http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/05/iraq.probes/index.html
'
Source: Killing of Iraqi may have been 'premeditated'
From Jamie McIntyre
CNN
Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Posted: 4:37 a.m. EDT (08:37 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Navy investigators have evidence that U.S. Marines
may have committed "premeditated" murder in the April shooting death of
an Iraqi man in Hamdaniya, a military officer close to the inquiry told
CNN.
The officer, who has direct knowledge of the preliminary findings of an
investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), said
some of the Marines now in pretrial confinement have admitted the
circumstances of the civilian man's death were staged.
Their statements form part of the evidence that suggest the Marines --
from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment -- deliberately murdered the
man, the source said.
[...]
Investigators have concluded the unarmed man, identified by Knight
Ridder as Hashim Ibrahim Awad, was dragged from his house and shot by
U.S. Marines, who then placed the shovel and AK-47 next to his body to
make it appear he was an insurgent, the official told CNN.
Seven Marines and a Navy medical corpsman are being held in the brig at
California's Camp Pendleton as commanders weigh possible charges against
them in connection with the April 26 killing of the Iraqi man in
Hamdaniya, west of Baghdad.
Four other Marines have been confined to base in connection with the
probe, a Camp Pendleton spokesman said last week.
[...]
The incident is unrelated to a criminal investigation into the alleged
massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November.
[...]
A source close to the investigation told CNN that murder charges are
likely to be filed in the next few days. If murder charges are filed, it
would be the first accusation of an intentional killing of an Iraqi
civilian for Marines at Camp Pendleton -- a war crime under the Geneva
Conventions.
'
--
- millipede man
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Web sites worth visiting:
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - http://www.wrmea.com/
Antiwar.com - devoted to non-interventionism - http://antiwar.com/
Green Party of the United States - http://www.gp.org/
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals -
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
.
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