Fighting insurgents is enormously challenging and frustrating for conventional soldiers. Imagine enduring booby-traps, ambushes and firefights, losing friends, and later walking down streets knowing that some of the faces who watch you are likely those who try to kill you and will try again tomorrow.
A trial underway now in Camp Pendleton, California shows how this formula for disaster can go terribly wrong, especially if those soldiers are being shoved from higher-up. Several marines are being court-martialed for the execution of an unarmed Iraqi in 2006. The squad had gone out at night to locate a suspected Iraqi insurgent. When they got to the man's home he was gone so they grabbed another man from the home, took him outside, killed him and planted an AK-47 near the body to reinforce their claim the victim had been killed in a shootout.
A marine corporal testifying at the court-martial gave chilling evidence that his fellow soldiers were being pressured from the top:
Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo testified Saturday at the murder trial of Cpl. Trent D. Thomas.
"We were told to crank up the violence level,'' said Lopezromo, testifying for the defense.
"We were told to crank up the violence level,'' said Lopezromo, testifying for the defense.
When a juror asked for further explanation, Lopezromo said: "We beat people, sir.''
Lopezromo, who was not part of the squad on its late-night mission, said he saw nothing wrong with what Thomas did.
"I don't see it as an execution, sir,'' he told the judge. ``I see it as killing the enemy.''
He said Marines consider all Iraqi men part of the insurgency.
No comments:
Post a Comment