[Shadow_Group] Stories of US murder in Iraq

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

Killings Sting Proud Battalion (LA Times)

By Edmund Sanders, David Zucchino and Stephanie Simon Times Staff Writers 
BAGHDAD - The men from Task Force 1-41 fought the battle for Sadr City last summer, chasing Al Mahdi militiamen through the slums in 120-degree heat. A year earlier, the unit had helped lead the charge into Baghdad. 

The 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment has a distinguished combat history, from the D-Day landing to the Iraq (news<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/latimests/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion/13688615/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Iraq%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> - web sites<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/latimests/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion/13688615/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Iraq>) desert campaign of the Persian Gulf War (news<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/latimests/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion/13688615/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Gulf%20War%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> - web sites<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/latimests/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion/13688615/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Gulf%20War>). Its motto: "Straight and Stalwart." 


Last week, in a makeshift military courtroom, the unit's reputation came under assault. Soldiers from 1-41 described how a member of a rogue platoon hauled an unarmed Iraqi man away from his family one hot August morning and casually fired two shots into his head. Then he photographed the corpse. 


As disturbing as the testimony was for soldiers from a proud unit, it was just one episode in a shocking series of killings. Over a period of 26 days in August and September, seven 1-41 soldiers were charged with six murders on two continents. 


Soldiers have described renegade infantrymen who bragged about their kills. In one case, they testified, soldiers from a 1-41 platoon argued over who should get credit for killing an unarmed Iraqi because they had bet on who would be the first. 


Four of the victims were Iraqi civilians. In addition to the two alleged executions, soldiers were accused of shooting a critically wounded Iraqi teenager in a "mercy killing," and shooting an unarmed Iraqi, who, according to two soldiers, was waving a white cloth. Two more infantrymen were charged with murdering two fellow 1-41 soldiers in Kansas. 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=1&u=/latimests/20041213/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=1&u=/latimests/20041213/ts_latimes/killingsstingproudbattalion>





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