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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 18th,
2009 - Soldier Seen with Pistol Before Prisoners Killed News article from the Associated
Press |
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Soldier Seen with Pistol Before
Prisoners Killed By George Frey Associated Press February 18, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - A key
witness in the murder trial of a U.S. soldier accused of involvement in the
execution-style killings of four Iraqi prisoners testified Wednesday that he
saw the defendant walking toward the bound, blindfolded men with his pistol
drawn before they were slain. Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham,
29, of Bakersfield, California, told the military court at the Army's Rose
Barracks that he was on the same patrol as Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, when
the prisoners were bound, blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a
Baghdad canal in 2007. Leahy, of Lockport,
Illinois, is charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit
premeditated murder and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty to
all of the charges. Cunningham, who had charges
of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder dropped by the Army last week,
testified that he was in his Humvee when approached by Leahy, Sgt. 1st Class
Joseph Mayo, 27, and Master Sgt. John Hatley, 40. Hatley then asked if they
were ready to kill the prisoners, Cunningham testified. When Cunningham said
he would not take part and thought it was wrong, the other three drew their
pistols and walked along a canal to where the prisoners were. About five minutes later, he
heard gunfire, he told the court. "I put my head down.
Nothing was said. I knew it was over," he told the jury consisting of
eight men and one woman. "I had my head down, I was scared." Joshua Hartson, who was in
the same unit, said he felt the shootings were warranted, but did not take
part in the incident. "I didn't think it was
wrong at the time. We're in a combat zone," said Hartson, who has since
been dismissed from the Army for medical reasons. "These weren't
ordinary guys off the street - they had weapons and were out to kill
us." In testimony during trials
and preliminary hearings last year, witnesses offered various versions of an
incident in which at least four Iraqis were taken into custody after a
shootout with a patrol that included all of the accused soldiers. The prisoners were taken to
the U.S. unit's operating base in Baghdad for questioning and processing,
though there wasn't enough evidence to hold them for attacking the unit,
according to testimony. Later that night, witnesses said patrol members took
the Iraqis to a remote area and shot them in retribution for the attacks
against their unit. In a brief statement, the
Army said the identities of the four Iraqis were unknown and their bodies
have yet to be found though a search effort is ongoing. Six soldiers, including
Leahy are accused of involvement in the prisoners' slayings sometime between
March 10 and April 16, 2007. All were with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry
Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, which is now part
of the Germany-based 172nd Infantry Brigade. Three soldiers are scheduled
for later courts-martial. Sgt. Charles Quigley, 28, of Providence, Rhode
Island, faces one charge of conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. Mayo
and Hatley are charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit
premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice. Two more soldiers - Spc.
Steven Ribordy, 25, of Salina, Kansas, and Spc. Belmor Ramos, 23, of
Clearfield, Utah - pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit
premeditated murder. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYtcV7GUHRC88uGXnQ8Hl6I5lvbAD96E5NB84 R.I. soldier charged in
Iraqi murder By Gregory Smith The Providence Journal February 18, 2009 Providence - An Army
sergeant from Providence is charged with complicity in the murder of four
prisoners after a combat patrol in Iraq in 2007. Sgt. Charles L. Quigley, 28,
a lifelong city resident whose parents live in Mount Pleasant, is accused of
knowing in advance that some of his fellow soldiers intended to kill the
Iraqi prisoners, and he is charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated
murder. “These charges are not
viable. He’s not guilty,” Pamela Quigley, the sergeant’s mother, said last
night in an interview in the living room of the cottage his parents share. It would be “very out of
character for Charlie to have done [what] he’s accused of,” she said. “We’re
very proud of Charlie.” The Army alleges that three
soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded the Iraqi prisoners, who were suspected
fighters, executed them with pistol shots to the head and dumped their bodies
in a Baghdad canal between March 10 and April 16, 2007. The executions allegedly
were retribution for two combat deaths suffered by the soldiers’ unit.
Military law forbids harming enemy combatants who are in custody Four more soldiers including
Quigley knew what happened but kept quiet, according to the initial charges. Pamela Quigley, 59, a
semiretired lawyer who used to work as an assistant solicitor for the City of
Providence, and her husband Dennis, 59, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal
Service who is retired from many years of military service, mostly stay in touch
with their son by telephone. They have a flight booked to Germany to be with
him when he is scheduled to be court-martialed next month on a military base
in Vilseck, Bavaria. Her son initially was scared
by the charge against him, she said, but now seems resolute on winning
acquittal. “He’d like to have the whole
thing over with,” she said. The charge he faces potentially is punishable by
a sentence of life without parole in federal prison. Charles Quigley’s military
lawyer, Capt. Samuel Gregory, has said that his client had little or no
knowledge of the killings. At his own expense, Quigley has also hired a
civilian lawyer with extensive experience in military justice. Quigley told his parents
that he saw nothing of the nighttime incident and that he was sitting in a
Humvee 50 meters away. But Pfc. Jonathan Schaffer testified at an Article 32
hearing last year that he was with Quigley, that the prisoners were led away
by others and six or seven shots were heard. “Quigley was with us. He
looked nervous and shocked,” Schaffer testified. An Article 32 proceeding is
the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury. After the hearing, in
August, according to Mrs. Quigley, the presiding officer recommended that no
criminal charge be brought against her son. Stars and Stripes, a newspaper
that serves the military, reported that Charles Quigley wore a wire to help
gather evidence against others implicated in the crime. But a general rejected the
hearing officer’s recommendation, Mrs. Quigley related. “It’s almost, if we throw
enough spaghetti [against the wall], something will stick,” Dennis Quigley
said of the case against his son. Charles Quigley enlisted in
the Army in 2002 and underwent basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. “After September 11th,
that’s when he started seriously thinking about the military,” Mrs. Quigley
said. The Quigleys sent their son
to Holy Ghost parochial school on Federal Hill as a child, and in the late
1990s, he graduated from Hope High School, where he had participated in the music
program and played bass guitar. His mother described him as a person with “an
excellent sense of humor” who enjoys role-playing games on the Internet. He attended the Community
College of Rhode Island for a while, but in his father’s words, he “got restless”
and went into the Army. There he gained confidence and flourished, by his
parents’ account, and he became a squad leader. In 2003, he shipped out to
Iraq, where he served two tours of duty for a total of 27 months. “When you see the pictures
of them going into the houses in Iraq, that’s my son,” his mother said. “That’s why I have white
hair,” she added. The three soldiers who are
charged with doing the actual killing are Sgt. First Class Joseph P. Mayo,
27; Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr., 26, of Lockport, Ill., the company’s senior
medic and an acting squad leader; and First Sgt. John E. Hatley, 40. The Army
has not provided hometowns for Mayo or Hatley. Also initially charged in
the alleged conspiracy were Specialist Steven Ribordy, 25, of Salina, Kan.;
Specialist Belmor Ramos, 23, of Clearfield, Utah; and Staff Sgt. Jess
Cunningham, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif. Ribordy and Ramos last year pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to commit premeditated murder - they stood guard during
the slayings - and were sentenced to prison. Both men agreed to testify
against Leahy and others. The Army last week dropped
the charge against Cunningham, but he is expected to be a prosecution
witness. Leahy’s court-martial began
yesterday before a jury of seven men and two women - officers and enlisted
personnel - in the Rose Barracks Courthouse on the Vilseck base. All of the soldiers in the
case were with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the
1st Infantry Division in Iraq, which is now part of the 172nd Infantry
Brigade. External link: http://tinyurl.com/aul2dw |