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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 16th,
2007 - Expert: Marine Charged in Iraqi’s Death May Have Brain Injury |
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Expert: Marine Charged in
Iraqi’s Death May Have Brain Injury By Allison Hoffman Associated Press July 16, 2007 Camp Pendleton – Repeated
exposure to bomb blasts may have impaired the judgment a Marine corporal
charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian, an expert in
war-related brain injuries told a military judge Monday. Attorneys for Cpl. Trent D.
Thomas hope to show that the Marine was suffering from traumatic brain injury
that impeded his ability to say no when his squad leader ordered him to
snatch Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home in Anbar province. Thomas, who was on his third
combat tour in Iraq, had been exposed to more than 25 bomb blasts, said Maria
Mouratidis, head of the traumatic stress and brain injury program at the
National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Shock waves from such
explosions can shred neurons in the brain, causing damage that may lead to
difficulty making decisions, processing information quickly, and overriding
impulsive responses, especially in high-pressured environments, Mouratidis
said. “Corporal Thomas would have
difficulty with decision-making, problem-solving and especially with coming
up with different solutions in a high-pressure atmosphere,” Mouratidis said.
“The evidence suggests that he would be very susceptible to influence and
have difficulty seeing other options.” Thomas, a 25-year-old
infantryman, is in the second week of a court-martial that would result in a
mandatory life sentence if he is convicted of murder. According to prosecutors,
Thomas and seven other men on a nighttime patrol in the village of Hamdania hatched
a plan to kidnap a suspected insurgent from his home and kill him. When they
couldn't find the intended victim, Thomas, the senior corporal in the squad
and a fireteam leader, led a four-man snatch team to take Awad, a retired
police officer, instead. Thomas, a St. Louis-area
native, is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, making a false
official statement, larceny and housebreaking. He pleaded guilty in January
as part of a pretrial agreement. But on the eve of his sentencing, having
already given details of his involvement in the killing, he withdrew his
plea. Thomas' attorneys said at
the time that their client had an “epiphany” before he changed his plea to
not guilty. Thomas claimed he had been following what he perceived to be a
lawful order. Mouratidis and an expert on
post-traumatic stress disorder spoke at a hearing before Judge Lt. Col. David
Jones, who will rule on a defense request to have them testify before the
jury of three officers and six enlisted Marines. Mouratidis told the judge
her testimony was based on a review of Thomas' medical records. Military prosecutors
objected to the expert testimony about Thomas' mental state, arguing that
Thomas should be ordered to testify himself. Jones said he would not require
Thomas to testify. Thomas' court-martial is the
first trial among seven Marines and a Navy corpsman charged in Awad's death.
Four Marines and the sailor have already pleaded guilty to reduced charges
and sentenced to between one and eight years in the brig. Those troops testified that
several squad members took Awad to a ditch then shot him to death. In an
attempt to cover up the killing, they said they placed a shovel and AK-47 by
his body to make it look like he was an insurgent who was digging a hole to
plant a bomb. The men who pleaded guilty
have pointed to the squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, as the
mastermind. Hutchins' court-martial is expected to start later this month. Charges against the Marine
squad came as another Camp Pendleton unit was under investigation in the
killing of 24 civilians in Haditha. Three Marines have been charged with
murder in that case and four officers charged with failing to investigate
those deaths. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070716-1349-ca-marines-iraqshooting.html |