[Marxism] War criminals

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

LA Times, December 13, 2004 	
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Killings Sting Proud Battalion
Six murder charges in Iraq and the U.S. are leveled against seven soldiers 
in a historic Army unit.

By Edmund Sanders, David Zucchino and Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writers

BAGHDAD ? The men from Task Force 1-41 fought the battle for Sadr City last 
summer, chasing Al Mahdi militiamen through the slums in 120-degree heat. A 
year earlier, the unit had helped lead the charge into Baghdad.

The 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment has a distinguished combat 
history, from the D-Day landing to the Iraq desert campaign of the Persian 
Gulf War. Its motto: "Straight and Stalwart."

Last week, in a makeshift military courtroom, the unit's reputation came 
under assault. Soldiers from 1-41 described how a member of a rogue platoon 
hauled an unarmed Iraqi man away from his family one hot August morning and 
casually fired two shots into his head. Then he photographed the corpse.

As disturbing as the testimony was for soldiers from a proud unit, it was 
just one episode in a shocking series of killings. Over a period of 26 days 
in August and September, seven 1-41 soldiers were charged with six murders 
on two continents.

Soldiers have described renegade infantrymen who bragged about their kills. 
In one case, they testified, soldiers from a 1-41 platoon argued over who 
should get credit for killing an unarmed Iraqi because they had bet on who 
would be the first.

Four of the victims were Iraqi civilians. In addition to the two alleged 
executions, soldiers were accused of shooting a critically wounded Iraqi 
teenager in a "mercy killing," and shooting an unarmed Iraqi, who, 
according to two soldiers, was waving a white cloth. Two more infantrymen 
were charged with murdering two fellow 1-41 soldiers in Kansas.

Court testimony suggests a unit in chaos, plagued by a handful of 
out-of-control soldiers and riven by internal divisions.

Soldiers said one squad leader ordered his men to take no prisoners, and at 
least one soldier who complained about misconduct had to be transferred for 
his safety.

Another 1-41 soldier was punished for kicking an Iraqi corpse after urine 
from the body dripped onto the soldier's hands.

Experts in military history say they cannot recall another case where so 
many members from a single unit were charged with so many killings in so 
short a period. In all, a dozen American servicemen in Iraq have been 
charged with killing civilians. During the Vietnam War, 122 servicemen were 
convicted of killing noncombatants.

Some military legal experts say the killing of civilians ? whether 
accidental or intentional ? can be expected in a war where insurgents use 
terrorist tactics such as car and roadside bombs, while also blending in 
with civilians and firing from mosques, schools and hospitals.

"The circumstances in Iraq are novel," said Eugene Fidell, a lawyer who has 
represented soldiers and directs the National Institute for Military 
Justice. "We have unusual, asymmetrical warfare and fairly insane behavior 
by an enemy that blatantly violates the laws of war."

These seven 1-41 infantrymen were charged in the shootings:

?  Staff Sgts. Johnny Horne Jr., 30, and Cardenas J. Alban, 29, were 
accused of shooting a severely wounded Iraqi teenager in Sadr City, the 
Baghdad slum, on Aug. 18. The staff sergeants later told investigators that 
they shot the boy "to put him out of his misery." The military also charged 
2nd Lt. Erick J. Anderson, 25, the platoon leader, with premeditated murder.

The boy was one of seven Iraqi teenagers and young men killed after the 
unit fired on a dump truck in the dark. Soldiers mistook them for 
insurgents laying roadside bombs.

On Friday, Horne pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to three years 
in prison.

Sgt. Michael P. Williams, 25, was charged in the same incident with killing 
an Iraqi who ran from the truck. Some soldiers testified that the unarmed 
man was waving a white cloth, and one heard the Iraqi shouting "Baby! 
Baby!" ? possibly referring to youngsters in the truck, which had been 
hired to pick up trash.

Williams told his squad before leaving Ft. Riley in Kansas that they would 
"take no prisoners" in Iraq, according to testimony.

?  Ten days later, on Aug. 28, an Iraqi smirked as Williams struggled to 
disassemble an AK-47 rifle found in the man's house. Soldiers testified 
that Williams took the man inside the house, had his plastic handcuffs 
removed, laid the rifle near him and said: "I feel my life has been 
threatened." Williams then shot the man, a soldier testified.

Another soldier allegedly then told him the Iraqi was still alive. "I'll 
take care of it," Williams replied, and shot the man again, according to 
prosecutors.

A few minutes later, soldiers pulled a man from a nearby home where two 
guns had been found. "You know what you have to do," Williams told Spc. 
Brent W. May, 22, who fired twice into the man's head, according to testimony.

?  On Sept. 13, according to Kansas police, Sgts. Aaron R. Stanley, 22, and 
Eric J. Colvin, 23, shot and killed two fellow soldiers from 1-41 inside a 
house rented by Stanley in rural Clay County, 30 miles from the unit's home 
base at Ft. Riley. Stanley and Colvin, both Iraq veterans, also were 
charged with using and selling marijuana and methamphetamines. A drug 
inquiry of the unit is also underway in Iraq.

full: 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-battalion13dec13,0,5608869.story?coll=la-home-headlines>

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