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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 7th,
2007 - Friends, Family of Convicted Soldier Try Top Cope |
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Friends, Family of Convicted
Soldier Try Top Cope The Flint Journal By Beata Mostafavi Wednesday, February 07, 2007 For months, family and
friends rallied around Army Pfc. Corey Clagett, a soldier who once lived in
Otisville and attended LakeVille Middle School. But two weeks after Clagett
pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a May 9 shooting of three unarmed Iraqi
men, his mother - who vigorously defended him publicly - is staying out of
the media light. She writes about her family's pain in online blogs. In an agreement with
prosecutors, Clagett, 22, pleaded guilty Jan. 25 at Ft. Campbell, Ky., to
premeditated murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, an Army spokesman
said. He was sentenced to 18 years
in prison, but will be eligible for parole in about six years. Clagett was the third of
four soldiers involved in the shootings to negotiate a plea bargain. "His mother wasn't in
the courtroom, but his grandfather was and he was pretty broke up about
it," said Master Sgt. Terry Webster, spokesman for the 101st Airborne
Division, based at Fort Campbell.All four defendants were assigned to the
101st. "He never got into the
'why' about it," he added. Clagett's family could not be
reached for comment. Contrary to an original
story the soldiers told about being ordered "to kill all military-aged
men," Clagett testified that he and Spc. William Hunsaker freed three
detainees and ordered them to run. Clagett told the judge he
shot two of them, and Hunsaker shot the third as they fled. He testified that
they also staged a phony crime scene, Webster said. Clagett's mother Melanie
Dianiska had waged a vigorous public defense campaign for her son, co-editing
a Web site dedicated to Clagett and even a MySpace page dubbed
"savecorey." "Corey is doomed,"
she told The Flint Journal days before he pleaded guilty. She also said at the time
she didn't think she could be in the courtroom when her son entered his plea
because she did not believe it was true. The soldiers were on an
island believed to be an al-Qaida training camp where suspected terrorists
were hiding near Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Spc. Juston Graber, 21 and
Hunsaker, 24, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in agreements with
prosecutors in January. A trial date for the fourth soldier, Staff Sgt.
Raymond Girouard, is scheduled for March 13, Webster said. External link: http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-41/1170861763327000.xml&coll=5 |