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June 22, 2006
Can't Find a Gowad, Kill an Awad
A lawyer for a sailor charged along with seven Marines with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi man called the allegations "shocking" and said his client was innocent."Believe me, there are two sides to this story," said Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos.
Bacos and seven Marines were charged Wednesday in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who was pulled from his home and shot while U.S. troops hunted for insurgents. They could face the death penalty if convicted.
All eight also were charged with kidnapping. Other charges include conspiracy, larceny and providing false official statements.
...
In another case, the U.S. military in Iraq announced that murder charges were filed against a fourth Army soldier in the shooting deaths May 9 of three civilians who had been detained by U.S. troops.
This is an important step, possibly undertaken because of the publicity surrounding the Haditha massacre. I found the prosecution's description of what happened illuminating:
According to the charging document, the troops were staking out an intersection to see whether anyone appeared to place explosives in holes along the road.When no one came, Magincalda, Thomas, Pennington and Bacos went into a nearby home, stole a shovel and an AK-47, and went looking for an insurgent named Saleh Gowad. When they couldn't find Gowad, they went into a house belonging to Awad and kidnapped him, prosecutors assert.
Magincalda, Thomas, Pennington and Bacos forced Awad to the ground and bound his feet, then took him to their hideout and placed him in a hole, according to the document.
Hutchins, Thomas and Shumate fired M-16 rifles at Awad while Jackson and Jodka fired M-249 automatic weapons, killing him, the document said.
Bacos then fired the AK-47 into the air to expend some shell casings, and Magincalda collected the casings and put them by the body, the paper said. Pennington cleaned prints off the AK-47 and put it in Awad's hands, it said.
Hutchins, the top-ranking Marine, told his men to make false statements and on April 28 submitted "a false written report regarding the factors and circumstances related to Awad's death," according to the document.
So, you see what happened. They had a stake-out that did not turn out anything. They had a name --who knows how obtained-- so they went after that. Mr. Gowad wasn't anywhere to be found, so they went after Mr. Awad. Gowad, Awad, whatever -- hey, we can always say it's the fog of war. After all, one hadji seems just like another after enough bullets. On goes the occupation...
Posted by zeynep at June 22, 2006 07:40 AM
Comments
Sadly, it is basically impossible to believe that this was the only time this has happened.
Maybe I _should_ join enlisted, at age 35, just to temper the, um, enthusiastic out there.
We didn't meet at any weekly go club meetings, did we? I doubt it.
Posted by: Josh "Maury" Narins at June 23, 2006 06:13 PM
The incidence of missing limbs can probably be traced to the indiscriminate use of land mines in Afghanistan, mostly by the Soviets. Even if the reason was something completely unrelated, I'd be willing to bet having a missing leg confers a certain prestige among some jihadis, who make the (not unreasonable) assumption that the other was blown off while fighting the Evil Empire.
Posted by: rootlesscosmo at June 30, 2006 03:31 PM