25 year old Sergeant Ryan Weemer along with Sergeant Jermaine Nelson and Squad Leader Jose Nazario are three US Marines being charged with the alleged murders of unarmed captives during the heaving fighting in Falluja back in 2004.
Ever since the United States-led invasion of Iraq which overthrew the dictatorship and regime of Saddam Hussein, war had continued to brew on. There was the threat of insurgency. US forces were in the middle of the fighting between the Shiites and Sunnis. Soon, there would be an Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq.
Asides from being charged for murder, Weemer is also charged with dereliction of duty. If guilty, Weemer will face life in prison.
However, the United States Navy had not started the investigation yet. It was then conducted after Weemer was reported to take a polygraph test to work in the US Secret Service. During the test, Weemer gave the details of the killing of the unarmed captives back in 2004.
In order to try Weemer under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the USMC reactivated him. There is also the possibility of a court-martial as well. Ironically, Weemer got reactivated to stand trial where he could get court-martialed and handed a life sentence.
Other members of Weemer’s Kilo Company face manslaughter charges. However, this incident had taken place the following year in 2005. That incident has been known as the Haditha Massacre in which 24 people have died. It has been said that the US Marines were out looking for revenge after the death of Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas.
Terrazas was killed by an IED.
Haditha has been compared to the My Lai Massacre of Vietnam back in 1968. Commentators had called Haditha “Bush’s My Lai.”
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