Perhaps. [Perhaps it's a distraction to focus on Turner, on his ability to own up to his crimes in a criminal justice concept.]
Ah, too bad I'm not a more religious guy. Somewhere in the Bible (but I forget if it's in the Christian or the Jewish part) it says that God desireth not the death of the sinner but that he repent and go forth and sin no more. I always liked that, except that it seemed to let guys like Nazis get away with murder. But for a guy like Turner, it seems to be kind of apt. He seemed more like a loser, a slacker with a gun, and now he's sorry for what he did. I guess though, bottom line you have to think about the fat guy and his father. How much hurt this one guy did. Turner can't get off just because he's sorry now. He's gone over a line. Someone will have to pay. Turner probably won't pay any more than any of the other known war criminals pay. Somebody will have to pay, though. It'll be the next GI whose brains spill out on the pavement somewhere in Iraq or Afghanistan - - it won't be perfect justice, by any means, but it'll be the best justice readily available in this fucked-up world.
<<But this guy admitted his crimes. He did them at the behest of a rejuvenated winter soldiers group. He confessed to add credence to the cause. If he is brave enough to brag about his crimes, he should be brave enough to face the music for those same crimes.>>
THAT is a totally irrelevant issue. Whether he's the bravest of the brave or the most wretched snivelling coward on the entire planet - - what is the difference? Why is this about Turner when there are hundreds, thousands of Turners and always will be, here, in Canada, in the U.S.A., in Germany, anywhere and everywhere?
I will tell you something about leadership - - an army is what its leaders make it. The leaders have the power to discipline, the power to punish. If they were truly concerned about behaviour like Turner's, they would have the power to eliminate it by setting examples, by constant vigilance for the least trace of that conduct. If the state of military law did not permit them to exact the kind of punishment necessary to enforce their demands, they would demand those powers and refuse to serve without them. An officer who admits that he does not have the disciplinary power to enforce his code of military conduct on his own troops is a pathetic and miserable failure. I believe that those powers already exist, but they are not used. They are not used because this army is rotten from the top down. There are no expectations at the top that certain codes of conduct be observed, and this lack of interest percolates all the way down to the platoon and the squad. THAT'S why you have Turners and Turners' partners and Turner's unit commander (offering prizes for stabbing people to death) and that's why you have the level of atrocities that we can all see (unless of course we don't WANT to see, which is an entirely different matter.)
<<I look forward to his trial.
<<But i suspect there won't be one.>>
Better there isn't - - it's only more infuriating (although terribly instructive) to see the lightness of the sentences compared to the horror of the crimes. That's probably one of the few places where you can still see the original racism of Amerikkka in all its ugly glory.
<<I suspect as soon as the kleig lights dim, he will recant his confession, claiming he was caught up in the moment and embellished his role.>>
Like any sensible war criminal with a healthy sense of self-preservation.
<<Before fat guys relatives see the video and hunt him down.>>
Wouldn't that be beautiful? But we have to settle for the next IED casualties, the next helicopter crash. God works in wond'rous ways His miracles to perform. But very hard to follow. What I'd like to know is how He takes care of the leaders, the guys truly responsible for the whole mess.
