‘Marines’ killing of Iraqi was “old-fashioned” murder’

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/July/focusoniraq_July46.xml§ion=focusoniraq&col=

CAMP PENDLETON, California - The killing of an Iraqi civilian by US marines was an open-and-shut murder case and had nothing to do with rules of engagement, prosecutors told a court martial here on Monday.

Speaking at the opening of Trent Thomas’s military trial, lieutenant colonel John Baker said there was nothing complicated about the circumstances surrounding the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad on April 26 last year.

“This case is not about rules of engagement,” Baker told Thomas’s martial at the marines’ southern California base in Camp Pendleton. “This case is an old-fashioned, premeditated conspiracy to kill.”

Thomas “entered into a conspiracy” with other members of his squad to kidnap Awad from his home in Hamdania, west of Baghdad, and kill him, Baker said.

“He (Thomas) lifted his M-16 (rifle) and put three rounds into Awad’s chest,” Baker said.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Winning hearts and minds

:sarcasm:

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. As was the horrific revenge massacre at Falluja. nt