The Army has confirmed that "several" of the 10 Schofield Barracks soldiers who died in an Aug. 22 helicopter crash in northern Iraq were witnesses in a murder case involving two other Schofield soldiers accused of shooting an Iraqi detainee.
"Their tragic deaths do not affect the prosecution of the cases, which will proceed as planned," said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a spokesman for Task Force Lightning in northern Iraq.
None of the soldiers who died in the Black Hawk helicopter crash was in any way implicated in any misconduct related to the Iraqi man's death, Donnelly said.
Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales, of San Antonio, and Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Winder, Ga., were charged with one count of premeditated murder in the death of the unidentified man.
The shooting occurred June 23 in al Saheed near the northern city of Kirkuk, according to a charge sheet previously obtained by The Advertiser.
The above, noted by Joan, is from The Honolulu Advertiser's "Hawaii soldiers died before testifying." In Iraq, the violence continues today. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a bombing assassination attempt on the official in charge of deBaathification in Najaf (he survived) via a bombing by his home (also in Najaf but on Friday, a corpse was discovered and a "cafe owner" was shot dead), 2 brothers, and an Iraqi soldier were shot dead in Kirkuk (and a person was shot dead in Hawija yesterday), and on Friday in Basra "the representative of Grand Ayat Allah Ali Al Sistanti" (Sayed Salim Al Battat) was shot dead. Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing claimed the lives of 5 Iraqi soldiers and a corpse was discovered in Mosul (six corpses were discovered in Baghdad on friday),
Reuters is reporting the death toll for US service members stands at 3737 killed in the illegal war. ICCC reports the total is 3739 and if you go to period details for the month of August, you see that everyone who died is identified by name. That is 81 announced deaths for the month of August.
Turning to a tale of two Times. In the Los Angeles Times, a reporter knows how to lead. In the New York Times? From Tony Perry's "Witness accuses Marine squad leader" (Los Angeles Times):
A Marine squad leader executed five Iraqi men after a roadside bomb blast killed a Marine and then told squad members to falsely claim that the men were shot while running away, a member of his squad testified Friday.
Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz said he saw Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich fire his M-16 at the five as they stood beside a taxi in which they had been riding in the Iraqi village of Haditha, some with their hands locked behind their heads. He said Wuterich then walked over to the bodies and pumped more bullets into them.
Note the headline, note the lede. In Paul von Zielbauer's "At Marine's Hearing, Testatment to Violence" you have to wait until the eight paragraph to get to that detail and PvZ tosses it in casually with no exploration. The New York Times is in the news business, at least officially, right?
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com. (There will be another entry later today. We just landed.)
mcclatchy newspapers
the los angeles times
the new york times
