U.S. Soldier Charged in Fatal Shooting of Hurt Iraqi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army is bringing murder charges against a soldier who fatally shot at close range an Iraqi man who already was badly wounded in a vehicle after a high-speed chase in Iraq, officials said on Wednesday.

"Charges have been preferred," said Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon, but she did not specify the charges or name the 1st Armored Division soldier. Another Army official said the soldier is being charged with murder after the Army Criminal Investigation Division looked into the May 21 shooting near Kufa in southern Iraq.

The incident took place after U.S. forces engaged in a high-speed chase after coming across a motorcade in which the Iraqi was driving one of the vehicles, according to a statement issued by U.S. Central Command on June 4.

The man's vehicle was hit by gunfire and he was seriously wounded, while a passenger in the vehicle was less seriously wounded, according to that statement. The U.S. soldier then approached the car and shot the wounded drive to death at close range, according to the statement.

At the time, defense officials said the investigation centered on "a potential violation of U.S. rules of engagement." They said the soldier may have shot the Iraqi to end the wounded man's suffering, but one official added that soldiers "don't get to make those kinds of decisions."

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040616/ts_nm/iraq_usa_charges_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

If the guy really was dying a slow and gruesome death, and if the soldier in question really was trying to "put him out of his misery," then I could see it as justified. If that's the case, then an act of compassion is now being punished.

If, however, the soldier was simply trying to get a "kill" by shooting a non-threatening person, he should face the full fury of the courts.

Sometimes a seemingly fatal injury is actually minor or moderate.. the amount of blood or pain does not equal torturous death.. sometimes it's just pain. That soldier does NOT get to play God and kill someone like that. Perhaps medical attention would have been a better idea. He wouldn't know if the injury was life threatening. It's not like a dog or a deer on the side of the road, it was a human being.

I'm just saying, none of us were there.

soldiers who rape other soldiers?

"Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/quotes

Surprised I got to it before htuttle. :D

who said that he would shoot his victim once to wound him, so that his screams would terrorize his comrades, and then he would shoot him a second time to kill him.

I wonder if he will be prosecuted.