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Army Murder Trial Begins Over Camp PA Grenade Attack

Right after the war began, there was an incident at Camp Pennsylvania in Northern Kuwait in which someone threw a grenade into a tent occupied by U.S. soldiers. A fellow soldier, Sgt. Hasan Akbar, was accused and his court-martial begins today.

Sgt. Hasan Akbar's court-martial marks the first time since the Vietnam War that a soldier has been prosecuted for the murder of another soldier during wartime. Proceedings were to begin Monday, and the trial was expected to last four weeks.

Sgt. Akbar will raise a mental impairment defense.

Akbar's lawyers are not contesting the facts of the attack but plan a defense based on diminished capacity or insanity.

Besides his mental stability, Akbar's sleep habits have been an issue in nearly two years of pretrial hearings; his defense says he suffers from sleep apnea. Last month, hearings were delayed after Akbar fought with a military police officer who was guarding him.

Akbar could get the death penalty if convicted.

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    Old Army here, shot him now, he killed his own people and that is evil, and i say just shot him on TV For all to see, if you can't do the job, don't join, if you hate the Military don't join, all he had to do to get-out of this was to tell his officers that he was gay and loved the Gore Vidal(I love Vidal don't you?) or tell someone he was a bin laden guy for god. but shot him, shot him now for god.

    HOPEFULLY HE WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE CRIME THAT HE COMMITTED. [Ed. please lose the caps, it's shouting.]

    Fred: Do you mean Shoot and Good? Do you preview your comments before posting? Are you a member of the NEA? I would recommend reading your comments to yourself before posting them.

    Re: Army Murder Trial Begins Over Camp PA Grenade (none / 0) (#4)
    by Johnny on Mon Apr 11, 2005 at 08:54:36 PM EST
    He deserves the death penalty, executed in front of millions, that will teach him and every other wannabe killer whats up. Be a good deterrent as well, we would never have another murder. Violent criminals like this deserve zero mercy for any reason, he is a cold blooded killer. Oh wait. He is military. He was a hero, right up until he dropped that hand grenade on accident. What to do, what to do...

    I find it very amusing that no one wants to comment on this topic. If this topic were to say that he killed an Iraqi or he was seen in pictures doing deragotory things to an Iraqi then you people would be posting all day long about what should happen to him. It guess it doesn't matter, since all he did was kill HIS fellow brother in the military who was just doing his job to protect OUR country!

    Posted by MWF: "I find it very amusing that no one wants to comment on this topic." I remember what was published about this case, but I have only four postings a day, and cannot comment on everything, and many are in that situation. So your aspersion on TL regular posters is a canard. What was reported was that this man, an Arab, was harrassed and maltreated in what he considered a racist manner (such as calling him 'Hajibaba'), and he retaliated by fragging the command tent. Given the illegal invasion's massive bombing campaign and Fallujah, this one soldier's actions are so trivial as to be MOOT, O Maligning Witless Fool. I understand why TL would post this, it's a matter of law. But with so many crimes against our Republic, it is impossible to focus on the tiny acts of insanity or defiance that occur during a racist invasion by cowards who hide behind media lies and stars on their sleeves.

    Oops, an American of Arab descent.

    Re: Army Murder Trial Begins Over Camp PA Grenade (none / 0) (#8)
    by Johnny on Tue Apr 12, 2005 at 06:37:13 PM EST
    Dang Paul, you used 2 of your posts! Seriously, most peopl won't post on this because it was an american soldier killing american soldiers. Youa re right, if it was a post about a terrorist copping an insanity plea, there would be screams for blood. This terrorist, oops I mean soldier... Well, never mind.