The US military has charged eight Marine reservists, including two officers, with brutal treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war that may have resulted in the death of one Iraqi man, defense and justice officials said on Saturday.
The eight fought in Iraq as part of the First Marine Division during the campaign to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein and were detailed to guard a prisoner-of-war camp called Camp Whitehorse outside the southern city of Nasiriyah.
"These men have been charged in connection with maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners of war," said Marine spokesman Staff Sergeant Bill Lisbon, adding that the charges ranged from negligent homicide to assault and dereliction of duty.
The case marks the second time in about three months US troops have been accused of brutality and abuse of prisoners in Iraq. In late July, the army filed charges against four members of military police accused of hitting Iraqi prisoners and breaking their bones at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
All eight Marines have now been moved to Camp Pendleton, a base outside San Diego, California, where they are going through various pretrial hearings, Lisbon said.
The homicide and other charges were formally filed at Camp Pendleton on Thursday, but no date for a court martial has been set yet.
Military prosecutors allege that an Iraqi man named Nagem Sadoon Hatab died at Camp Whitehorse in early June following a possible beating by US guards. Details of the incident remain unclear.
The most serious and sweeping accusations are being leveled against Major Clark Paulus, who has been charged with negligent homicide, assault, cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and making false statements, according to Lisbon.
The other officer involved in the case, Major William Vickers, faces just one count of dereliction of duty, he said.
Negligent homicide charges have also been brought against Lance Corporal Christian Hernandez.
But attorney Donald Rehkopf, who will be defending Lance Corporal William Roy from assault and cruelty charges, said the circumstances surrounding Hatab's death remained murky at best.
"He was in a yard where they were many other prisoners," Rehkopf said in a telephone interview from his office in Rochester, New York. "So no one is quite sure what happened. They haven't released an autopsy for the cause of death."
Two other Iraqi prisoners from Camp Whitehorse insist they have been beaten by US Marines, although none of them has sustained any serious injuries, according to the attorney.
He said Roy had also been accused of failing to defend Iraqis facing assault.
"But they have overlooked the fact that he wasn't working on the day that this individual died," Rehkopf contended.
He said it could not be ruled out that the Marines had acted in self-defense because some of the prisoners, none of whom wore military uniforms, "were very violent individuals."
According to Rehkopf, the accused have not received proper training in handling prisoners of war and the rules of the Geneva Conventions prior to their assignment.
"My client was part of a combat unit. He was a machine gunner," he said. "One day they came and said we need a bunch of people to do something. And next thing he knew he was being a guard at a POW camp."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of