The LA Times reports on allegations of murder by soldiers in Iraq conducting house-by-house sweeps. The allegations are chilling.
Soldiers approached a small, one-story home and found a family sleeping on blankets in the courtyard to escape the summer heat, several soldiers from the unit testified Monday. Soldiers detained the family -- including a father, mother, daughter, son and baby -- in the courtyard while they searched the home.
Soldiers found a revolver and an AK-47 assault rifle. Because of Iraq's security problems, it is not uncommon for Iraqi families to keep guns in their homes. The law permits each household to carry one weapon for protection.
At least one soldier testified that he suspected the occupants of the house might have used the weapons to attack U.S. troops.
After finding the weapons, Williams, the squad leader, entered the house with May. The two motioned for the Iraqi man to follow them inside, soldiers testified.
Once inside, Williams and May stood in front of the Iraqi.
"You know what you have to do," Williams told May, according to an account of the incident presented by military attorneys.
"Can I shoot him?" May asked Williams.
"Shoot him," Williams replied, according to military attorneys.
May fired two shots.
" I shot him in the head twice, took a picture of him, and walked outside," May told military investigator, Special Agent James Suprynowicz, in a sworn statement several weeks later. It was read in court Monday.
After the shooting, May bragged about the incident to fellow soldiers, prosecutors alleged.
"Spc. May was pretty hyped up," Spc. Joshua R. Sickels of the 1-41st testified. "He was excited. He said he'd never shot someone that close up before."
When his commanding officer asked him what happened, May replied that the Iraqi tried to grab a gun. In the sworn statement later, May admitted that he fired two shots at the unarmed Iraqi man, according to Suprynowicz.
He told investigators that he shot the man "because I was ordered to," Suprynowicz testified.
After soldiers dragged the bleeding man from the house, his wife became hysterical, wailing, throwing dirt in the air and beating herself with her hands. Soldiers watched in shock as she laid her baby on top of the man's bleeding body.
"We were all taken aback by that," said Lt. Col David Batchelor, task force commander of the 1-41st, who arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting. "I'll never forget that."
Terribly disturbing allegations.
One odd fact: the alleged shooter photographed the victim. One is left to wonder how significant that fact is to the subsequent prosecution of the alleged offender. Would he have been prosecuted had there been no photo? One certainly hopes so.