Soldier not guilty of Iraq murder charges

Reuters:

A U.S. solider has been acquitted of three murder charges after investigations into the unlawful killings of three Iraqis earlier this year, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

A U.S. court martial, however, found Staff Sergeant Michael Hensley, a sniper from the 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne, guilty of wrongfully placing an AK-47 rifle beside the body of an Iraqi man.

Hensley was one of three U.S. soldiers charged with the killings of three Iraqis in separate incidents during U.S. operations between April 14 and May 11 near the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.

The charges stemmed from complaints made by other U.S. soldiers to authorities.

Hensley was found not guilty on all three charges of premeditated murder at a court martial on Thursday at Camp Victory, the main U.S. base near Baghdad's international airport, the military said in a statement.

The guilty verdict on the charge of placing an assault rifle beside the body of an Iraqi man related to an incident on May 11. He was also found guilty on a charge of disrespect for a superior commissioned officer.

Hensley was sentenced to 135 days in jail, reduced in rank to sergeant and given a letter of reprimand.

...


It was clearly a mistake to use a throw down weapon to avoid questions about the sniper kills. That is an old tactic made somewhat famous by Houston, Texas police officers when it turned out that the suspect that shot was unarmed. Iraq is a war where troops can easily make mistakes in shooting innocent people because of the enemy war crime of camouflaging himself as a civilian. The media does a very poor job of reporting this enemy war crime and its effect on operations by our forces.

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