A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
There has been quite a bit going on in the military law field over the last few months. A bunch of Marines have pleaded guilty to charges they should have never received, and a Lt is fighting the system and NCIS.
2d Lt Nathan P. Phan, USMC, has been charged with one count of false official statement and three counts of aggravated assault in connection with alleged crimes that took place in Hamandiyah, Iraq by the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. The prosecution of Lt Phan is the product of unethical, strong-arm tactics by agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, shocking instances of prosecutorial misconduct, and the intentional destruction of important evidence by government agents. It is an effort by the Marine Corps to use Lt Phan as a scapegoat to both justify its own failed policies and lack of battlefield awareness, and to cleanse itself of its own institutional responsibility and accountability by saying that an officer is being held accountable. The sad and incontrovertible fact is that the charges against Lt. Phan are entirely baseless and the government’s prosecution of him is an ethical abomination and an affront to any concept of justice.
Read the rest of the press release at Conservative Thoughts.
I’ve had very little contact with NCIS in my short career thus far, and that is probably a good thing. However, the little contact I did have made me very weary of them. Their policy of not recording or videotaping interviews could easily lead to accusations of misconduct, and the accusations are out there.
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I am posting this in case someone by the name of susan just goes to th
Terri
This is an outrage. It just irks me to no end to see someone scapegoated like this and yet the Army is allowing weasels like Watada get by with treason. It just doesn’t make sense.
yankeemom
Kit Jarrell over at Euphoric Reality has been covering this for awhile and also has a lot of info on her blog. She also has info on the P8 and The Iron Triangle. She has podcasts of interviews she has done with family members and lawyers of the accused.
The more I read about this the more enraged I am.
Cpl M
Yeah, Kit was supposed to start mirroring her law posts over here but I think she forgot. I’ll email her again and ask if she still plans on doing that.
CriticalFacts
“Their policy of not recording or videotaping interviews could easily lead to accusations of misconduct, and the accusations are out there.”
Wait a second, are we talking about GTMO detainees or American servicefolks? God help the servicefolks who become prisoners of the enemy and are treated like we treat the enemy and our own!
Cpl M
First off, NCIS has nothing to do with detainees at Gitmo. Secondly, detainees at Gitmo are treated better than our own citizens in maximum security prisons around the country.
For being “CriticalFacts,” you sure have your facts dead wrong.
Donna
That is definitely an outrage that the Marine Corps would do that to 2nd Lt. Phan. What an injustice!!