LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two U.S. Army soldiers face murder charges in a military trial in Baghdad for shooting and killing a badly wounded Iraqi teenager mistaken for an insurgent by U.S. troops, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday on its Web site.
The newspaper quoted the two Army staff sergeants as saying they shot and killed the Iraqi boy in a "mercy killing" as he lay moaning on the ground in an August incident in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
The two soldiers told U.S. officials that they killed the teenager in order to "put him out of his misery," the newspaper said.
But Iraqi witnesses, including a relative of the dead boy who had pleaded for U.S. troops to help him, were enraged by the killing, which seemed certain to reignite a debate about the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
The boy was shot as U.S. medics rushed to treat a half dozen or so of those wounded when U.S. troops opened fire on a garbage truck after mistakenly concluding that it was planting roadside bombs, the newspaper said, quoting Iraqi witnesses and U.S. military officials.
The truck exploded into flames and about seven Iraqis were killed in the Aug. 18 incident, including the boy shot on the ground, the newspaper said.
Staff Sgt. Cardenas Alban, 29, of Carson, California and Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina both of the Army's 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment face military court proceedings in Baghdad to determine if there is enough evidence for court martial, the Los Angeles Times reported.
If convicted, they could receive the death penalty.
U.S. military officials told the newspaper that they could not identify the dead Iraqi boy because they did not collect information at the scene and had lost track of his body.
Citing Iraqi witnesses, the Los Angeles Times identified the victim as Qassim Hassan, 16, who had been working the night shift on the garbage truck with his brother and several cousins.
None of those named in the newspaper's report or their representatives could be immediately reached for comment.
Give me a g*ddamn break!
:2up:
The newspaper quoted the two Army staff sergeants as saying they shot and killed the Iraqi boy in a "mercy killing" as he lay moaning on the ground in an August incident in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
The two soldiers told U.S. officials that they killed the teenager in order to "put him out of his misery," the newspaper said.
But Iraqi witnesses, including a relative of the dead boy who had pleaded for U.S. troops to help him, were enraged by the killing, which seemed certain to reignite a debate about the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
The boy was shot as U.S. medics rushed to treat a half dozen or so of those wounded when U.S. troops opened fire on a garbage truck after mistakenly concluding that it was planting roadside bombs, the newspaper said, quoting Iraqi witnesses and U.S. military officials.
The truck exploded into flames and about seven Iraqis were killed in the Aug. 18 incident, including the boy shot on the ground, the newspaper said.
Staff Sgt. Cardenas Alban, 29, of Carson, California and Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina both of the Army's 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment face military court proceedings in Baghdad to determine if there is enough evidence for court martial, the Los Angeles Times reported.
If convicted, they could receive the death penalty.
U.S. military officials told the newspaper that they could not identify the dead Iraqi boy because they did not collect information at the scene and had lost track of his body.
Citing Iraqi witnesses, the Los Angeles Times identified the victim as Qassim Hassan, 16, who had been working the night shift on the garbage truck with his brother and several cousins.
None of those named in the newspaper's report or their representatives could be immediately reached for comment.
Give me a g*ddamn break!
:2up:
But the question remains: what do you do with a damaged Iraqi? Or any mohammedan ? :? 
