Marines Urged to Beat Iraqis
July 15th, 2007 by Joe Hack
War is hell, we all know that. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs and you can’t fight a war without breaking human beings. For some, though, the occupation of Iraq continues to plumb new depths. Its not just a few ‘rotten apples’ either. Institutionalised murder and brutality towards civilians now seems to be widespread in the American forces of occupation in Iraq and no decent patriotic American can ever condone that. A Marine corporal at Camp Pendleton testified last week at the murder trial of a friend that Marines in his unit began routinely beating Iraqi civilians after being ordered by officers to “crank up the violence level.”
Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo said Marines in his platoon, including the defendant, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, were angry when officers criticized them as not being as tough as other Marine platoons. “We’re all hard-chargers, we’re not there to mess around, so we took it as an insult,” Lopezromo said.
Within weeks of allegedly being told to ramp up the violence, seven Marines and a Navy corpsman conspired to go out late one night to find and kill a suspected insurgent in the village of Hamandiya near the Abu Ghraib prison. The Marines and corpsman were from 2nd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment. Lopezromo said their target was known to his neighbors as the “prince of jihad” and had been arrested several times, only to be released by the Iraqi legal system. Unable to find their target, the Marines and corpsman randomly dragged another civilian from his house, fatally shot him, and then illegally planted an AK-47 assault rifle near the body to make it look like he had been killed in a shootout, according to court testimony.
Four Marines and the corpsman, initially charged with murder in the April 2006 killing, have pleaded guilty to reduced charges and been given jail sentences ranging from 10 months to eight years. Thomas, 25, from St. Louis, pleaded guilty but withdrew his plea and is the first defendant to go to court-martial. “We were told to crank up the violence level,” said Lopezromo, who testified for the defense. He indicated that during daily patrols the Marines became much rougher with Iraqis. Asked by a juror to explain, he said, “We beat people, sir.” Lopezromo said he believed that officers knew of the beatings and he suggested that the order to ‘get tough’ with ordinary civilians soured him on the Marine Corps.
Shockingly Lopezromo, who was not part of the squad on its late-night mission, said he saw nothing wrong in what Thomas and the others did. “I don’t see it as an execution, sir,” he told the judge. “I see it as killing the enemy.” He added that Marines, in effect, consider all Iraqi men as part of the insurgency. “Because of the way they live, the clans, they’re all in it together,” he said. If that is true, then it is an absolutely damning indictment of the way our army in Iraq operates.
In August, Lopezromo and two other Marines were charged with assaulting an Iraqi two weeks before the killing that led to charges against Thomas and the others. Charges against all three were dropped. Thomas’ attorneys have portrayed him as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury from his combat duty in Fallouja in 2004. Also, they have sought to convince the jury that Thomas believed he was following a lawful order to get tougher with suspected insurgents.
Prosecution witnesses testified that Thomas shot the 52-year-old Iraq at point-blank range after he had already been shot by other Marines and was lying on the ground. Lopezromo said a procedure called “dead-checking” was routine. This seems to mean the execution of wounded and helpless combatants. If Marines entered a house where a man was wounded, instead of checking to see whether he needed medical aid, they shot him in contravention of all international law to make sure he was dead. He testified. “If somebody is worth shooting once, they’re worth shooting twice”. Marines are apparently taught “dead-checking” in boot camp, the School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, and the pre-deployment training at Twentynine Palms called Mojave Viper, he said. If this is true then it raises serious questions of war crimes and the flouting of international conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners. We reserve judgement but hope the Pentagon will launch an immediate and fully public enquiry into this alleged practice.
Other Marines testified that Thomas was emotionally shaken by the deaths of Marines during the fighting in Fallouja in late 2004. After the death of Lance Cpl. George Payton, “he broke down and cried, he was angry, the usual effect when you lose a friend,” Staff Sgt. Gage Coduto said. Coduto said many Marines had difficulty adjusting to a change in the of rules of engagement from the Fallouja battle to places such as Hamandiya. “It took a lot of patience for guys to bring it down a notch,” he said.
The jury comprises three officers and six enlisted personnel, all of whom have served in Iraq. The trial resumes Monday. But its not these misguided men who are on trial. They’re just pawns in the bloody game and its much more serious than that. Its Bushs new and shameful version of the American army that stands accused. Decent soldiers and vets, and there are many, are as utterly disgusted with whats been going on in Iraq as the rest of America is.
Not in our name, Bush. No way !
Tags:allied forces American brutality Bush Camp Pendleton civilians insurgency Iraq Marines Political Rants Uncategorized War
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Posted in Political Rants | No Comments »
The United States House of Representatives has voted in favour of pulling most combat troops out of Iraq by April next year. The new legislation calls for the Pentagon to begin withdrawing combat troops within four months and the vote comes despite President George W Bush’s threat to veto any timetable. Unfortunately, its not quite as simple as that. Both the House and the Senate must pass separate legislation and then reconcile their two versions for a measure to be passed to the president. Correspondents say the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, is hoping to pressure the Senate to approve a similar timeline.