Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola pleaded guilty Wednesday to the desecration of remains and posing for unofficial photographs with human casualties, among other charges.
While a judge at his court-martial set a much harsher sentence, she is bound by the terms of a plea agreement the sergeant reached with military prosecutors. The judge would have sentenced him to six months confinement, a $5,000 fine, demotion to private and a bad-conduct discharge.
The video taken in July 2011 surfaced last year amid a string of embarrassing incidents for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Senator Deptola.
Whizzing on the lifeless bodies of America's sworn enemies should earn this young leatherneck a Congressional kudo, not a demotion.