|
The
War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings & Torture |
|
The Thar-Thar Canal Killings |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Squad leader Staff Sgt.
Raymond L. Girouard |
Background - Thar-Thar Canal, May 9th, 2006 “For more than a month after the killings, Sgt. Lemuel Lemus stuck to
his story. ‘Proper escalation of force was used,’ he told an investigator, describing
how members of his unit shot and killed three Iraqi prisoners who had lashed
out at their captors and tried to escape after a raid northwest of Baghdad on
May 9. Then, on June 15, Sergeant Lemus offered a new and much darker
account. “In a lengthy sworn statement, he said he had witnessed a deliberate
plot by his fellow soldiers to kill the three handcuffed Iraqis and a
cover-up in which one soldier cut another to bolster their story. The squad
leader threatened to kill anyone who talked. Later, one guilt-stricken
soldier complained of nightmares and ‘couldn’t stop talking’ about what
happened, Sergeant Lemus said. “[…] When investigators asked why he did not try to stop the other
soldiers from carrying out the killings, Sergeant Lemus - who has not been
charged in the case - said simply that he was afraid of being called a
coward. He stayed quiet, he said, because of “peer pressure, and I have to be
loyal to the squad. […]” Excerpt of a New
York Times article from
July 28th, 2006 |
||||||||||||
|
The
Execution “[…] At the house, Girouard called a meeting,
according to testimony of his squad members. […] Hunsaker testified that Girouard
said, ‘First sergeant is pretty pissed that these guys ain't dead and he
wants to know how come they’re not dead. Make it look good.’ […] Girouard
then left to meet up with another sergeant. Clagett said Hunsaker told him,
‘I want to kill these (expletive) because they're terrorists.’ ‘I pulled the
blindfold up on one guy, down on the other,’ Clagett testified at his trial,
and Hunsaker took the blindfold off the third man. ‘Hunsaker told them to
run. I told them ‘Yalla,’ to get them to run faster. They didn’t run faster,
so I raised my weapon. Hunsaker raised his. He shot, then I shot.’ […] ‘As
soon as they fell, I took off my K-pot (helmet) and dropped my weapon,"
Clagett testified. […]” Excerpt of a “Post & Courier” article
from June 21st, 2009. |
Executed Iraqi detainee |
||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Media Reports Archive Diverse Archives Images of the Killings - A Photo
Series |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
June 21st, 2009 - Murder at Thar Thar 1 news
article from the Post and Courier March 21st, 2007 - Girouard Receives 10-Year
Sentence 1 news article by
the Monroe County Advocate & Democrat March 19th, 2007 - Soldier Draws 10-Year
Sentence in Iraq Slayings 1 news article by
Reuters |
|||||||||||||
|
Raymond Girouard |
Corey Clagett |
Girouard, Clagett & Hunsaker |
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Charges & Sentences by the Military Tribunal at
Fort Campbell |
|||||||||||||
|
Defendants |
Pleading |
Main Charges |
Sentences |
Sentencing Dates |
|||||||||
|
Raymond Girouard |
- |
premeditated murder, conspiracy |
10 years confinement |
March 21st, 2007 |
|||||||||
|
William Hunsaker |
pleaded guilty |
premeditated murder, conspiracy |
18 years confinement |
January 11th, 2007 |
|||||||||
|
Juston Graber |
pleaded guilty |
premeditated murder, conspiracy |
9 months confinement |
January 9th, 2007 |
|||||||||
|
Corey Clagett |
pleaded guilty |
premeditated murder, conspiracy |
18 years confinement |
January 25th, 2007 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
January 25th, 2007
- 3rd Brigade Soldier
Pleads Guilty (Clagett) Press release by the Public Affairs Office, Fort Campbell, Kentucky “[…] As part of a plea agreement reached today, Pfc. Corey Clagett
pled guilty to numerous violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
and was sentenced to 18 years confinement for his role in the killing of
three detainees during the unit’s deployment to Iraq last year. “Col. Theodore Dixon, the military judge, also reduced Clagett’s rank
to Pvt. (E-1), the lowest military rank, ordered that he forfeit all pay and
allowances, and be dismissed from the Army with a dishonorable discharge. “Clagett pled guilty to attempted premeditated murder, conspiracy to
commit premeditated murder, premeditated murder, conspiracy to obstruct
justice and obstruction of justice. […]” January 11th, 2007
- 3rd Brigade Soldier
