Marine Who Peed On Taliban Corpses Is Off The Hook

A Marine Corps veteran who went viral for a video of him peeing on Taliban corpses in 2011 had his conviction thrown out after a panel of military judges decided a general “meddled” with the case.

If you don’t remember what I’m talking about, you can watch the video here.

According to this:

Staff Sgt Joseph Chamblin was one of four Marines who were filmed in full combat gear urinating on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in footage that emerged in 2012.

He was demoted on rank and fined $500 after pleading guilty to dereliction of duty, failure to properly supervise junior Marines and posing for photos with battlefield casualties, among other charges.

On Wednesday, however, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction, ruling that there was apparent unlawful command influence in the case.

The ruling cited now-retired Gen James F Amos and his senior staff members, saying they used their position of authority to influence legal proceedings.

Navy Cmdr. Marcus N. Fulton, who filed the ruling, said the court found Amos and Marine Corps lawyers working for him ‘severely and systematically interfered’ with the case, according to the Washington Post.

According to a 2012 affidavit, Amos appointed Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser to investigate the case and was required to stay away, according to the ruling.

But when Waldhauser wouldn’t send the marines to a general court-martial, Amos told him he wanted the men involved to be ‘crushed’ and discharged, Waldhauser said in a sworn statement.

Apparently wanting the men “crushed” was over the top… and the main reason the case got thrown out.

Fulton acknowledged that dismissing the case was a ‘drastic remedy’, yet necessary to ‘foster public confidence in the … fairness of our system of justice’.

He noted that Amos’s use of the word ‘crushed’ was an ‘unusually flagrant example of unlawful command influence’.

Chamblin was in charge of a scout-sniper platoon in Afghanistan’s Hemland province in July 2011 when the video was filmed.

The Marines had killed three Taliban fighters, recovered their bodies and urinated on them before posing for photos.

In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, ‘Have a good day, buddy’.

Meanwhile, Chamblin says he regrets nothing.

A year after the video emerged, Chamblin, a 15-year Marine Veteran, tried to explain why he and his troops urinated on the bodies.

The moment came after a furious gun battle between Chamblin and his fellow Marine snipers and the Taliban insurgents. A dozen of the enemy fighters were killed.

‘It’s not like it was a conscious thought or decision but someone was like, ‘You know what, p*** on these guys.’ And someone said, ‘Yeah, p*** on them,” he recalled.

Chamblin was one of nine Marines charged by the military as a result of the incident.

He has since left the Marine Corps and written a book about his experiences.

‘Do I regret doing it? Hell no,’ he told the TV station. And he’s do it again, he said in 2013.

He rejected accusations from military brass and civilian leadership that his actions put more American troops at danger by inflaming religious tensions in Afghanistan.

Opinion are VERY mixed on this.

What do yo think?