Soldiers Face Charges in Iraqi's Death

[Spazito]

DENVER - The military plans to charge two intelligence soldiers in the suffocation death of an Iraqi general during an interrogation last fall, according to a newspaper report.



Charges of negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter will be filed against Chief Warrant Officers Lewis Welshofer and Jeff Williams, The Denver Post reported in Thursday editions, citing a Pentagon (news - web sites) document obtained by the newspaper.


Welshofer has said he did nothing wrong. He is accused of sitting on the chest of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush and covering his mouth while the air force commander was wrapped in a sleeping bag, according to the document.


Mowhoush, 57, died during interrogation Nov. 26 at Qaim, Iraq (news - web sites). His death certificate lists homicide as the cause. The military has said Mowhoush died from asphyxiation due to smothering and chest compression.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=8&u=/ap/prisoner_abuse_charges

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Wonder if these guys will have to account for their actions too.

Christopher Deliso interviews reporter Scott Taylor after a visit by Taylor to Iraq.


ST:
<snip>

Since the Abu Ghraib scandal, more stories are starting to come out. One particularly telling one was recounted to me by a native Turkman, whose nephew was brutally gunned down by US forces a few months ago. The family’s ongoing saga dealing with the US government over this tragedy speaks volumes about the regard the coalition has for Iraqis today.

CD: So, what was the story?

ST: A mysterious explosion on the evening of Kirkuk, back on February 2, triggered an American response- but unfortunately on an innocent civilian. There was almost no one on the streets after the blast, but since an American ambush patrol spotted a “suspicious” vehicle driving near the blast site, they tracked the car with their night vision goggles, waited until the driver was in range, and then riddled the car with fifty-three bullets.

The driver, 21-year-old Sinan Ibrahim Ismail, was hit 13 times. Eyewitnesses reported that he was visibly moving inside his car for several minutes after the attack, but that they were prevented from aiding him by the Americans.

CD: Didn’t the soldiers have some reason, some intelligence, to have targeted this car?

ST: Actually, it seems they didn’t. “When I asked them why this happened, an American told me that 'this was a terrorist,’” Iraqi doctor Ali Terzi told me. “But when I saw the car I told them they were wrong…this was my cousin.”

Indeed, Iraqi police who arrived at the scene quickly confirmed that Sinan was the wrong guy. He had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The young man was in fact a nursing student at the local college. In a tragic irony, he had actually worked part-time for the previous six months at the U.S. airbase in Kirkuk.

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