"Surge" in War Crimes?

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/75481/

U.S. Army unit Probed for killing Iraqi prisoners.

The US Army has opened a criminal investigation into an allegation of "battlefield deaths" of detainees captured by a US brigade that operated last year in southwest Baghdad, an army spokesman said.

The allegation involved the 2nd Combat Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, which returned to its home base in Schweinfurt, Germany in November after a 15-month tour in Iraq, said Paul Boyce, an army spokesman.

Boyce said the investigation was triggered by "what appears to be an allegation of at least one, and likely more battlefield deaths involving captured detainees."

"The allegation is that this may in fact be some sort of a battlefield crime and we are pursuing this to determine the facts, the circumstances and further investigative leads," he said.

Boyce said the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Combat Brigade operated in the Rashid district of southwest Baghdad during its tour.

He said the alleged deaths did not occur in a detention facility but rather at what the military calls "the point of capture."

I'm sure the military will get to the bottom of these allegations, as well. No sense in bothering the Iraq civil authority with this. They're not really in a position to understand and appreciate all the, uh, nuances involved with our military personnel executing unarmed civilians. Certainly not like the brothers and comrades in arms of the accused are.