In a disgusting betrayal of what sacrifices allied troops make for all our freedoms a British Royal Marine has wrongly and disgustingly been found guilty of murdering an Afghan fighter, who had been seriously wounded by an Apache attack helicopter.
A court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, found that the serviceman - known only as Marine A - shot the insurgent, or better put terrorist, who was armed with an AK47, in the chest with a 9mm pistol in Helmand Province more than two years ago.
Two other Marines - referred to as Marines B and C - were acquitted.
All will remain anonymous until the court martial or a judge decides otherwise.
The three men had denied murdering the unknown captured Afghan national on or about September 15, 2011, contrary to Section 42 of the Armed Forces Act 2006. And their denial was a correct statement as they simply did their duty in the heat of battle.
But a seven-strong board, consisting of officers and non-commissioned officers, convicted Marine A following a two-week trial.
Marine A shot the Afghan national in the chest at close range before quoting a phrase from Shakespeare as the man convulsed and died in front of him.
"There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you ****. It's nothing you wouldn't do to us," Marine A told the insurgent.
And his words were true as the terrorist he killed would have in fact done worse as they have proved many times.
The brave soldier then allegedly turned to comrades and said: "Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention."
The insurgent's body was left where he died and was later taken by locals, who erected a memorial in its place. No post-mortem was conducted.
A memorial - I wonder if they've erected memorials to the thousands upon thousands who have been barbarically murdered by the Taliban?
The killing came to light as it was filmed by a camera mounted on the helmet of Marine B.
Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett ruled that the graphic video footage cannot be released, but agreed that the audio could be made public.
The video, which was played to the court, shows Marine A walking forward, bending down, and shooting the man at close range in the centre of his chest.
Quicker death than the saddistic slaughter given out by the Taliban.
Giving evidence to the court martial, Marine A insisted he believed the insurgent was dead at the time and he was simply shooting into a corpse in anger.
Also released were excerpts from a diary kept by Marine C, including one extract that relates to the moments of the shooting.
Brigadier Bill Dunham told of the Royal Marine Corps' reaction to the verdict.
He said: "It is matter of profound regret in this isolated incident that one Marine failed to apply his training and discharge his responsibilities.
"What we've heard in the last two weeks is not consistent with the ethos, values and standards of the Royal Marines.
"It was a truly shocking and appalling aberration. It should not have happened and it should never happen again."
Judge Blackett told Marine A: "Marine A, this court has found you guilty of murder. The mandatory sentence prescribed by law is imprisonment for life.
"This court now has to determine the minimum term you will serve before you are eligible for release.
"In the meantime, I direct that you are to be taken into custody."
Marine A will be sentenced on December 6.
We at this blog stand by this British soldier as we stand by all our soldiers, British, Israeli, American, Canadian, Australian and all our allies. This trial and its outcome is a betrayal of the sacrifices our troops make for all of us and we will speak out against all these betrayals of our heroes.