Pleads Guilty (Hunsaker) Press release by the Public Affairs Office, Fort Campbell, Kentucky “[…] As part of a plea agreement reached today, Spec. William Hunsaker
pled guilty to numerous violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
and was sentenced to 18 years confinement for his role in the killing of
three detainees during the unit’s deployment to Iraq last year. “Col. Theodore Dixon, the military judge, also reduced Hunsaker’s rank
to private (E-1), the lowest military rank, ordered that he forfeit all pay
and allowances, and be dismissed from the Army with a dishonorable discharge. “Hunsaker pled guilty to attempted premeditated murder, conspiracy to
commit premeditated murder, premeditated murder, conspiracy to obstruct
justice and obstruction of justice. […]” January 9th, 2007 -
3rd Brigade Soldier
Pleads Guilty (Graber) Press release by the Public Affairs Office, Fort Campbell, Kentucky “[…] As part of a plea agreement reached Tuesday, Spc. Justin Graber
pled guilty to aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced
to nine months confinement for his role in the alleged killing of three
detainees during the unit’s deployment to Iraq last year. “Col. Theodore Dixon, the military judge, also reduced Graber’s rank
to private (E-1), the lowest military rank, and ordered that he forfeit all
pay and allowances for six months. “Graber had faced charges of attempted premeditated murder, conspiracy
to commit premeditated murder and premeditated murder for the killing of one
of the mortally wounded detainees. Those charges were dismissed under the
agreement. […]” October 18th, 2006
- Charges against
3rd Brigade Soldiers referred for general court-martial Press release by the Public Affairs Office, Fort Campbell, Kentucky June 20th, 2006 - Three Soldiers Charged in
Detainee Deaths News article by
the American Forces Press Service May, 23rd, 2006 - Operation Iron Triangle
Nets Suspects, Weapons News article by
“Defend America” - U.S. Dept. of Defense News About the War on Terrorism May 18th, 2006 - Operation Iron Triangle
Shuts Insurgent Training Camp Press release by
the official website of multi-national force Iraq - Operation Iraqi Freedom “Tikrit, Iraq – Iraqi army and U.S. Soldiers raided a suspected
insurgent training camp during Operation Iron Triangle near Lake Thar Thar,
southwest of Tikrit May 9. Nearly 200 Soldiers from 1st Battalion,
1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, and about 230
Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade
Combat Team assaulted the complex from CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Blackhawk
helicopters into the suspected camp after intelligence sources identified the
location as the Muthana Chemical Complex. “The nearly 60-square mile complex was a chemical production facility
that was closed by the United Nations after the fall of the former regime. ‘Insurgents
were coming here to train, conduct link-up operations, and moving out to
attack coalition forces,’ said Capt. Andrew Graham, assistant plans and
operations officer, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field
Artillery Regiment. The combined three-day operation netted more than 200
suspected insurgents. […]” |
|||||||||||||
|
War Scenes from Lake Thar-Thar during “Operation Iron Triangle” (May
2006) |
|||||||||||||
|
U.S. soldiers search an Iraqi car |
Iraqi soldier questions insurgent |
After a house raid |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Background 1) Squad leader
Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard - undated - family photo/WBIR.com; 2) Executed Iraqi
detainee - May 9th, 2006 - Leonel Lemus/U.S. Army; The Accused 1) Raymond Girouard - undated - family
photo/WBIR.com; 2) Corey Clagett - undated - family photo/WBIR.com; 3) Girouard, Clagett & Hunsaker (?) in shackles
- 2006 - family photo/WBIR.com; War Scenes from Lake Thar-Thar/”Operation Iron
Triangle” 1) U.S. soldiers search a car - May 9th,
2006 - Cassandra Groce, 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, U.S. Army; 2) Insurgent is questioned by Iraqi & U.S.
soldier - May 9th, 2006 - Cassandra Groce, Public Affairs Detachment,
U.S. Army; 3) U.S. Army Spc. Christopher Klug, Company A, 3rd
Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, marks a house that has been
searched by U.S. and Iraqi forces during Operation Iron Triangle - May 10th,
2006 - Ryan Matson, U.S. Army/”Defend America”; |
|||||||||||||
|
Back to the Second
Gulf War/Iraq Invasion II |
|||||||||||||
