Court-Martial Records: N.C. Guard Member Killed Iraqi After Sex

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBMV9O6W2E.html

RALEIGH, N.C. - A National Guardsman who pleaded guilty to killing a 17-year-old Iraqi soldier said he shot the young man after they had consensual sex in a guard tower, a newspaper reported Saturday, citing court-martial records.

Pvt. Federico Daniel Merida, 21, pleaded guilty to murder without premeditation and other charges during a court-martial in Iraq (news - web sites) in September.

Merida was sentenced Sept. 25 to 25 years in prison and reduced in rank and will be dishonorably discharged. He is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., a Leavenworth spokeswoman said.

Army officials at Forward Operating Base Danger, where the court-martial was held in Iraq, had previously withheld details of the case.

However, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Saturday that records show Merida and the Iraqi were on guard duty May 11 in a tower on the perimeter of an Army camp near Tikrit in northern Iraq. At about 10:30 p.m., Merida shot the teen 11 times with his carbine.

Merida first told investigators the teen demanded money at gunpoint. Later, he said he killed the boy because he forced him to have sex. In a third interview, Merida said he got angry after the two had consensual sex.

more

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. So, what is the policy now?

"Don't ask, don't shoot"?

[48pan]

2. This is Disgusting

And I don't believe it for a second. Iraqi soldiers are Muslim. It is very unlikely they would admit to being gay.

[TheWraith]

26. Realistically, there are as many gay Iraqis

As there are gay anyone-else per capita. Homosexuality being forbidden doesn't make it any less common, just more covert. And it's not like Iraq was a fundamentalist-run state--at least, before we moved in.

[SKKY]

49. You know something, I think this seals the case for me once and for all...

...If you have homosexuals in a Muslim country, where just about anything "sexual", or "scandalous", or "fun" is banned, doesn't that pretty much end the "learned to be" or "born gay" argument?

[Bouncy Ball]

29. The Iraqi didn't admit to being gay

the soldier was the one saying that stuff. The Iraqi is dead.

[jellybelly]

47. okay....

muslim men can't admit they're gay because they'll get stoned. They aren't exactly free to be gay.

[Plaid Adder]

3. No matter what the real story is,

that's one fucked up individual.

I hope Bush is planning on personally financing every returning soldier's years of therapy. Oh, wait, that would only be happening on Planet Responsibility.

Sigh,

The Plaid Adder

[NNN0LHI]

4. Wonder if he has to register as a sex offender when he is released?

Hate to think this guy could be living next to my family after he is released from Fort Leavenworth without him having to register with the local police.

Don

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. I read the rest of the story

Merida is married with a young child.

[Sal Minella]

6. Alternate ending to the story:

He could still be at home being husband/father.

[nodehopper]

22. winning hearts and minds.

[Bzzzz]

43. I wouldn't be surprised

if he voted for shrub.:puke:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maddezmom]

8. adding my thread here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1083090

[karlrschneider]

9. Well, I have a theory on this...admittedly without knowing the details:

I suspect Merica forced the kid to give him a hummer (the unarmored kind) at gunpoint then simply killed him to avoid the "news" getting out.

[leftchick]

13. sounds plausible to me...

Very plausible. Sadly that side won't be shown on muriKan TV.

[Skittles]

19. if anyone forced me to give them a "hummer"

they might kill me but they would still end up very much dickless

[karlrschneider]

21. Well, I dunno...it sems to me most people would do it with at least the

HOPE of surviving...but I have a little different perspective perhaps than you do. ;-)

[Skittles]

23. I'd bite it clean off

he wouldn't be doing it again now would he?

[ReadTomPaine]

28. Nope, that would indeed be the end of that. n/t

[Sara Beverley]

24. Why not just give yourself a hand job? This is sick! We send sick men

to combat and they come home sicker!

[Just Me]

10. Tough to wrap one's brain around this,...

,...Merida first told investigators the teen demanded money at gunpoint. Later, he said he killed the boy because he forced him to have sex. In a third interview, Merida said he got angry after the two had consensual sex,...

First,...why/how are any of Merida's statements being released and by whom (court-martial records my ass)?

Second,...explain such extreme incongruencies.

Third,...WTF is "Forward Operating Base Danger"?

Fourth,...tell me more about Merida.


For whatever reason,...I smell a recalcitrant "patsy".

[EFerrari]

33. Agree. Why the rush to spill the story. It stinks. n/t

[TahitiNut]

11. "Deliverance" in a guard tower.

"consensual sex" my ass! (not to make a pun)

[rooboy]

12. People should just support the troops and shut up. n/t

[Disturbed]

14. Uh...it seems that..

there has been a failure to communicate. This story is contradictory and bizzare. I doubt if the actual story will ever be in print.

I feel that I know this much. The U.S. Occupation has brought a ton of suffering to a whole lot of people. The U.S. Govt. has accountability that will never be fully known to the people of this planet. We are living in times close to the early 1930's Germany and I feel things will get a whole lot worse in the coming years. Good Amerikans, by and large, are just like the "good Germans" were: Complacent and purposefully ignorant.

