Marine A - is life justice ?

Marine A has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

But was it murder ? It looks like man slaughter, when you take into account the conditions that Royal Marines were fighting under in Afghanistan.

Let be clear a NATO unit over run by the Taliban could expect no mercy - take this hardly reported incident early on in Afghanistan:

"The scene was like a human abattoir. We fought off the Taliban but were too late to save the French guys. All of us were shaking when we were flown back to base. One of the Afghan survivors said the French had been tied up, then gutted alive by the Taliban. It was one of the most shocking things I had ever heard." - Leader from Canada.com Oct 14th 2006*

From what has been reported its possible to believe Marine A was guilty of manslaughter - harder to be satisfied it amounted to murder. It certainly seems there were mitigating circumstances that should have been taken into account at sentencing ( as no doubt was the wider need to maintain discipline ).

For a long time I have the impression we have been lied to about the war in Afghanistan, but of course I can't be sure.

Do you remember when any criticism of the war was seen as not supporting our boys ( and with the mindless cultural Marxism now our girls and boys ) ? The politicians, then Labour, used it the same way they use racism to stop discussion on immigration.

Was a crime committed ? Yes.

Is punishment required ? Yes - but life is inappropriate given the circumstances and the lack of future threat that Marine A represents. His punishment, and that of his family, looks like being another offering on the politicians alter to the mindless war in Afghanistan.

* Its worth considering how suppressed this story was at the time, but it will have left soldiers in no doubt about the outcome of being over run.