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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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September 29th,
2007 - US Sniper Gets 5-Month Sentence in Iraq |
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US Sniper Gets 5-Month
Sentence in Iraq By Kim Curtis Associated Press September 29, 2007 Baghdad - A military panel
on Saturday sentenced an Army sniper to five months in prison, a reduction in
rank and forfeiture of pay for planting evidence in connection with the
deaths of two Iraqi civilians. The country's sectarian
violence, meanwhile, claimed 18 more lives on Saturday, including six people
killed when a suicide truck bomber detonated his explosive payload near a
Humvee filled with Iraqi soldiers, officials said. Two American soldiers also
were killed - one hit by "enemy gunfire" in Diyala province and the
other fatally shot during a firefight in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, 22,
was acquitted of murder charges in the April and May deaths of two
unidentified men. The panel decided he was guilty of a lesser charges of
placing detonation wire on one of the bodies to make it look as if the man
was an insurgent. "I feel fortunate that
I have been served this sentence," Sandoval said. "I'm grateful
that I'm able to continue to be in the Army." The prosecution had argued
Sandoval should be sentenced to five years in prison. Sandoval, of Laredo, Texas,
had faced five charges in the deaths of the two unidentified Iraqi men. In
dramatic testimony during the two-day court-martial, Sandoval's colleagues
testified they were following orders when they shot the men during two
separate incidents near Iskandariyah, a volatile Sunni-dominated area 30
miles south of Baghdad, on April 27 and May 11. Sgt. Evan Vela and Staff
Sgt. Michael Hensley will be tried separately in the case. All three soldiers
are part of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 501st
Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at
Fort Richardson, Alaska. Gary Myers, one of Vela's
lawyers, claimed this week that Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were
under orders to "bait" their targets with suspicious materials,
such as detonation cords, then kill those who picked up the items. He said
his client was acting on orders. Asked about the existence of
the "baiting program," Capt. Craig Drummond, Sandoval's military
defense attorney, said it was unclear "what programs were going on out
there and when," especially "if there were things that were done
that made the rules of engagement not clear." On Saturday, Iraqi soldiers
acting on a tip tried to intercept the suicide driver as his pickup truck
headed toward Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. As the Iraqi Humvee
neared the truck, the driver detonated his explosive payload, according to
the officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Three soldiers and three civilians were killed, the official said. Late Friday, police
officials said Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos handed over nine decomposing
bodies to a hospital in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. The officials
requested anonymity because they were not authorized to release the
information. Earlier Friday, Iraq's prime
minister told The Associated Press that a Senate proposal seen in Iraq as an
attempt to split the country into regions according to religious or ethnic
divisions would be a "catastrophe." The nonbinding Senate
resolution calls for Iraq to be divided into federal regions under control of
Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis in a power-sharing agreement similar to the one
that ended the 1990s war in Bosnia. U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., was a
prime sponsor of the measure. The Kurds in three northern
Iraqi provinces are running a virtually independent country within Iraq,
while nominally maintaining relations with Baghdad. They support a formal
division, but both Sunni and Shiite Muslims have denounced the proposal. The majority Shiites, who
would retain control of major oil revenues under a division of the country,
oppose the measure because it would diminish the territorial integrity of
Iraq, which they now control. Sunnis would control an area with few if any
oil resources. Kurds have major oil reserves in their territory. "It is an Iraqi affair
dealing with Iraqis," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told AP Friday on a
return flight to Baghdad from New York, where he appeared at the U.N. General
Assembly. "Iraqis are eager for Iraq's unity. ... Dividing Iraq is a
problem, and a decision like that would be a catastrophe." Iraq's constitution lays
down a federal system, allowing Shiites in the south, Kurds in the north and
Sunnis in the center and west of the country to set up regions with
considerable autonomous powers. Nevertheless, ethnic and
sectarian turmoil have snarled hopes of negotiating such measures, especially
given deep divisions on sharing the country's vast oil resources. Oil reserves
and existing fields would fall mainly into the hands of Kurds and Shiites if
such a division were to occur. Copyright © 2007 The
Associated Press. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8RV6HAO0 |