Officer charged with killing Iraqi has hearing

[unhappycamper]

1st Lt. Michael C. Behenna, left, and his defense attorney Capt. Tom Clark, right, walk in Camp Speicher, Iraq on Sept. 21. Behenna is charged with fatally shooting an Iraqi detainee earlier this year and lying about it.


Officer charged with killing Iraqi has hearing
By Vanessa Gera - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 21, 2008 17:59:58 EDT

CAMP SPEICHER, Iraq — Military prosecutors accused a U.S. soldier Sunday of taking an Iraqi detainee to a remote desert location, stripping him naked, shooting him in the head and chest and then watching as another soldier set fire to the body with an incendiary grenade.

The allegations were made at the opening hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence against 1st Lt. Michael C. Behenna for a court-martial. He has already been charged with premeditated murder of his prisoner, Ali Mansour Mohammed. Prosecutors also accuse Behenna of trying to cover up the killing.

The key testimony at the hearing came from the only witness, an Iraqi translator identified only as “Harry.” He said he saw Behenna shoot Mohammed on May 16 in a tunnel near their forward operating base, Summerall. The base is near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

Harry’s real name was not revealed to protect his identify. He said Iraqi translators for U.S. forces are at risk of being killed by their countrymen as traitors.

Prosecutors showed video footage taken by Iraqi police of Mohammed’s heavyset, naked body lying on what looked like a large blood stain in the tunnel. His head, neck and shoulders were charred black. An Iraqi police officer, Lt. Ahmed Kahlaf Marwan, said the video was taken by another policeman with a cell phone the day after the alleged killing.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_behenna_092108/%2e