Eight US troops charged with murder of Iraqi man
For the second time in a week, murder charges are filed against US
troops.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
The US Marine Corps has charged seven marines and a Navy medic with
the murder of a disabled Iraqi man, Hashim Awad, in Hamandiya, a
Sunni village about 50 miles west of Baghdad near the Abu Ghraib
prison.
The BBC reports that the men have also been charged with kidnapping
and conspiracy, according to a Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton,
California, where the men are being held.
The Hamandiya investigation has been examining claims a man was
deliberately killed on 26 April in the town in central Iraq.
The accused are alleged to have taken the 52-year-old victim from
his house, shot him and then left a rifle and shovel by his body to
make it appear as if he were an insurgent planting a roadside
bomb.
The spokesman said all men were presumed innocent, and it would be
up to military officials to decide what punishment they would face
if convicted in a court martial. The men could face the death
penalty if they are found guilty.
In an interview with Knight Ridder published earlier this month,
Mr. Awad's family and friends said he had told them that marines
stationed in the area had asked him several times to be an
informant and to find out who was planting explosives in the
village. Each time, they say, he refused.
On the morning of April 3, Awad's family says marines arrived at
the door and pulled him outside. Less than an hour later, gunshots
were heard and when the family went outside next morning, they
found a freshly dug hole about 500 yards from their home,
splattered with blood and littered with plastic gloves. Earlier,
the marines had taken Awad's body to the local police and said they
had found him digging a hole for explosives, and killed him.
The Associated Press reports that four other men were also
initially brought back to Pendleton as part of the investigation
into the Hamandiya incident, but they have been returned to duty at
the camp pending further investigation.
The Boston Globe reports that Wednesday's announcement was the
second time this week that murder charges have been filed against
US troops in Iraq.
On Monday, the Army brought charges of premeditated murder against
three soldiers for allegedly killing three Iraqi civilians who had
been rounded up during a sweep of a suspected insurgent hide-out on
May 9 north of Baghdad. The defendants were also accused of
threatening to kill a fellow soldier if he revealed details to
investigators.
Separately yesterday, the military in Iraq announced that murder
charges had been filed against a fourth Army soldier in connection
to the May 9 killings. The Army charged Specialist Juston R.
Graber, 20, of the 101st Airborne Division, with premeditated
murder and several lesser charges.
The Los Angeles Times reports that since the war in Iraq started in
March of 2003, 30 US troops have been charged with "wrongfully
killing Iraqis" with at least nine being convicted. The Hamandiya
shooting is the first time charges have been filed against marines
in Iraq. Officials also say that more marines "have apparently been
charged in this case than in any previous wartime killing in the
service's history."
The charges now go to the military equivalent of a civilian grand
jury or preliminary hearing. Based on what happens at the so-called
Article 32 hearing, [Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general
of US Marine Corps Forces Central Command], or his successor, will
decide whether the case should go to a court-martial. Defense
attorneys plan to challenge the tactics used by Naval Criminal
Investigative Service investigators, said Maj. Haytham Faraj, who
represents Thomas. Some of the defendants were threatened that they
might face the death penalty at trial unless they talked to
investigators, defense attorneys said.
"Our position is that there was a lot of information that was
coerced," said Faraj, who added that his client, who was on his
third tour in Iraq, was "an outstanding Marine, doing his job,
leading his men."
Defense attorneys will also argue that Awad's family members
"concocted the story" in an attempt to get more money from US
authorities for his death.
The North County Times, which serves the area in California near
Camp Pendleton, reported Wednesday that money and messages of
support for the eight US troops have been coming from around the
nation. But some long-established support groups are staying away
from the case because it is "so politically charged."
The Globe and Mail of Toronto reports that the two incidents
mentioned above, and a third one in Haditha where charges may also
be filed soon against US troops in the deaths of 24 Iraqi
civilians, come at a "tumultuous moment" for the new government in
Iraq and the US, and could undermine gains in other areas.
This month's killing of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi has been hailed by some as a turning point in defeating
the insurgency. But the crucial battle for Iraqi "hearts and
minds," by both the new government and the 130,000-plus U.S. troops
in the country, could be severely set back by three sets of
courts-martial involving elite units accused of murdering
civilians. The "few bad apples" assertion applied to the handful of
reservists who abused Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison was unpersuasive
to many in the Arab world. Premeditated murder by front-line troops
or the killing of battlefield detainees will be regarded as war
crimes.
