Somewhere between Infinity and Nothing

A United States military court yesterday determined that the US Marine Corps sergeant who pled guilty to involvement in killing Iraqi civilians in a notorious 2005 massacre will serve no jail time, sparking outrage in Iraq. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will receive only a demotion to the rank of private for an event some compare to the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. In 2005, a group of Marines killed 24 unarmed men, women, and children in Haditha, a town of 85,000 people located west of Baghdad, after a roadside bomb killed a member of their squad, reports the Washington Post. Seven soldiers, plus squad leader Wuterich, were initially charged by a US military court, but one was acquitted and charges against the six others were dropped. Wuterich’s initial charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed in return for his guilty plea. He could have faced a maximum of three months in prison, but in the end he received only a demotion and a pay cut.