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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 14th,
2007 - Did an Army Sergeant Order Murder? |
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Did an Army Sergeant Order
Murder? By Theo Emery Time Magazine March 14, 2007 Fort Campbell is a long way
from the island in the Thar Thar Canal, north of Baghdad. But a court-martial
at the U.S. military base, which straddles Kentucky and Tennessee, has begun
to examine in detail what happened in that Iraqi locale in May 2006, with
polarizing consequences for the way Americans perceive the way the war is
being waged. Staff Sergeant Raymond L.
Girouard, 24, went on trial Tuesday, defending himself against charges of
premeditated murder, obstruction of justice and other charges for ordering
soldiers in his squad to kill three unarmed Iraqi detainees and conspiring to
cover up the deaths. The case is one among several that have inflamed critics
of the U.S. The prosecution has also stirred anger among Girouard's hometown
supporters, who say he is being made a scapegoat in the case. The question at the heart of
Girouard's case is whether he ordered three Iraqi men killed during a raid
last May in the Thar Thar Canal. During the raid, soldiers took four men
captive. Shortly before the soldiers were supposed to pull out, three of the
detainees were allegedly shot by two soldiers in Girouard's squad, Corey R.
Clagett and William B. Hunsaker. One of the three Iraqis who did not die
right away was allegedly shot point-blank by another soldier, Juston R.
Graber, in what's been described as a mercy killing. Initially, squad members
claimed that the detainees attacked Hunsaker and Clagett, and were shot as
they tried to escape. But Capt. Joseph Mackey, a military prosecutor, has
called that story a "fiction." Mackey said that when a
report of the three detainees was radioed in to the base, an irate officer
supposedly asked why the men had not been killed. Soldiers have also
testified that before the raid, commanders had instructed them to leave no
military age men alive on the island. Hunsaker testified on
Tuesday that Girouard called his squad members in for a meeting after the
detainees had been readied for transport. There, according to Hunsaker, Girouard
told them about what the officer had said, adding: "He tells us cut the
ties (on the detainees wrists), let them loose, and shoot them." After the men were shot,
said Hunsaker, Girouard slashed Hunsaker's face and punched Clagett,
apparently to give them the appearance that they'd been injured by the
detainees, saying, "it's got to look good," Hunsaker recalled.
Clagett also testified that Girouard told them to shoot the detainees. A
recent arrival to the squad, Clagett said he agreed because he felt that it
was a kind of "initiation." Not all soldiers present
believed Girouard was serious. Sgt. Leonel Lemus said he walked away thinking
Girouard was kidding. Another soldier, Specialist Bradley Mason, testified on
Tuesday that he questioned the plan, and then told him that it would be
murder. When rumors began to circulate afterward, Girouard allegedly
threatened his squad, saying he would kill anyone who confessed. "He
told me that if I said anything, he'd kill me," Mason said. "Eventually,"
Capt. Mackey, the prosecutor, said, "people did start talking." Graber was the first of the
soldiers to change his story. After he pleaded guilty in January to
aggravated assault, he received nine months in prison. Clagett and Hunsaker both
pleaded guilty to murder shortly after, and received 18-year prison
sentences. All three are cooperating in the prosecution of Girouard. Anita Gorecki, Girouard's
civilian attorney, said that her client did not order the men shot, but only
tried to help his fellow soldiers afterward by covering it up. He would take
the stand in his own defense, she said. "He realized that they had
killed these three detainees, and in that moment, yes, he decided to help his
squad members," she said. The court martial, however,
is unlikely to answer another question: whether the men were killed because
superior officers had, in essence, suggested that no military age Iraqi men
should be left alive in the raid of what was believed to be an insurgent
stronghold. The defense has been complicated by the fact that the commanding
officer, 3rd Brigade Commander Col. Michael Steele, will not testify at the
trial. Col. Steele gained recognition for heroism in Somalia in 1993, actions
later depicted in the book and movie Black Hawk Down Eugene R. Fidell, president
