WP,pg1: Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War: Few Troops Tried

[DeepModem Mom]

Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War
Few Troops Tried For Killing Civilians
By Josh White, Charles Lane and Julie Tate
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 28, 2006; Page A01

The majority of U.S. service members charged in the unlawful deaths of Iraqi civilians have been acquitted, found guilty of relatively minor offenses or given administrative punishments without trials, according to a Washington Post review of concluded military cases. Charges against some of the troops were dropped completely.

Though experts estimate that thousands of Iraqi civilians have died at the hands of U.S. forces, only 39 service members were formally accused in connection with the deaths of 20 Iraqis from 2003 to early this year. Twenty-six of the 39 troops were initially charged with murder, negligent homicide or manslaughter; 12 of them ultimately served prison time for any offense.

Some military officials and analysts say the small numbers reflect the caution and professionalism exercised by U.S. forces on an urban battlefield where it is often difficult to distinguish combatants from civilians. Others argue the statistics illustrate commanders' reluctance to investigate and hold troops accountable when they take the lives of civilians....

***

Top military officers, military lawyers, experts and troops say the number of homicide cases prosecuted probably represents only a small portion of the incidents in which Iraqi citizens were killed under questionable circumstances. Officials also say privately that some cases have not been investigated thoroughly because there has been a tendency to consider Iraqi civilian deaths an unintended consequence of combat operations....

***

The homicide data have caused concern among some human rights advocates and experts on military law, who say the low conviction rate and seemingly lenient punishments may be sending the wrong signal, both to U.S. troops and to the Iraqi people....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700770.html

[bemildred]

1. Homicide is what war is all about.

Buy yourself a clue.

[Syncronaut Seven]

2. Be nice to DMM

She's somebody's mother. ;-)

[bemildred]

4. No offense intended to DMM.

My apologies if any such meaning was taken from my post.
:spank::spank:

[SquireJons]

3. Is that a quote from Rudolf Hess?

...or Dick Cheney?

I'm a bit surprised to see such callous remarks here on DU. There will always be civilian deaths in wars, but even the Nazi's held their troops accountable for their actions in civilian populations, as long as they weren't Gestapo. It often seems as if there are no rules at all when it comes to US military interaction with Iraqi civilians, and no accountability.

[bemildred]

5. I'm just saying that being sensitive about killing in a war is kind

of an oxymoron. There is a fundamental conflict there; as with all the other blather about the "laws of war". War is what you do when you won't settle for legal process to settle disputes, and war is all about killing as many of the other fellow as possible with as little damage as possible to your own side, thus any army is reluctant to sanction its own troops for doing what they are supposed to do. It is only in the propaganda war that concern for dead non-combatants is taken seriously, and then it is the killing done by ones opponent that is emphasized.

If you want to stop the killing of civilians in war, you will have to stop war. There is no such thing as sanitary warfare where only volunteers get in harms way.

[sabra]

6. kick

:kick: