Despite earnest attempts from the 10 attorneys in the room — who were no doubt making even more money per hour from Blackwater than the five men they were defending once racked up in Baghdad — Judge Warner quickly dismissed their appeals to dismiss the case or change its venue to supposedly friendlier Utah, and sent it on to Washington, D.C.

Ironically, the lengthiest issue the judge had to deal with was whether the accused could possess guns.

As is commonly the case with someone indicted for a felony, Warner had initially ordered that the five men could possess no firearms while their case runs through the system. This brought a barrage of protests from the attorneys, who lobbied that their clients should be able to use guns for recreational hunting and, in one case, for employment.

The judge said OK to the employment, but declined the rest, noting that three of the five (including the Utahn, Ball) have seen counselors to cope with post traumatic stress disorder since their days in Iraq. It seemed only prudent that it might be better if men charged with firearm misuse keep their distance from firearms while this all gets sorted out.

In any other war, all this would have been handled by the military — culminating, or not culminating, in a court-martial.

But as five American men sitting in a Salt Lake City courthouse this week accused of gunning down private citizens more than a year ago in a city halfway around the world attested, this is not any other war.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.