Illegal invasion, torture and murder, and now war crimes.

(New York Times) In March or April 2007, three noncommissioned United States Army officers, including a first sergeant, a platoon sergeant and a senior medic, killed four Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots to the head as the men stood handcuffed and blindfolded beside a Baghdad canal, two of the soldiers said in sworn statements.

After the killings, the first sergeant — the senior noncommissioned officer of his Army company — told the other two to remove the men’s bloody blindfolds and plastic handcuffs, according to the statements made to Army investigators, which were obtained by The New York Times.

The statements and other court documents were provided by a person close to one of the soldiers in the unit who insisted on anonymity and who has an interest in the outcome of the legal proceedings.

After removing the blindfolds and handcuffs, the three soldiers shoved the four bodies into the canal, rejoined other members of their unit waiting in nearby vehicles and drove back to their combat outpost in southwest Baghdad, the statements said.

The soldiers, all from Company D, First Battalion, Second Infantry, 172nd Infantry Brigade, have not been charged with a crime. However, lawyers representing other members of the platoon who said they witnessed or heard the shootings, which were said to have occurred on a combat patrol west of Baghdad, said all three would probably be charged with murder.

The accounts of and confessions to the killings, by Sgt. First Class Joseph P. Mayo, the platoon sergeant, and Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr., Company D’s senior medic and an acting squad leader, were made in January in signed statements to Army investigators in Schweinfurt, Germany.

In their statements, Sergeants Mayo and Leahy each described killing at least one of the Iraqi detainees on instructions from First Sgt. John E. Hatley, who the soldiers said killed two of the detainees with pistol shots to the back of their heads. Sergeant Hatley’s civilian lawyer in Germany, David Court, did not respond to phone calls and e-mail messages Tuesday.

Last month, four other soldiers from Sergeant Hatley’s unit were charged with murder conspiracy for agreeing to go along with the plan to kill the four prisoners, in violation of military laws that forbid harming enemy combatants once they are disarmed and in custody.

In an Army evidentiary hearing on Tuesday in Vilseck, Germany, two of those soldiers — Specialists Steven A. Ribordy and Belmor G. Ramos — invoked their right against self-incrimination. Reached by telephone, James D. Culp, a civilian lawyer for one of the other two soldiers charged, Staff Sgt. Jess C. Cunningham, declined to comment. A lawyer for the fourth soldier, Sgt. Charles P. Quigley, could not be reached.

In their sworn statements, Sergeants Mayo and Leahy described the events that preceded the shooting of the Iraqi men, who apparently were Shiite fighters linked to the Mahdi Army militia, which controlled the West Rashid area of southwest Baghdad.

After taking small-arms fire, the patrol chased some men into a building, arresting them and finding several automatic weapons, grenades and a sniper rifle, they said. On the way to their combat outpost, Sergeant Hatley’s convoy was informed by Army superiors that the evidence to detain the Iraqis was insufficient, Sergeant Leahy said in his statement. The unit was told to release the men, according to the statement.

“First Sergeant Hatley then made the call to take the detainees to a canal and kill them,” Sergeant Leahy said, as retribution for the deaths of two soldiers from the unit: Staff Sgt. Karl O. Soto-Pinedo, who died from a sniper’s bullet, and Specialist Marieo Guerrero, killed by a roadside bomb.

“So the patrol went to the canal, and First Sergeant, Sgt. First Class Mayo and I took the detainees out of the back of the Bradley, lined them up and shot them,” Sergeant Leahy said, referring to a Bradley fighting vehicle. “We then pushed the bodies into the canal and left.”

Sergeant Mayo, in his statement, attributed his decision to kill the men to “anger,” apparently at the recent deaths of his two comrades.

Sergeant Leahy, in his statement, said, “I’m ashamed of what I’ve done,” later adding: “When I did it, I thought I was doing it for my family. Now I realize that I’m hurting my family more now than if I wouldn’t have done it.”

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"I don't think we should be governing ourselves. What we need is a king, and every now and then if the king’s not doing a good job, we kill him." - George Carlin

But we are in Iraq to bring them Freedom and Democracy!!

How could this have happened???

Because every organization will have its share of sociopathic (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s. They deserve a good hanging. At least the article even says that they will likely be charged for murder.

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sputterman: "Aiding the enemy? If the truth aids the enemy then we are in the wrong war."

This is how we used to handle terrorists in WWII. Why the higher ups decided there wasn't enough evidence to detain the men may never be known. Were they innocent men? That may never be known either. The men should have followed orders to release them nonetheless. I am not sympathetic to the men who made this decision, but I am sympathetic to the perils faced by these men everyday. This is the exception to the rule when it comes to how US soldiers and marines have behaved throughout this conflict.

For every one of these negative examples that the press finds fit to print, there are a hundred stories of sacrafice and heroism and compasion that these fighting men and women do on a daily basis that never seem fit to print by the media.

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We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. -- Ann Coulter

For every positive story that the press prints about Iraq.

There are a hundred atrocities that Never get reported.

As long as it was muslims being killed, I dont see what the problem is. If they were human beings(IE: not muslim) Then they should be arrested for murder.

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From Genocide to Genocide

Proof?....wait never mind, you just said there is no proof.

So what you've got is baseless speculation.

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sputterman: "Aiding the enemy? If the truth aids the enemy then we are in the wrong war."

Truely an unenlightenened position.

It's okay to kill them because....
Who else is it okay to kill?
Who else doesn't act the way you like?
Who else is the wrong color?
Who else is the wrong orientation?
Who else is from the wrong side of the tracks?
Who else is the wrong gender/
Who else is the wrong religion?
Who else is the wrong height?
Who else doesn't dress right?

Who else is it okay to kill?

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Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education
The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. Abbie Hoffman
Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people Sharing all the world. John Lennon
I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday it's going to come. Cat Stevens
Member: Bottom feeders Local 101

It's okay to kill them because they're Muslim. Okay to kill a billion people. Shows what kind of person supports this war doesn't it. What kind of person still supports Bush.

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"I don't think we should be governing ourselves. What we need is a king, and every now and then if the king’s not doing a good job, we kill him." - George Carlin

The same kind of person that thinks okay to kill a Muslim because he/she is Muslim. That's his support staff.

Don't forget we can torture tham along the way as well.

__________________
Bill Ayers for Secretary of Education
The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. Abbie Hoffman
Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people Sharing all the world. John Lennon
I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday it's going to come. Cat Stevens
Member: Bottom feeders Local 101