GI: I Was Ordered To Kill Unarmed Iraqi

(AP)  In damning testimony, a U.S. soldier Thursday told a court-martial he was ordered by his staff sergeant to shoot an unarmed Iraqi man and that the sergeant then laughed and told the trooper to finish the job as the dying 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.

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.

In the court-martial, 23-year-old Sgt. Evan Vela cried as he recalled shooting the unidentified Iraqi man on May 11 near Iskandariyah, a mostly Sunni Arab city 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Vela told the story during the second day of 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 said Sandoval, who was nearby providing security, was not present during the May 11 killing. Sandoval has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including the April 27 murder of a second unidentified Iraqi man and placing a detonation wire on his body. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors claim the May 11 case involved the killing an Iraqi man with a 9mm pistol, placing an AK-47 rifle by his body and failing to ensure humane treatment of a detainee - the victim.

Vela said Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley of Candler, North Carolina, told him to shoot the man, who had stumbled upon their snipers' hideout, although he was not armed and had his hands in the air when he approached the soldiers.

"He (Hensley) 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 kind of laughed about it and hit the guy on the throat and said shoot again."

"After he (the Iraqi man) was shot, Hensley pulled an AK-47 out of his rucksack and said, 'This is what we are going to say happened,'" Vela said, before he was dismissed from the witness stand to compose himself.

Both Vela of Rigby, Idaho, and Hensley are also charged in the case but will be court-martialed separately.

The three soldiers 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 Other Developments:

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.

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.

By Associated Press Writer Katarina Kratovac

CBS wrote:

"In damning testimony, a U.S. soldier Thursday told a court-martial he was ordered by his staff sergeant to shoot an unarmed Iraqi man and that the sergeant then laughed and told the trooper to finish the job as the dying man convulsed on the ground."

You know, many Nazi leaders and German SS troops also tried using the "I was just following orders" excuse when they were on trial and it didn''t work for them.

Bush has turned our men and women in uniform into murderers, just the same as Hitler turned men and women in uniforms into murderers.

Bush can rot in hell with Bin Laden as company.

[finewoven]

Moderates aren''''t the bad ones, just the extreme & they are found in all religions -- Dalai Lama said,,, "Religion is like a guitar string, too lose it does''''t play, too tight it breaks."
Posted by j-whitman at 12:14 AM : Sep 28, 2007

Those that founded religions are extremists? I have a hard time with this. People who follow the concepts and texts to an extreme, and force others to, are normally not the founders of the religions. More like the pretended keepers. I also have a hard time time with patriotic9''s comments, but it is true that people who display psychosis, neurosis, or just plain extreme bias have perhaps founded their opinion on religion(s).

An example, my login name is finewoven, taken from the mental image of the crucifixion when the soldiers had to throw dice or play lots to see who would have Christ''s only garment, because they could not divide it amongst themselves. It was so fine woven, it would have been a shame to tear it for distribution.

Some things should never be divided, especially if it causes irreparable damage.

[finewoven]

With respect, You must realize that the Radical Islamics are using the same exact reasoning to kill and murder from their side of this conflict. It is their faith that they are doing ''''Allahs'''' will and are to be rewarded that spurs the fury with which they fight. They see themselves as the Muslim equalivilant of ''''Christian Crusaders (cross bearers) for god''''. The belief that you are empowered by a Supreme being is based by faith on that which we (they) perceive to be true.
Posted by ToolMangler at 10:01 PM : Sep 27, 2007

Understood. I have the same reproach in their regard. However, I have your opinion and the news media on this (and 9th to 14 century hisory)--AND, it reflects one''s religious affiliation. I make no reference to either a supreme being, or a human being, or the imperative to kill in either''s name. You could subsume the lesser in the greater, but it work to assume the opposite. In other words, the greater is not always reflected in the lesser, and it become very apparent it''s a farce.

After a while, you realize that people makes things holy, i.e. land, concepts, images, and the like, because their religion says so, not because it is so. This probably is what the killing is about, not faith.

[prinzowhales]

Wayne Madsen is reporting that heroic men and officers prevented the transfer of the nuclear weapons sent to Louisiana, allegedly by ''mistake''. If this is indeed the truth, let''s give OUR Air Force ''Zoomies'' a twenty-one gun salute and our gratitude for living up to the highest standards of the armed services of the Republic.

I urge all servicemen to read the letter of Col. Bob Bowmen regarding the duty of members of the armed forces to NOT obey illegal orders--including orders to wantonly attack a foreign nation in deviance of international law.

[omnibus66]

The bottom line here, as with any information given out by this goernment, is that if you believe any of it you are a fool. The murder of civilians by the military has happened in every war, by both sides. The only way to stop it is to bring them all home.

[brianbwb-2009]

if an order to "kill that man" is given, the soldier can no longer refuse on legality, since the legality of the order is not determined in situ.
Regards,
Posted by Nancy_Naive,

Bush''s "executive order" is in direct conflict with the Geneva Convention, to which the US is a signatory, in other words it doesn''t have standing in international law, and is an international war crime.

Because the reasons given for military action against Iraq were proven to be false, and in light of the mountain of evidence suggesting that Bush knew it was false when he gave the order, the entire episode is illegal under both US and international law, as are any executive orders relevant to the action.

[j-whitman]

brianbwb,,,, Catch ya later, I''m checking out.

[brianbwb-2009]

.. Snipers are ordered to bait civilians with common components of IED''s you can buy at any hardware store, They place an item on the ground for someone to pick it up, radio it in & the kill order is given.
Posted by j-whitman,

This tactic was used during WWII by the Nazi, using empty guns left on dead soldiers, many of which became souvenirs by those lucky enough to evade the sniping while going for it.

Indicative of people who are not fighting a "war", but killing humans for sport.

[brianbwb-2009]

"A second Vela lawyer, James Culp, said: "Our client is no murderer. The world will consider him to be a victim in this case."

Yeah, right. He pulled the trigger. The victim is dead because he willingly obeyed an unlawful order.

He should have reminded Hensley that it was an unlawful order, and then protected the victim should Hensley decide to commit murder himself. This is the law, and if force was needed to comply with the law, Vela would have been correct to use it.

[j-whitman]

brianbwb,,, There is more going on that is authorized.
.. Snipers are ordered to bait civilians with common components of IED''s you can buy at any hardware store,,, They place an item on the ground for someone to pick it up, radio it in & the kill order is given.