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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 25th,
2008 - Sergeant Routinely Abused Iraqis, Say Soldiers at Hearings |
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Sergeant Routinely Abused
Iraqis, Say Soldiers at Hearings By William Cole The Honolulu Advertiser February 25, 2008 Back in October, Schofield
Barracks soldiers described Spc. Christopher Shore as a peaceful guy, a very
funny guy, a good guy, very friendly, an outstanding soldier who didn't have
a propensity for violence. At his sentencing Wednesday
for aggravated assault in the shooting death of an unarmed Iraqi detainee, he
wiped away tears in a courtroom at Wheeler Army Airfield. "I know it's real easy
if you've never been in this situation to Monday quarterback and say what the
law says," he said. "You don't know until you're there." In Iraq, things went
terribly wrong for the scouts platoon of Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, the unit to which Shore belonged. Testimony at both a
preliminary hearing in October and Shore's court-martial last week pointed to
routine abuse of Iraqis by a bullying and out-of-control platoon leader,
culminating with the shooting in the village of al Saheed outside Kirkuk last
June. Sgt. 1st Class Trey
Corrales, 35, that platoon leader, is accused of shooting the unarmed Iraqi
multiple times, and then ordering Shore to "finish" him. Instead of carrying out the
order, Shore said he fired two shots next to the detainee's head in the dirt
"to defuse the situation." Shore said Corrales had
tried to get the Iraqi to take an AK-47 rifle after the raid, and then
ordered the man to run. Confused, the Iraqi, wearing
a white tunic, said, "No mister, no mister, not me," Shore said. Another soldier testified
that as the Iraqi backed up, he saw Corrales raise his rifle, and as the soldier
turned away - not wanting to see what came next - he heard a succession of
shots. The Iraqi man was shot five
times. Shortly afterward, knowing
what had happened was wrong and with the story spreading fast, several
soldiers went to higher command. Shore, 26, of Winder, Ga.,
was sentenced to 120 days' confinement, received a reprimand and was reduced
in rank, officials said. He had gone to court-martial
on a charge of third-degree murder - roughly equivalent to a civilian
manslaughter charge - but was convicted of aggravated assault. Corrales, of San Antonio,
faces court-martial on April 22. He is charged with premeditated murder,
wrongfully soliciting another soldier to shoot the Iraqi, and wrongfully
impeding the investigation by having an AK-47 rifle planted near the victim.
He faces life in prison without parole if convicted. Soldiers described a litany
of abuse by Corrales against Iraqis, and the fear they felt themselves. Shore said Corrales once
stuck the barrel of his M-4 rifle down an Iraqi's throat until he gagged. On another occasion,
Corrales took out his knife, pulled out an Iraqi man's tongue, and threatened
to cut it off, Shore said. Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Bulham
said he saw Corrales abuse Iraqis, and punch and kick them. Spc. Trinity Ison said he
remembered a car out after curfew. Corrales pulled up, opened the car's door
and he "just started hitting the guy in the car," Ison said. Some soldiers testified they
regularly lived in fear that the 5-foot-6 Corrales, who was explosive at
times and calm at others, would fire them from the prestigious scouts
platoon. After the Iraqi was shot,
the fear grew. One soldier slept with a knife at the ready. Staff Sgt. Ronald Shipp said
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid - afraid of somebody going off
the deep end." Soldiers said Corrales had a
close relationship with the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder.
Michael Waddington, Shore's attorney, said Corrales was known as Browder's
"wrecking ball." Shore said he initially
didn't think anything would come of the shooting, and it would be swept under
the rug. Browder, the battalion
commander, was relieved of command. He's now deputy commander of a basic
training brigade at Fort Benning, Ga., officials said. The Corrales family, on a
MySpace page, said Trey Corrales has fought for his country in Macedonia,
Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result of the charges,
the Corrales family said, it is faced with mortgaging "all that we have
worked so hard for throughout our life, in order to pay for an attorney to
defend him; to defend him from the very organization that he has proudly
served for, for over 14 years." External link: http://tinyurl.com/36cpru |