US NAVY SEAL CLEARED

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/7689173/US-Navy-Seal-cleared-of-punching-suspected-Iraqi-terrorist.html

I was aware of this news yesterday - no time to post.

I always had the impression this was more a Chapter 9 (Command Investigation) than an actual Court Martial; the media doesn't know what they're talking about when they report on military justice.

The press tends to refer to a Court Martial as a "trial" without being aware of the fact that there are significant differences: for starters there is no jury, and the Court is not obliged to look at evidence they deem as irrelevant.

Those "military tribunals" they keep talking about for the Gitmo detainees are even more distant from a regular trial by jury:

"A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors. Military tribunals are distinct from courts-martial.

A military tribunal is an inquisitorial system based on charges brought by a military authorities, prosecuted by a military authority, judged by military officers, and sentenced by military officers against a member of an adversarial force."
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