Weapons left by US troops 'used as bait to kill Iraqis'

[Loonix 0]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2996115.ece

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By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
Published: 25 September 2007

US soldiers are luring Iraqis to their deaths by scattering military equipment on the ground as "bait", and then shooting those who pick them up, it has been alleged at a court martial. The highly controversial tactic, which has hitherto been kept secret, is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of a number of Iraqis who were subsequently classified as enemy combatants and used in statistics to show the "success" of the "surge" in US forces.

The revelation came in court documents, obtained by The Washington Post , related to murder charges against three US soldiers who are alleged to have planted incriminating evidence on civilians they had killed. In a sworn statement, Captain Matthew Didier, the officer in charge of a sniper platoon, said: "Basically we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against the US forces."

Capt Didier, of the 1st Battalion 501st Infantry Regiment, said members of the US military's Asymmetric Warfare Group visited his unit in January and later supplied ammunition boxes filled with "drop items" to be used " to disrupt the AIF [Anti-Iraq Forces] attempts at harming coalition forces and give us the upper hand in a fight."

Within months of the introduction of the strategy, three snipers in Capt Didier's platoon were charged with murder for allegedly using the "baits " to try to cover up unprovoked shootings. Specialist Jorge Sandoval and Staff Sgt Michael Hensley are accused of placing a spool of wire, sometimes used to detonate roadside bombs, in the pocket of a man who had been cutting grass with a rusty sickle after he was killed on 27 April this year.

Sgt Evan Vela is accused of shooting an Iraqi prisoner twice in the head with a 9mm pistol on the orders of Staff Sgt Hensley. The two soldiers told investigators that the man was carrying an AK-47 rifle. Other soldiers have testified that the rifle was planted next to the Iraqi after he was shot.

In earlier testimony Pte David Petta said he believed that "classified" items were to be placed on people killed by the sniper unit "if we killed somebody that we knew was a bad guy but didn't have the evidence to show for it".

The court martial of Spc Sandoval is due to start in Baghdad this week. His father, Curtis Carnahan, accused the US military of holding the proceedings in a war zone to try to minimise publicity.

"I feel you can't prosecute our soldiers for acts of war and threaten them with years and years of confinement when this ["bait"] programme, if it comes to the light of day, was clearly coming from higher levels."

A US military spokes-man said: "We don't discuss specific methods of targeting enemy combatants. The accused are charged with murder and wrongfully placing weapons on the remains of Iraqi nationals. There are no classified programmes that authorise the murder of local nationals and the use of 'drop weapons' to make killings appear legally justified."

A US military source said "baits" had been left by a number of units. "The guys picking them up are sometimes bad guys. But how do you know each time?"

Robert Emerson, a British security analyst, said: "This seems a highly arbitrary and suspect way of carrying out counter-insurgency operations."

Nice strategy. Another example of "guilty until proven innocent". Except that the victim has no chance to prove his or her innocence, since the punishment here is immediate death penalty...

[Zipp0 1]

If I see a hand grenade with the pin in in MY town, that fucker is coming home with me! Hopefull the DHS hasn't adopted this tactic yet.

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Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[warpedskydiver 0]

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If I see a hand grenade with the pin in in MY town, that fucker is coming home with me! Hopefull the DHS hasn't adopted this tactic yet.

Actually being in possesion of a DD without the stamp might just get you a projectile reward.

[Zipp0 1]

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If I see a hand grenade with the pin in in MY town, that fucker is coming home with me! Hopefull the DHS hasn't adopted this tactic yet.

Actually being in possesion of a DD without the stamp might just get you a projectile reward.

Well, at least when the jack boots came knoching I'd have a pretty fucking good response for those weak ass stun grenades.

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Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[steve1 5]

In any army you will find bad people, if you look long and hard enough.

Train people to kill and then send them to war zone...often times some bad apples are itching to try out their new found skills.

In Vietnam a curfew was sometimes enforced. Any person out moving through the jungle at night was fair game. The Vietnamese knew that.

The problem was that there were often tax collector thugs who would unfairly tax people. They would be out waiting on routes of travel. To get around this Vietnamese people would often move at night.

Many American soldiers would deliberately blow away these innocent people, because legally they could do that. After all they were out moving around at night, and they had been warned.

I read a story of a Seal Team commander who tried to put a stop to this, and he was met with a lot of resistance even by some of his own men. Noone on his team was allowed to kill without good reason, after he took command.

I'm sure snipers have done some of this in the past. That is one reason sniper training tries to weed the sicko's who are capable of murdering innocent people....Steve1

[rickjump1 0]

It is no secret small arms ammo with C4 was scattered in Vietnam or grenades that went off instantly after the pins were pulled. Another dirty trick was poisoning rice and making it available, but that was in a different war the Brits fought and won. We copied a lot of their craft, but of course, nothing like that.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[warpedskydiver 0]

But you have to admit the mere thought of Revenuers running freely down a trail, was enough to push most grunts over the edge.

[rickjump1 0]

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But you have to admit the mere thought of Revenuers running freely down a trail, was enough to push most grunts over the edge.

The proceeds from blowing away some VC/NVA paymaster or tax collector was usually kept for souvenirs. If they carried South Vietnamese piasters the more better. Once in a while one of these guys would accidently dance through a company perimeter about 0200hrs popping off trip flares and dodging a lot of sleepy eyed GI's; not to say we were not always alert and ready.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[GQ_jumper 4]

Nice strategy. Another example of "guilty until proven innocent". Except that the victim has no chance to prove his or her innocence, since the punishment here is immediate death penalty...

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One thing I don't like about this article is that it says the court martial is being conducted in Iraq to minimize publicity. That is about the stupidest this I have ever heard. It is being conducted in country because the presiding official in a court martial is one's own chain of command, and since the commanders of these soldiers are in Iraq the court martial is being held their. Media sources will do anything to try and show some sort of deception when there is none.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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[warpedskydiver 0]

Hey Dan how the hell are ya?

[cloudseeker2001 0]

These people are scavengers. They will find a use for everything, so if they find metal, wire or anything, they will do something with it.....and here is America shooting them down.......it is kinda like killing a buffalo and then waiting for Indians to come along to skin it...........get the point?

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[n23x 0]

We don't like indians?

.jim

"Don't touch my fucking Easter eggs, I'll be back monday." ~JTFC