Posted on 06/16/2004 12:21:00 PM PDT by TexKat
WASHINGTON - The Army has decided to charge a 1st Armored Division officer with murder in the May 21 death of an Iraqi civilian who was wounded during a high-speed chase, then shot again at close range, an Army official said Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Army's Criminal Investigation Division has not yet publicly announced its decision, said the 1st Armored captain will be charged soon.
The officer's name was not disclosed.
The U.S. Central Command announced on June 4 that the case was being investigated but provided few details. It said the matter involved a potential violation of U.S. rules of engagement which govern the use of deadly force.
In its announcement, Central Command said the driver of an Iraqi vehicle in a motorcade was seriously wounded and a passenger was less seriously wounded when U.S. troops opened fire near the city of Kufa. It said initial reports indicated that the wounded driver was then shot at close range by a U.S. soldier and died.
The Army official who said Wednesday that a 1st Armored Division officer would be charged with murder in the case said the soldier reportedly shot the badly wounded man to end his suffering.
The U.S. description of the episode is similar in some respects to that by rebel forces in Iraq of a shootout at the same time and location, and so it is possible one of the two wounded Iraqi civilians was a close aide of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric whose militia force has been fighting U.S. forces.
On May 21, al-Sadr's office reported that an aide, Mohammed al-Tabtabaei, was captured after being wounded when U.S. forces shot at his car in Kufa. It said al-Tabtabaei's driver was killed.
I guess mercy killing's arent allowed. Hard to tell if it was mercy or just vengeance.
Terrorists' car bomb misses target
In Najaf, south of Baghdad, fighting broke out yesterday between U.S. forces and Sheik al-Sadr's militia near the city's police directorate and the governor's office. At least 10 persons were injured, according to a nurse at al-Hakim Hospital.
Residents of Najaf reached by telephone said they could hear the sounds of automatic weapons fire and explosives late yesterday coming from Najaf's twin city, Kufa.
On Friday, five persons were killed and 29 injured in Kufa in clashes between Sheik al-Sadr's fighters and U.S. troops after the arrest of Mohammed al-Tabtabaei, an aide to the fiery cleric, a hospital employee said.
There was no combat in Karbala, another city where intense battles have occurred. Residents said there were no combatants on the streets, and Sheik al-Sadr's office said militiamen and U.S. forces had agreed to withdraw from the city.
Gen. Kimmitt said the coalition had repositioned some forces, but had not withdrawn. Early Friday, U.S. troops pulled out of a central mosque that they had occupied after ousting insurgents who had used it as a base.
Iraqi leaders in Karbala have been trying to negotiate an end to the fighting, though coalition officials have stood by their position that Sheik al-Sadr disband his militia and "face justice."
Also yesterday, the military said a U.S. soldier was killed and three others from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division were wounded in an attack on their vehicle south of Baghdad, and a Marine died in an accident.
It said the soldiers' vehicle was "ambushed by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device" in Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The statement did not say when the attack occurred.
The Marine, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died Friday near Camp Fallujah, west of Baghdad, while "conducting security and stability operations."
No, no, Kerry got his medal for shooting ROCKS at close range. Apparently, the rock shot back.
Sounds like an odd case. I'm uncomfortable with legalistic rules in war environments.
That's how he got his PH. He got a bronze one I think for shooting a wounded soldier.
U.S. forces battle militia near shrines
At a checkpoint in Kufa, American forces shot at a car carrying a close aide of al-Sadr's, Mohammed al-Tabtabaei, injuring him and killing his driver, al-Sadr's office in Najaf said. Al-Tabtabaei was taken into custody.
"Bad boys, bad boys; What ya gonna do when they come for you!"
"TROOPS is filmed on location with the men and women in uniform. All suspects are guilty, period! (Otherwise, they wouldn't be suspects!)" 
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
All I got to say is , If our troops are not allowed to defend themselves, it is time to get them out.
Call it what you want.