[Just Me]

16. Psy-ops.

Cognitive dissonance.

Divide and conquer.

You are wrong about,..."Good Amerikans, by and large, are just like the "good Germans",...

Not true.

You may readily compare the superiority of the new fascists against Hitler, and be totally correct. This beast is unwavering. BUT, you cannot possibly compare the people of this country against those who lived in that era.

No.

I will not allow you or anyone else to diminish our strength.

We can be betrayed,...but we cannot be defeated.

[saigon68]

18. Not yet but soon

I knew a lot of Killers in my time. All they needed was a valid order and they would blow any ones brains out.

[Swamp Rat]

20. Shhhh!!!!!!

SLEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. Holy shit!

What kind of people are the army recruiting?

[saigon68]

17. They are recruiting PSYCHOPATHS, KILLERS AND THUGS

THIS IS ONE MORE OF THEM----


SUPPORT THE TROOPS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait until a few more of these sweet hearts set up CAMP in your NEIGHBORHOOD.

[Supersedeas]

51. do they recruit them or create them

[saigon68]

52. Its 50/50 IMHO

SOME KILLERS ARE RECRUITED BECAUSE THEY LIKE TO KILL --OR IMAGINE THEY LIKE TO KILL. OTHERS JUST SAY -- FUCK IT" AND AFTER A WHILE THEY GO WITH THE FLOW.

[MrSlayer]

25. See what happens when you let gays in the military.

Thats what the fundies will say anyway.

These guys are going to be tons of fun if they ever get home. Thanks Chimp!

[IndianaGreen]

27. Was he court martialed for killing the Iraqi, or for having sex with him?

Considering how many Iraqis we have killed on a large scale, I am baffled about this guy being prosecuted, unless it is because he had sex with another man.

[Solly Mack]

30. I was wondering the same thing

What really prompted the charges

[VegasWolf]

31. I guess the soldier really gave the teen a "bang up blow" job. n/t

[Bouncy Ball]

32. Wow.

The first thing my mind went to was what a field day fundies would have with this story. Then I thought "Hang on a second! They would LOVE this story! More evidence of the "evils" of being gay!"

Then my bullshit meter went to Defcon 9. I'm so cynical, but how much you wanna bet this story is out there for the BENEFIT of fundies making more noise about gays?

:crazy:

[EFerrari]

34. But, this faux story isn't about being gay, it's about rape and murder?

Geezus, none of my gay friends shoot people after having sex with them. Hard to get date #2 that way.

How in the world is this about being gay?!

[Bouncy Ball]

35. Don't you see?

See it the way the fundies would: he's GAY and he SHOT AND KILLED the guy he had sex with. PROOF (in their twisted little minds) of how deviant a lifetsyle it really IS!

Of course WE know 99.9999999% of gay people don't shoot their partner right after sex just like 99.99999999% of straight people don't either.

But to a fundie, this story is a political gold mine.

[EFerrari]

36. I think you give them too much credit. lol

"One of OUR BOYS? GAY? No? Really? Good thing he was armed."

[Bouncy Ball]

37. Well yeah I can see some of them having that reaction too.

LOL!

[EFerrari]

38. We've gotta get those guys outta there. Horror waiting to happen

[TheWraith]

41. No evidence of rape being involved. NT.

[TexasBushwhacker]

44. Yeah a gun to the 17 year old's head

while he was "consensually" giving a blow job isn't likely to leave "evidence" of rape, is it?

[Southpaw Bookworm]

50. In addition

I'm sure the fact that the U.S. military is an occupying force in their country had nothing to do with it as well.

[Algomas]

39. That's not a nice way to enforce the "Don't Tell" rule, now is it?

[CatholicEdHead]

40. Army ranks

Someone on the dupe thread of this asked about his rank as Private is the lowest one in the army.

The ranks are here:

http://www.morehead-st.edu/colleges/education/military/rank.html

My guess is that he was a E-2 private and will be demoted to an E-1 private, the lowest their is in the army.

[NNN0LHI]

42. 17-year-old Iraqi soldier?

Didn't Chimpy say all the Iraqi kiddies were back in school? If that is the case what is this kid doing at Forward Operating Base Danger? I thought the US has condemned countries who have used children as soldiers in the past?

Don

[Tinoire]

45. That poor boy. His wife, child, family

:mad:

That soldier should be court-martialled and tossed in a forgotten hell-hole.

[jellybelly]

46. the asshole

killed him because he felt ashamed of engaging in gay sex. If the Iraqi was raped there should be evidence of that.

[oblivious]

48. At least in this article they don't mention the Iraqi boy's name.

In the other one it does since the LA Times did. You wonder what motivates a newspaper editor to sink so low.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1084832#1084921

[Placebo]

53. It's not the first time something like this has happened...

but it's still very sad. Poor Iraqi soldier.

[Hobarticus]

54. Thank God, at least they didn't get married...

Note: tongue firmly in cheek.