Marine to be Investigated for War Crimes

[Tanager]

Hrm, this one should stir up some lively flaming^H^H^H^H^Hdebate.

(And, whether he's guilty or not, he's stupid as all hell. This will do wonders for our image, never mind that his actions as described sound pretty reprehensible.)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...s_030430201641

US Marine investigated for war crimes after newspaper interview
Wed Apr 30, 4:16 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US Marine sergeant is under investigation for possible war crimes committed in Iraq (news - web sites) based on statements he made to his hometown newspaper, military officials said.

Gunnery Sergeant Gus Covarrubias became the target of the preliminary inquiry after he described for the Las Vegas, Nevada, Review-Journal daily how he had hunted down and shot two Iraqi soldiers after a firefight.


"A preliminary inquiry has been initiated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to examine the circumstances surrounding the statements made by Gunnery Sergeant Covarrubias," the statement said. "The preliminary inquiry will determine if the actions described by Gunnery Sergeant Covarrubias during combat operations met the established rules of engagement and complied with the law of war."


A Marine Forces Reserve spokeswoman refused further comment, referring media inquiries to naval investigators.


In the interview published Friday, Covarrubias, 38, said he was searching for the source of a grenade attack during the April 8 battle and found a soldier in a nearby home with a grenade launcher next to him.


Covarrubias told the daily he ordered the man to stop and to turn around. "I went behind him and shot him in the back of the head -- twice," he was quoted as saying.


Covarrubias said he noticed another Iraqi soldier trying to escape and also shot him, then grabbed their identification cards, a rifle and one of their berets for souvenirs.


Covarrubias is assigned to the Second Battalion, 23rd Marines, a reserve unit from the western United States.


In the interview, he was quoted as saying the killings were "justice," but the daily quoted a military expert as saying the first one could have been a war crime.


"We do not allow our soldiers to execute (prisoners of war) at their own discretion. And this, as described, looks like the summary execution of a (prisoner of war)," said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org.

[patricia]

Yes. Reprehensible and really stupid, if true. Obviously, he wasn't defending himself, but playing "Rambo".

[moneyp]

I'm kinda lost. If he gives the Iraqi soldier a verbal warning to "stop" (stop what?) and turn around, what's next? It seems like it could be justified to me.

[Tanager]

dude, I only know what's in the article, so I can only say "if," nothing more.

[Monte Smith]

This report is not detailed enough to make a judgement. Can't tell if he ordered the Iraqi to stop and then shot a fleeing enemy twice, hitting him in the head or if the Iraqi stopped--became a prisoner of war--and then the soldier shot him execution-style in the back of the head. I would be very slow, from reprehensible personal inclination, to charge a US marine with a crime committed on the battlefield. But the second scenario is a violation of the rules of war and the marine is answerable to the UMJ. However, given that the only probable evidence is going to be this guy's own testimony--which may be an immature attempt at "bragging"--odds are he walks. The crime scene has been a tad disturbed and tracking down one unidentified dead Iraqi soldier for forensic analysis is unlikely.

Besides, there are bigger fish to fry. A rump faction of the vanquished Iraqi dictatorship is making noise about prosecuting General Franks for war crimes in Brussels.

Originally posted by Monte Smith
Besides, there are bigger fish to fry. A rump faction of the vanquished Iraqi dictatorship is making noise about prosecuting General Franks for war crimes in Brussels.

Now, that makes sense! But Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell, Perle, Rice, et all also need a ticket to Brussels,

[patricia]

The marine will probably not be prosecuted for war crimes, even if he just wanted to "kill an Iraqi" and boasted about it later.
If the situation were reversed, outrage would prevail, but not in these circumstances, unfortunately. Was he alone? If not, what do his comrades say? As Monte says, there are not a lot of details, so far. I still say though that he will probably not face charges.

[Tanager]

I have to say that, of the people involved on "our" end, Franks is probably one of the ones deserving the least blame - he's a professional soldier, not one of the Rumsfeldian hawks, from what little I know.