Z
Zaroc Stone
Guest
U.S. Soldier: 'I Was Ordered to Murder Unarmed Iraqi'
The Associated Press. Posted September 27, 2007.
He breaks down while testifying that his sergeant laughed after
ordering him to kill a man with his hands held up.
A U.S. soldier broke down in tears Thursday as he testified that he
was ordered to shoot an unarmed Iraqi man, and that his sergeant
laughed and told the trooper to finish the job as the man convulsed on
the ground.
The military reported, meanwhile, it had opened an investigation of
the deaths of five women and four children killed earlier this week in
a village south of Baghdad where American forces had carried out
ground and air assaults.
Sgt. Evan Vela's testimony came during the court-martial of Spc. Jorge
G. Sandoval, of Laredo, Texas. Sandoval is on trial for allegedly
killing Iraqis and trying to cover up the deaths by planting weapons
at the scene.
Vela, Sandoval and Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley of Candler, N.C., are
all charged in the case.
Vela testified that Hensley told him to shoot the Iraqi man, although
he was not armed and had his hands in the air when he approached the
soldiers.
"He asked me if I was ready. I had the pistol out. I heard the word
'shoot.' I don't remember pulling the trigger. It took me a second to
realize that the shot came from the pistol in my hand," he said,
crying and speaking barely above a whisper.
Vela said that as the Iraqi man was convulsing on the ground, "Hensley
laughed about it and hit the guy on the throat and said shoot again."
"After he (the Iraqi man) was shot, Sgt. Hensley pulled an AK-47 out
of his rucksack and said, 'This is what we are going to say
happened,"' Vela said. He was dismissed from the witness stand to
compose himself.
Vela said Sandoval, who was nearby providing security, was not present
during the killing outside Iskandariyah, a mostly Sunni Arab city 30
miles south of Baghdad.
Sandoval faces five charges, including an April 27 murder of an
unknown Iraqi male, placing a detonation wire on his body,
premeditated murder of the Iraqi on May 11, placing an AK-47 rifle on
his body and failing to ensure humane treatment of a detainee -- the
victim.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. He has
pleaded not guilty.
Vela, of Rigby, Idaho, was flown from Kuwait to testify under a deal
that would bar his words from being used against him when he stands
before a court-martial.
The investigation began after military authorities received reports of
alleged wrongdoing from fellow soldiers, the Army has said. Sandoval
was arrested in June while on a two-week leave visiting his family.
Vela's defense attorney, Gary Myers, claimed earlier this week that
Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to "bait"
their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords,
then kill those who picked up the items. He said his client was acting
on "orders."
The Washington Post, which first reported the "baiting" program, said
it was devised by the Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group, which advises
commanders in unconventional conflicts.
Within months of the "baiting" program's introduction, Sandoval, Vela
and Hensley were charged with murder for allegedly using those tactics
to make shootings seem legitimate, according to the Post.
The Army has declined to confirm such a program existed.
The Iraq war has seen U.S. service members face prosecution in several
high-profile incidents, including abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib
prison, the killings of 24 civilians by Marines in Haditha, and the
rape and killing of a 14-year-old girl and the slaying of her family
south of Baghdad. Iraqis have accused American soldiers of unnecessary
killings or abuse.
Vela, Sandoval and Hensley are part of the Headquarters and
Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th
Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson,
Alaska.
Vela was flown from Kuwait to testify under a deal that bars his
account of events from being used against him when he goes to trial.
Military prosecutors said the killings in which the three men are
charged occurred between April and June near Iskandariyah.
The investigation began after military authorities received reports of
alleged wrongdoing from fellow soldiers, the Army has said.
Sandoval was arrested in June while on a two-week leave visiting his
family.
Vela's defense attorney, Gary Myers, claimed earlier this week that
Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to "bait"
their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords,
then kill those who picked up the items. He said his client was acting
on "orders."
A second Vela lawyer, James Culp, said: "Our client is no murderer.
The world will consider him to be a victim in this case." He said Vela
had only slept three hours the night before the incident and that the
soldiers had been on a sniping mission for four days.
Asked about the existance of the "baiting program," Capt. Craig
Drummond, Sandoval's military defense attorney, said it was unclear
"what programs were going on out there and when," especially "if there
were things that were done that made the rules of engagment not
clear."
Sgt. 1st Class Tarrol Petersen, who instructs snipers at Ft. Benning,
Georgia, testified as an expert witness that snipers need sufficient
rest.
