US troops on Iraq murder charges

The US military in Iraq has charged two of its soldiers with the murder of three Iraqis between April and June in the Iskandariya area, south of Baghdad.

Both of the men are accused of premeditated murder and placing weapons beside the bodies of the dead, who were killed in three separate incidents.

Staff Sergeant Michael A Hensley is accused of three murders and Specialist Jorge G Sandoval of one.

Charges were brought after fellow soldiers alerted the authorities.

Both suspects, who are from the Alaskan-based 25th Infantry Division, are now being held in US custody in Kuwait. Spc Sandoval was detained while at home in Texas.

The military statement announcing the charges says they are "merely an accusation of wrongdoing".

"The soldiers are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense," it adds.

Pentagon investigators are already conducting a number of investigations into incidents of alleged unlawful killings by US forces in Iraq.

In the biggest case, six members of one marine battalion are accused of a role in the killing of 24 civilians in the town of Haditha, north-west of Baghdad, in late 2005.

(BBC article, click here for original)


Does everyone's military answer solely to their own country when they commit war crimes? or is this a violation of human rights? or is this just plain old first degree murder? Regardless, is this the uniform way of dealing with these matters, especially in occupied territories. It would seem in some ways biased towards the troops would it not? Shouldn't it be a joint hearing and trial of both occupied civilian and occupier's military courts? I am unclear on how this works and what the line of thinking behind it is. I would feel really robbed if I were an Iraqi and my people had no say in this matter.