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July 9th, 2006 - U.S. Military
Braces for Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq |
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U.S. Military Braces for
Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq By Robert F. Worth New York Times July 9, 2006 No American serviceman has
been executed since 1961. But in the past month, new cases in Iraq have led
to charges against 12 American servicemen who may face the death penalty in
connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians. Military officials caution
against seeing the cases as part of any broader pattern, noting that the
incidents in question are isolated and rare. But the new charges represent an
extraordinary flurry in a conflict that has had relatively few serious criminal
cases so far. As investigators complete
their work, military officials say, the total of American servicemen charged
with capital crimes in the new cases could grow substantially, perhaps
exceeding the total of at least 16 other marines and soldiers charged with
murdering Iraqis throughout the first three years of the war. Some military officials and
experts say the new crop of cases appears to arise from a confluence of two
factors: an increasingly chaotic and violent war with no clear end in sight,
and a newly vigilant attitude among American commanders about civilian
deaths. At least five separate
incidents involving the deaths of Iraqis are under investigation, setting off
the greatest outcry against American military actions since the Abu Ghraib prison
scandal. By far the best known of the cases is the one in Haditha, where
marines are being investigated in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in
November. No charges have been filed in that case, but some say news of the
incident may have helped bring some later cases to light. "Unusual criminal acts
raise the level of concern, whether in the military or among civilians, and
with increased concern comes increased reporting," said Gary Solis, a
former marine who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University. In April, Lt. Gen. Peter W.
Chiarelli, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, issued an order that
specified for the first time that American forces must investigate any use of
force against Iraqis that resulted in death, injury or property damage
greater than $10,000. Maj. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the American
command, said he knew of no clear link between General Chiarelli's order and
the recent homicide investigations. But Major Breasseale said that
General Chiarelli, who took over day-to-day military operations in Iraq in
January, has made clear to subordinates that he puts a high priority on
avoiding and scrupulously reporting civilian casualties. American commanders
in Iraq will be scrutinizing civilian deaths more intensely as the United
States moves toward transferring authority to Iraqis, Major Breasseale said.
Details about the five incidents under investigation are still emerging, and
none of those charged have yet had an Article 32 hearing, the military's
equivalent of a grand jury proceeding. The incidents are far from
the only ones in which American forces killed Iraqis. But serious criminal
charges in such cases have been rare until now. In many earlier cases, the
killings have been found to be justifiable, and the soldiers or marines in
question have often been handled through administrative or nonjudicial
processes. The last soldier to be
executed was John A. Bennett, hanged in 1961 after being convicted of the
rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl. In the Iraq war, when
soldiers or marines have been charged, convictions - and harsh sentences -
have been rare. Of the 16 American servicemen known to have been previously
charged with murder, only six were convicted or pleaded guilty to that
charge, and none received the death penalty. In all, 14 service members have
been convicted of any charge in connection with the deaths of Iraqis and have
received sentences as varied as life in prison or dismissal from the service. Among the new incidents, all
five took place in central Iraq, in areas where the Sunni Arab insurgency is
firmly entrenched despite years of effort to quell it by American and Iraqi
forces. To some, that is the only thing that seems to link them. "This is a war in which
soldiers and civilians are constantly mingling, and they often don't
understand each other," said Loren B. Thompson, a military analyst at
the Lexington Institute. "The enemy has a conscious strategy of
demoralizing U.S. forces by disorienting and confusing them. Against that
backdrop, the number of alleged atrocities is quite low compared with other
conflicts in the past." In Vietnam, a much longer
conflict, 95 American soldiers and 27 marines were convicted of killing
noncombatants. Some of the men under
investigation in Iraq had done multiple tours in Iraq, and that, too, may
have played a role. "They can become almost
numb to the killing," said Charles W. Gittins, a former marine and a
lawyer who has represented marines accused of murder in Iraq. "The more
you're in it, the more you want to live through it. You think more about
preserving your own life than about what's the right thing to do." In many of the cases where
American troops killed Iraqi civilians, they were later found to have acted
within their rules of engagement. Some of those cases became notorious, at
least in the Arab world. In Falluja in November 2004,
for instance, the freelance journalist Kevin Sites filmed a Marine corporal
shooting an apparently wounded and unarmed Iraqi in a mosque. The videotape
generated a frenzy of negative publicity, but in May 2005 a military review
cleared the corporal, stating that he had acted within the rules of
engagement. The definition of murder can
be far more elusive in a war zone than in civilian life. In some previous
criminal cases, soldiers or marines have claimed they acted in self-defense
or carrying out mercy killings. Cpl. Dustin M. Berg of the
Indiana National Guard, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for killing
his Iraqi police partner, said he acted because he feared his partner was
going to shoot him. In 2004, Staff Sgt. Johnny
Horne said he killed a wounded 16-year-old Iraqi boy to put him out of his
misery after a gun battle with Shiite militants. Sergeant Horne pleaded
guilty to unpremeditated murder and was sentenced to three years in prison,
later reduced to one year. In the heaviest penalty yet
issued in the Iraq war, Sgt. Michael P. Williams was sentenced to life in
prison after being convicted of premeditated murder last year in the killing
of two Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The sentence was later reduced to 25
years. "I think there's a
recognition that these are weird environments," said Eugene R. Fidell, a
specialist in military law. "The danger is, carried to an extreme, that
can mean throwing the law books out." The flurry of new cases has
taken on a high profile in the news media and public discussion. The barriers
to conviction, though, will be formidable. Recovering credible evidence in
Iraq's chaos can be very difficult, and Iraqi witnesses are open to
challenge. "There's going to be
very little forensic evidence," Mr. Gittins said. "Jury members who
have served in Iraq know that it is pretty common for Iraqis to lie to
Americans. Also, the military pays the relatives of civilians who are killed
— so they have an incentive to lie." Some members of the military
juries are likely to have served in Iraq, and are familiar with the chaotic
atmosphere surrounding any decision to use force. "The presumption of
innocence is going to reign supreme," Mr. Gittins said. Copyright 2006 The New York
Times Company External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/world/middleeast/09abuse.html |