"You can only last for so long when you are on a mission. As snipers
we look through a scope, we see a face. It's a lot different than
shooting someone 100 meters away with an ordinary rifle. When snipers
break, they break bad," Petersen said.
In the incident south of Baghdad in which the five women and four
children died, the military said U.S. forces were targeting al-Qaeda
in Iraq-linked fighters in ground and air operations late Tuesday in
the village of Babahani before the bodies were discovered.
The events at issue in the court-martial and the killing of the women
and children occurred in a region south of the capital known as the
triangle of death, a Sunni-dominated area that has seen some of the
war's most heavy fighting and gruesome deaths.
Two area police officers told the Associated Press that U.S. fighter
jets bombed two houses before dawn Wednesday in the predominantly
Sunni village, about 10 miles west of Musayyib. The women and children
were killed in the first house struck, and the second house was
damaged, they said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to release the information, said ground forces raided a
local mosque and the preacher, Imam Hassan Abboud al-Janabi, also was
killed. The military had no immediate response to the claim.
The bodies of the five women and four children were taken to a local
hospital on Wednesday, the military said, citing local police.
Amer Zamil, an employee in Mussayib hospital, said two of the children
were decapitated, evidently in the bombing.
The military said buildings in the area have been used as al-Qaeda
hideouts and material for making roadside bombs, including wire,
batteries and timers, was found in a nearby house.
Musayyib is 40 miles south of Baghdad.
The police said the targeted village was a stronghold of insurgents
who have prevented Iraqi security forces from entering.
Also Thursday, Iraq's Sunni vice president held a rare meeting with
the country's reclusive top Shiite cleric to seek support for a
25-point blueprint for political reform, the latest in a series of
efforts by both Islamic sects to promote unity.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
praised his initiative during their two-hour meeting in the holy city
of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The Shiite spiritual leader
previously has met with Sunni clerics, but this was his first meeting
with a senior government official from the disaffected minority
Islamic sect, aides said.
"He generally blesses the initiative," al-Hashemi said, saying he
found al-Sistani politically "neutral" and eager to promote national
unity.
Al-Sistani has played a key role in shaping the political future of
Iraq following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime and
wields considerable influence over Shiite politicians and their
followers.
AlterNet is making this material available in accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes.
The Associated Press. Posted September 27, 2007.
He breaks down while testifying that his sergeant laughed after
ordering him to kill a man with his hands held up.
A U.S. soldier broke down in tears Thursday as he testified that he
was ordered to shoot an unarmed Iraqi man, and that his sergeant
laughed and told the trooper to finish the job as the man convulsed on
the ground.
The military reported, meanwhile, it had opened an investigation of
the deaths of five women and four children killed earlier this week in
a village south of Baghdad where American forces had carried out
ground and air assaults.
Sgt. Evan Vela's testimony came during the court-martial of Spc. Jorge
G. Sandoval, of Laredo, Texas. Sandoval is on trial for allegedly
killing Iraqis and trying to cover up the deaths by planting weapons
at the scene.
Vela, Sandoval and Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley of Candler, N.C., are
all charged in the case.
Vela testified that Hensley told him to shoot the Iraqi man, although
he was not armed and had his hands in the air when he approached the
soldiers.
"He asked me if I was ready. I had the pistol out. I heard the word
'shoot.' I don't remember pulling the trigger. It took me a second to
realize that the shot came from the pistol in my hand," he said,
crying and speaking barely above a whisper.
Vela said that as the Iraqi man was convulsing on the ground, "Hensley
laughed about it and hit the guy on the throat and said shoot again."
"After he (the Iraqi man) was shot, Sgt. Hensley pulled an AK-47 out
of his rucksack and said, 'This is what we are going to say
happened,"' Vela said. He was dismissed from the witness stand to
compose himself.
Vela said Sandoval, who was nearby providing security, was not present
during the killing outside Iskandariyah, a mostly Sunni Arab city 30
miles south of Baghdad.
Sandoval faces five charges, including an April 27 murder of an
unknown Iraqi male, placing a detonation wire on his body,
premeditated murder of the Iraqi on May 11, placing an AK-47 rifle on
his body and failing to ensure humane treatment of a detainee -- the
victim.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. He has
pleaded not guilty.
Vela, of Rigby, Idaho, was flown from Kuwait to testify under a deal
that would bar his words from being used against him when he stands
before a court-martial.
