Deplorable Injustice Continues for Lt. Michael Behenna

 

By Gina Miller
AmericanClarion.com

Last Thursday, yet another example of the corrupt attempts at appeasement of our enemies within and without was displayed in the rotten-to-the-core decision by three of a five-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to uphold the insanely unjust conviction of 1^st Lt. Michael Behenna for unpremeditated murder of a known al Qaeda operative who was suspected of orchestrating a bombing that injured and killed members of Lt. Behenna’s platoon.

You may recall this awful story of an American hero Army Ranger caught in the upside-down world of a military machine so compromised by leftist ideology that he became the victim of a gross injustice. He went to prison for killing an enemy agent during a time of war in a war zone. This should never happen.

Here is the story, in brief, as reported at the Defend Michael website,

On March 20th, 2009, Army Ranger 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing Ali Mansur, a known Al Qaeda operative, while serving in Iraq. Mansur was known to be a member of an Al Qaeda cell operating in the lieutenant’s area of operation, and Army intelligence believed he organized an attack on Lt. Behenna’s platoon in April 2008 which killed two U.S. soldiers and injured two more. Army intelligence ordered the release of Mansur, and Lt. Behenna was ordered to return the terrorist to his home.

During the return of Mansur, Lt. Behenna again questioned the Al Qaeda member for information about other members of the terrorist cell, and financial supporters. During this interrogation, Mansur attacked Lt. Behenna, who killed the terrorist in self-defense. The government subsequently prosecuted Lt. Behenna for premeditated murder.

Not only is this a miscarriage of justice on the behalf of Lt. Behenna, who was acting to prevent further loss of life in his platoon, it is demoralizing to the U.S. troops who continue to fight on behalf of the freedom and security of our nation. Whether it is U.S. border patrol agents, members of the armed forces, or FBI agents, no individual who is serving on the frontlines in the War on Terror should be so blatantly mistreated.

Two wicked things jump out of the initial story. Why would Army intelligence order this Muslim animal to be released, and further, why would they order that Lt. Behenna, who lost platoon brothers to this barbarian, be the one ordered to take him home? This was either stunningly bad judgment on the part of Army intelligence or a stunningly pathetic attempt to appease our Islamist enemies. This Muslim was a known enemy combatant, not some impoverished goat herder mistakenly detained!

The injustice of Lt. Behenna even being charged with a crime continued at his court-martial, as reported at Defend Michael,

•February 23, 2009: 1Lt. Behenna’s trial begins.

•Defense experts testify that Mansur was standing with his arm outstretched when shot.

•On the evening of February 25th, prosecution expert witness Dr. Herbert MacDonell told the prosecution attorneys the only logical explanation for what happened was that Mansur had to be standing, reaching for LT Behenna’s gun when he was shot. This contradicted the prosecution’s theory that Mansur was executed while seated on a rock.

•On February 26th LT Behenna testified that while he was interrogating Mansur he turned his head towards his interpreter, and when he did, Mansur lunged for his gun. The LT fired a controlled pair of shots. This explanation was identical to what Dr. MacDonell told the prosecution team in a private meeting the night before.

•During a recess after 1LT Behenna’s testimony, Dr. MacDonell met with the prosecution team and told them again that the LT’s testimony was exactly what he had demonstrated to Prosecutors the day before and that the LT must be telling the truth. The prosecutors sent Dr. MacDonell home to New York. Leaving the courtroom, Dr. MacDonell told defense counsel he would have made a great witness for LT Behenna.

•The defense counsel asked prosecutors if they [had] any exculpatory evidence about Dr. MacDonell, and the prosecutors denied possession of such evidence.

•In the prosecution’s closing arguments they argued LT Behenna’s testimony that Mansur was reaching for his gun was “impossible” based upon the evidence (despite knowing that their own expert witness had told him it was the only logical explanation.)

•Later that Friday night a military panel of seven officers, none of whom had combat experience, convicted LT Behenna of unpremeditated murder and assault.

This was prosecutorial misconduct of the lowest order. It appears these people were determined to take down Lt. Behenna, and they were in no way going to let the truth get in their despicable way.

The original 25-year sentence was later reduced to 15, which was little consolation in the face of a completely bogus murder charge and conviction. Afterward, Lt. Behenna’s defense appealed the verdict on the basis that Lt. Behenna did not receive a fair trial.

This latest case saw the judges on the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces rule 3 to 2 in favor of upholding this senseless conviction. From the Court’s 56-page decision, linked at Bob McCarty’s website, the conclusion of the dissenting judges states,

A death occurred in the theater of operations. A soldier has been convicted of murder. Was it murder or self-defense? By law, the responsibility for making that factual determination rested with the court-martial panel, not with this Court. The ambiguous, confusing, and incorrect instructions from the military judge deprived Appellant of the right to have a panel of officers make that decision. The military judge compounded that error by failing to take corrective action with respect to the Government’s failure to provide timely disclosure of exculpatory evidence. This Court should reverse the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals and authorize a rehearing.

Although there were two rational judges on this panel, it was not enough to see that this awful injustice was undone. This was a hellish and devastating decision against one of America’s Best and Finest.

There is a war against our military, and it has seen a major increase in aggression since the imperious Barack Obama (or whatever his name is) took his dark and lawless throne in our White House. From massive, debilitating defense budget cuts, to outrageously stupid rules of engagement, to endless wars with no victory sought, to the forced acceptance of blatant homosexuality within the military, our troops are under assault like never before, because the anti-American enemies within our own government, like the “traditional” enemies of America, have set themselves at odds with our fighting men. This is a sickeningly sad time in our nation.

There is much that could be said here, more than this space allows. The fact that the leaders of our nation are hell-bent on trying to appease our unappeasable Muslim enemies is a huge obstacle in our prevailing against these blood-thirsty, backward, Islamic savages. The fact that our leaders have repeatedly taken the side of our Muslim enemies over our own troops is a detestable reality, the remedy of which is to purge our leadership of these turncoat pansies.

In this whole sorry deal, the grace and strength exhibited by Lt. Behenna and his family is remarkable. In their report on this latest abominable court decision, his family writes,

We will continue to pursue all legal avenues including the Supreme Court, and in search of relief for Michael, we will also contact officials who can understand the perspective of what Soldiers encounter in a war zone and how dealing with terrorists cannot be equated to a drug deal gone bad in America.

Michael and our entire family want to thank all of those supporters who have taken their valuable time and effort to help Michael’s cause and we know that your continued support will lead to Michael’s ultimate release. We will begin a campaign to contact President Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney to take notice of Michael’s case and request they use their influence to pardon Michael or reduce his sentence. The people’s voice must be heard in a case where a Soldier faced his enemy in a war zone. Although Michael has told us he was disappointed in the ruling, he remains a man of integrity and character, and will not be broken by this latest setback. He said that when he walks through the doors of Ft. Leavenworth military prison to freedom he will be a much wiser man than when he first went in.

Although it goes without saying, I will say it anyway: Our prayers for this dear family and this great and precious American warrior are priceless. We can also make our voices heard as a clarion call to our elected representatives in demanding that they move to undo this terrible injustice. We can offer valuable money donations to aid in the enormous legal expenses that the Behenna family has, and will continue to incur, in this battle against the giant military-government machine that has unlimited resources at its disposal to resist the Behenna’s attempts to gain the freedom owed to a wrongly convicted American hero.