US charges Marine Corps officer in Iraq assaults

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has charged a Marine Corps officer with assaulting three Iraqi civilians in a town west of Baghdad in April, the Marines said on Wednesday.

The officer, 2nd Lt. Nathan Phan, also was charged with three counts of assault and one count of making a false official statement relating to the incident on April 10, 2006, near Hamdania.

There have been a number of cases involving misconduct by U.S. troops in

Iraq, although U.S. military leaders maintain the vast majority of American troops have conducted themselves honorably. Very few of those charged in these cases have been officers.

The Marines said the incident was separate from one in the same town that took place on April 26 in which seven Marines and a Navy medic were charged in June with premeditated murder in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi civilian.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060816/ts_nm/iraq_usa_assault_dc

[gratuitous]

1. "An officer?" I think to myself

"Probably no higher than a second looie, though," I think, immediately scolding myself for my cynical ways.

Then I read the story.

[Barrett808]

2. Looks like your cynical intuition didn't steer you wrong.

I find I get into trouble when I accede to my more optimistic impulses.

[newscott]

3. That was my thought too. How low level can they keep this?

[thepurpose]

4. Why do I get the feeling there is more to this story then what the Marines

are telling...sounds like a smoke screen.