of the National Institute of Military Justice, said the defense will likely
be difficult. Still, he said, "no one should rush to judgment on these
things. Let due process unfold." Said Fidell: "Every one of these
cases is important. It's important for the army. It's important for the war
effort. It's important for our allies, and it's important for people around
the world who view us in a hostile vein or a disappointed vein." The
court-martial is expected to last through Saturday and likely into next week,
with a separate sentencing trial to follow if Girouard is convicted. External link: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1599120,00.html 101st Airborne Soldier’s
Murder Trial Opens Two squad members testify that Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard ordered
three unarmed Iraqis killed. By David Zucchino Los Angeles Times March 14, 2007 Ft. Campbell, KY. - The
central fact in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard is
undisputed: Three unarmed Iraqi men detained during an operation northwest of
Baghdad on May 9 were shot and killed. Precisely how and why those
three Iraqis ended up dead formed the core of opening arguments Tuesday in a
complex case that has pitted members of a 101st Airborne Division squad
against one another. A military prosecutor told a
seven-member Army jury that Girouard, the squad leader, ordered his men to
cut loose the detainees and shoot them as they fled. The prosecutor, Capt.
Joseph Mackey, said Girouard then conspired to stage the murder scene to make
it appear that the detainees had attacked soldiers guarding them. "This is a case of fact
versus fiction," Mackey said. "The facts will reveal that Staff
Sgt. Girouard orchestrated, planned and had his subordinates carry out the
murders of three Iraqi detainees." Girouard's civilian
attorney, Anita Gorecki, denied that he gave any such order. Two soldiers who
actually killed the detainees - "the trigger-pullers," she said -
have falsely implicated Girouard in order to receive reduced sentences under
plea bargains, she said. "What you will hear out
of them will be fiction," Gorecki said. Pvt. William B. Hunsaker and
Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, testified Tuesday that Girouard told them to cut off
the detainee's plastic zip ties, order them to run, then shoot them. Minutes
later, they said, they killed the men. The soldiers first told
investigators that they fired in self-defense after the detainees attacked
them and tried to flee. Asked by a prosecutor why he
changed his story, Hunsaker said, "I got tired of lying about it. I
didn't want to spend the rest of my life in prison for the deaths of what, in
my eyes, were three terrorists." Describing the death of one
detainee, Hunsaker said: "I took aim and … hit him in the midsection,
where his heart should be." Asked by Gorecki whether he felt remorse, he
replied, "No, Ma'am." Afterward, Hunsaker and
Clagett testified, Girouard punched Clagett and sliced Hunsaker's face and
arm with a knife to make it appear that the detainees had attacked them. Girouard, 24, is charged
with premeditated murder, conspiracy and other crimes. He faces up to life in
prison without parole. Both Hunsaker and Clagett
agreed to testify for the government as part of plea agreements in which they
were sentenced to 18 years in prison. They had faced life without parole if
convicted. Two other squad members also
implicated Girouard, testifying that he threatened to kill anyone who told
authorities about the alleged conspiracy. Prosecutors used that testimony to
explain why Hunsaker, Clagett and other government witnesses first lied about
the killings. The defense maintained that
commanders gave an order to kill all military-aged males the unit encountered
on an island in Tharthar Lake, 60 miles northwest of Baghdad, a suspected Al
Qaeda base. Hunsaker said that his
brigade and company commanders issued the order - and that the brigade
commander offered knives and unit coins as rewards for killing Iraqis. A
lawyer for the brigade commander, Col. Michael Steele, denied the
allegations. Hunsaker and two other
soldiers said that when Girouard first reported over the radio that he was holding
detainees, the unit's first sergeant told him the Iraqis should have been
killed. Hunsaker said Girouard
called a hasty squad meeting and told his men: "The first sergeant, he's
pretty pissed these guys aren't dead," referring to the detainees.
"He wants them dead. Make it look good." External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-soldier14mar14,1,1298423.story |