Marine shot bound and gagged Iraqi, court martial told

[Ghost in the Machine]

Wed Jul 11, 9:40 AM ET

CAMP PENDLETON, United States (AFP) - A Marine shot an Iraqi civilian as he lay bound and gagged in a bomb crater after US servicemen kidnapped him in a late-night raid, a court martial heard Tuesday.

Trent Thomas fired seven shots into the chest of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who prosecutors say was murdered after being dragged from his home by eight soldiers in Hamdania, west of Baghdad, on April 26 last year.

Thomas denies murder, claiming he was only following orders. He is one of three Marines who has still to face charges over the killing, one of a series of incidents that have tarnished the reputation of US forces in Iraq.

"He looked confused and scared," Bacos said of Awad. "He didn't know what was happening. It was the middle of the night."

Thomas helped bind Awad's feet while another Marine shoved a gag into his mouth, Bacos said. Hutchins shot the Iraqi civilian three times in the head before Thomas pumped seven bullets into his body, Bacos added.

After the killing Hutchins radioed base to say an insurgent had been killed before telling the soldiers: "Congratulations. We just got away with murder, gents." Hutchins faces a court martial later this month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070711/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarytrial_070711134037;_ylt=AjWf.mJb3JnqKlVAr0U3Ql1k24cA

[Drum]

1. Brave, brave Marine.

:sarcasm:

:puke:

The Bush regime is turning our world, our countrymen, into brutes.

[DS1]

2. Ouch, that's a tough case

He was probably already dead due to the three shots in the head, and the next seven at that point aren't necessarily murder. Don't get me wrong, everyone involved is guilty of a war crime. At best it's pre-meditated murder, and if not that then accomplice to murder, but he didn't murder the Iraqi. Hutchins did. It could be that Thomas found himself as part of something that he didn't agree with, and saw the twitching body of the Iraqi and fired a shitload of shots into him to put him out of his misery - either way, the Iraqi was dead and that's a crime. If I had just seen my squad commander shoot someone like that, and he was still twitching or in pain, I'd have finished him off as well.