grounds of this former Soldier coming back into service, or suing the government making a killing again, but with dollars. It would also cost the judge his career no matter what because someone will think the fix was in either way. The former Soldier got a general discharge. That is not something hard to get, but it would make the average person question his motives when you were given multiple high grade awards for valor. He's not a punk per se. There's something in his ORB that got him that general discharge, and I'm curious to know what it was, and how it came to be. I'm not privy to it, and really have no need to know. All I've read on this has been superficial spins depending on slants both political and military. It's almost like any SOF member is akin to flag officers and can do no wrong, even when it's obvious and in your face wrong as hell.

Like Obama, if Trump messes with this case in any way shape form or fashion3, what will he say to the SM's serving if justice isn't given it's due? What message is he giving to the troops..."screw up good, and put it on Fox News so I can see it, and I'll take care of it"? That is not fair, takes away the power vested in commanders and NCO's in leadership positions. But if this is how it's going to be, then I want every 4856 I ever got reviewed and thrown out even if I deserved it, any Art15 I was ever recommended for tossed even though I never got em, and I want an immediate promotion to SFC even though I did not do what I was supposed to do to get promoted to SFC. I feel I was treated by my leaders unfairly, yet I KNOW that wasn't true. They ALL led the horse to water. The dumbass horse wanted beer and cake instead. Oh and I want my secondary MOS to become my primary with a $20k bonus tax free. I don't deserve it, but I feel its "just" because I want to be compensated for my mistakes.

https://www.stripes.com/judge-obama-sex-assault-comments-unlawful-command-influence-1.225974

Let the Army handle it! The President should not say anything... so far, I don't his tweets undermine the UCMJ, but they certainly aren't helpful or appropriate!!

I know someone from a group that was blown up by an IED and was severely burned and damn near died in A'stan. As such I feel my comments will be biased. However this is my take - the MAJ more or less called in a drone strike yet did it the way I would prefer, face to face, man to man and point blank. In the process he saved Uncle Sam one AGM-114 Hellfire missile ($70,000) as well insured no incidental casualties. I used the drone as an example on purpose as if we start playing moral high ground in how we take out bad people that opens the door to other methods that we have used and the possibility of criminal penalties for those that executed those orders. What about all those drone strikes? Did those pilots do anything wrong as hundreds of non-combatants were killed? What about a president authorizing these strikes? Did he OK the killing of non armed combatants? Did he do anything wrong as well? Point is there are bad people out there and while yes it would be great to gather evidence and adjudicate people in a court of law sometimes we can save ourselves a lot of trouble with a bullet just like we do with Hellfire missiles. I trust the MAJ's reasoning in doing what he did. Was it right? Not for me to judge. I will say he didn't help his case by going on Fox - the general public has no stomach for this kind of work and it will only be used against him in a court of law. Not wise. However I'm not sure how his interview with the CIA got back to DoD - l'd like to know more about that as well as the drone program was originally under their domain. Just saying it seems a bit hypocritical for them drawing attention to MAJ's "truthful" responses. I know I'm deflecting but if we break down the question to its root form its based on a moral line in how we kill in combat (GC).

Here is a very long list of just the drone strikes in "P'stan" - First one two kids were killed yet we ponder the MAJ's moral compass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drone_strikes_in_Pakistan

For the president -
As the President can pardon military offenses I feel its appropriate to review the case while remaining silent until adjudication. At that point the President can pardon if he deems it appropriate.

I'm sure many will disagree - but he was cleared I believe twice before he went on Fox and was then charged with murder.