The investigation began after military authorities received reports of
alleged wrongdoing from fellow soldiers, the Army has said. Sandoval
was arrested in June while on a two-week leave visiting his family.
Vela's defense attorney, Gary Myers, claimed earlier this week that
Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to "bait"
their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords,
then kill those who picked up the items. He said his client was acting
on "orders."
The Washington Post, which first reported the "baiting" program, said
it was devised by the Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group, which advises
commanders in unconventional conflicts.
Within months of the "baiting" program's introduction, Sandoval, Vela
and Hensley were charged with murder for allegedly using those tactics
to make shootings seem legitimate, according to the Post.
The Army has declined to confirm such a program existed.
The Iraq war has seen U.S. service members face prosecution in several
high-profile incidents, including abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib
prison, the killings of 24 civilians by Marines in Haditha, and the
rape and killing of a 14-year-old girl and the slaying of her family
south of Baghdad. Iraqis have accused American soldiers of unnecessary
killings or abuse.
Vela, Sandoval and Hensley are part of the Headquarters and
Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th
Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson,
Alaska.
Vela was flown from Kuwait to testify under a deal that bars his
account of events from being used against him when he goes to trial.
Military prosecutors said the killings in which the three men are
charged occurred between April and June near Iskandariyah.
The investigation began after military authorities received reports of
alleged wrongdoing from fellow soldiers, the Army has said.
Sandoval was arrested in June while on a two-week leave visiting his
family.
Vela's defense attorney, Gary Myers, claimed earlier this week that
Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to "bait"
their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords,
then kill those who picked up the items. He said his client was acting
on "orders."
A second Vela lawyer, James Culp, said: "Our client is no murderer.
The world will consider him to be a victim in this case." He said Vela
had only slept three hours the night before the incident and that the
soldiers had been on a sniping mission for four days.
Asked about the existance of the "baiting program," Capt. Craig
Drummond, Sandoval's military defense attorney, said it was unclear
"what programs were going on out there and when," especially "if there
were things that were done that made the rules of engagment not
clear."
Sgt. 1st Class Tarrol Petersen, who instructs snipers at Ft. Benning,
Georgia, testified as an expert witness that snipers need sufficient
rest.
"You can only last for so long when you are on a mission. As snipers
we look through a scope, we see a face. It's a lot different than
shooting someone 100 meters away with an ordinary rifle. When snipers
break, they break bad," Petersen said.
In the incident south of Baghdad in which the five women and four
children died, the military said U.S. forces were targeting al-Qaeda
in Iraq-linked fighters in ground and air operations late Tuesday in
the village of Babahani before the bodies were discovered.
The events at issue in the court-martial and the killing of the women
and children occurred in a region south of the capital known as the
triangle of death, a Sunni-dominated area that has seen some of the
war's most heavy fighting and gruesome deaths.
Two area police officers told the Associated Press that U.S. fighter
jets bombed two houses before dawn Wednesday in the predominantly
Sunni village, about 10 miles west of Musayyib. The women and children
were killed in the first house struck, and the second house was
damaged, they said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to release the information, said ground forces raided a
local mosque and the preacher, Imam Hassan Abboud al-Janabi, also was
killed. The military had no immediate response to the claim.
The bodies of the five women and four children were taken to a local
hospital on Wednesday, the military said, citing local police.
Amer Zamil, an employee in Mussayib hospital, said two of the children
were decapitated, evidently in the bombing.
The military said buildings in the area have been used as al-Qaeda
hideouts and material for making roadside bombs, including wire,
batteries and timers, was found in a nearby house.
Musayyib is 40 miles south of Baghdad.
The police said the targeted village was a stronghold of insurgents
who have prevented Iraqi security forces from entering.
Also Thursday, Iraq's Sunni vice president held a rare meeting with
the country's reclusive top Shiite cleric to seek support for a
25-point blueprint for political reform, the latest in a series of
efforts by both Islamic sects to promote unity.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
praised his initiative during their two-hour meeting in the holy city
of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The Shiite spiritual leader
previously has met with Sunni clerics, but this was his first meeting
with a senior government official from the disaffected minority
Islamic sect, aides said.
"He generally blesses the initiative," al-Hashemi said, saying he
found al-Sistani politically "neutral" and eager to promote national
unity.
Al-Sistani has played a key role in shaping the political future of
Iraq following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime and
wields considerable influence over Shiite politicians and their
followers.
AlterNet is making this material available in accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes.