There is info of one of our troops that is about to be tried for murder for allegedly killing one of the enemy (a friend of Sadr's). Sadr who is now being allowed to play this on again, off again truce with the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqi civilians. Who may be running for a political position in Iraq.
He should have burned the body, drug it through the streets, and hung it from a bridge. That's not punishable in Iraq.
Call it what you want.
I am in total agreement with you if this is the case. I am going to hold my judgement until I hear more.
If they try this Army Officer, then the Navy should recall John al Querry to active duty and charge him with a similiar war crime:
http://www.laoveterans.com/dec4g.html
"Recently, Kerry became extremely defensive when David Warsh, an economics columnist for The Boston Globe, questioned the circumstances for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. Kerry, who was in a close re-election battle with Gov. William F. Weld, a Republican, quickly gathered his former crew from his Swift boat days to rebuff the "assault on his integrity."
"According to the official citation accompanying the Silver Star for Kerry's actions on the waters of the Mekong Delta on February 28, 1969: "Kerry's craft received a B-40 rocket close aboard. Once again Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry ordered his units to charge the enemy positions. . . Patrol Craft Fast 94 then beached in the center of the enemy positions and an enemy soldier sprang up from his position not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled. Without hesitation Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him, capturing a B-40 rocket launcher with a round in the chamber." In an article printed in the October 21st and 28th 1996 edition of The New Yorker, Kerry was asked about the man he had killed.
"It was either going to be him or it was going to be us. It was that simple. I don't know why it wasn't us--I mean, to this day. He had a rocket pointed right at our boat. He stood up out of the hole, and none of us saw him until he was standing in front of us, aiming a rocket right at us, and, for whatever reason, he didn't pull the trigger--he turned and ran. He was shocked to see our boat right in front of him. If he'd pulled the trigger, we'd all be dead . . . I just won't talk about all of it. I don't and I can't. The things that probably really turn me I've never told anybody. Nobody would understand," Kerry said. In the column, Warsh quoted the Swift boat's former gunner, Tom Belodeau, as saying the Viet Cong soldier who Kerry chased "behind a hootch" and "finished off" actually had already been wounded by the gunner.
"Warsh wrote that such a "coup de grace" would have been considered a war crime. Belodeau stood beside Kerry and said he'd been misquoted. He conceded that he had fired at and wounded the Viet Cong, but denied Kerry had simply executed the wounded Viet Cong. Dan Carr, a former Marine from Massachusetts, who served 14 months as a rifleman sloshing around in the humid jungles of I Corps, South Vietnam, questioned whether or not Kerry deserved a Silver Star for chasing and killing a lone, wounded, retreating Viet Cong. "Kerry is certainly showing some sensitivity there. Most people I knew in Vietnam were just trying to pull their time there and get the hell out. There were some, though, who actually used Vietnam to get their tickets punched. You know, to build their resumes for future endeavors," Carr said.
Wow. I guess it just underscores the truth that a job in WalMart carries a lot less potential liability. Besides which it would be safer than being an officer in the Army.
What gets into these officers, anyway, shooting murderous assassins just because they are trying to kill your people?
It is always the better course to let the hopelessly wounded man scream his lungs out until he expires naturally. < /sarcasm>
Better round up those 101 troopers from WW2 then....as well and charge them with war crimes
and go after the Korean vets and Vietnam vets etc etc etc....
Are we at war?....or not?......are we policemen?....heck even the LAPD has more lattitude....with vermin extermination...
Terrorist kills our guys and runs for it...gets wounded....gets caught..and gets shot......it aint like he was pulled over for a burned out tailight....
I guess they should have had the doc give him a couple xtra grains of morphine to ease his xta strength pain
Of course when they start charging our troops for murder...while Iraqi terrorists and friends arent tried en mass for the torture-murder of our guys...
Its time to come home...
imo
"All I got to say is , If our troops are not allowed to defend themselves, it is time to get them out."
"Call it what you want."
I call it exactly what I'm thinking.
I will vote not guilty if I were in that jury.
There has to be some politics behind this...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.