Post by beatlies on May 4, 2006 12:03:06 GMT -5
FATAL LESSON FOR IRAQI LOOTER
Iraqi looter drowned when troops 'forced him in canal as punishment'
By Don Mackay
FOUR British soldiers drowned a teenage Iraqi looter after forcing him into a canal at gunpoint "to teach him a lesson", a court martial heard yesterday.
VICTIM: Karheem
They frogmarched asthmatic Ahmed Jabar Karheem, 15, and three others, down a muddy bank and ordered them to swim.
But non-swimmer Karheem got into difficulty and disappeared under 6ft of water. Although one of the soldiers stripped off to rescue him, his commander ordered him back, it was alleged
Karheem's partially-clothed body resurfaced in the Basra waterway two days later. [NOTE: THERE SHOULD BE A PERIOD AFTER "BACK," NOT A COMMA. IT LOOKS LIKE AN EDITOR HAS PURPOSELY MANGLED THE PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMER TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THE BRITISH COMMANDER STOPPED A RESCUE ATTEMPT OF THE BOY AS THE OTHER BRITISH OCCUPATION SOLDIERS WATCHED HIM DROWN. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS COMMANDER ANYWAY? THEY DON'T TELL US.]
The four soldiers, Lance Cpl James Cooke, Guardsmen Joseph McCleary and Martin McGing, all from the Irish Guards, and Colour Sgt Carle Selman, then of the Coldstream Guards, later concocted a cover story, it was claimed, but their accounts were inconsistent. Prosecutor Orlando Pownall QC said the soldiers took the looters to the Al-Zubayr Bridge over the Shatt Al-Basra canal after saving them from a baying crowd, who were stoning them and spitting at them.
Aiad Salim Hanon, one of the group, alleges he and Karheem had stones thrown at them after being ordered into the water.
Mr Pownall added: "Karheem was in obvious distress. His head bobbed to the surface and then disappeared."
Hanon, who accused the soldiers of the killing but could not identify them in identity parades, clambered out in his underpants and flagged a taxi home.
Mr Pownall said the four soldiers acted together to assault the four looters.
He said: "It's suggested that all sober and reasonable people would realise their unlawful actions must have subjected the 15-year-old boy to a risk of some physical harm if not fatal physical harm." There was a clear picture of a common design or a plan " to force the alleged looters into the water to teach them a lesson," Mr Pownall added.
At first, McGing denied picking up looters and said he was unaware of any incident at the bridge. But he then recalled four looters being driven to a river where one had got into trouble.
McCleary said one of the looters was "grabbing me, swinging at me, going crazy like" as he tried to calm him down. The looter ended up waist deep in water and that was the last he saw of him.
Cooke told investigators it had become "common practice" to drop suspected looters out of town to punish them and force them to walk back.
Mr Pownall said: "The looters had already been punished. All that was needed was for them to be released and to make their way home. What happened here was not in the fog of war, in the heat of battle but when there was an opportunity for reflection."
The soldiers all deny the manslaughter of Karheem in May 2003. The hearing at Colchester Garrison continues.
don.mackay@mirror.co.uk
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Iraqi looter drowned when troops 'forced him in canal as punishment'
By Don Mackay
FOUR British soldiers drowned a teenage Iraqi looter after forcing him into a canal at gunpoint "to teach him a lesson", a court martial heard yesterday.
VICTIM: Karheem
They frogmarched asthmatic Ahmed Jabar Karheem, 15, and three others, down a muddy bank and ordered them to swim.
But non-swimmer Karheem got into difficulty and disappeared under 6ft of water. Although one of the soldiers stripped off to rescue him, his commander ordered him back, it was alleged
Karheem's partially-clothed body resurfaced in the Basra waterway two days later. [NOTE: THERE SHOULD BE A PERIOD AFTER "BACK," NOT A COMMA. IT LOOKS LIKE AN EDITOR HAS PURPOSELY MANGLED THE PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMER TO HIDE THE FACT THAT THE BRITISH COMMANDER STOPPED A RESCUE ATTEMPT OF THE BOY AS THE OTHER BRITISH OCCUPATION SOLDIERS WATCHED HIM DROWN. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS COMMANDER ANYWAY? THEY DON'T TELL US.]
The four soldiers, Lance Cpl James Cooke, Guardsmen Joseph McCleary and Martin McGing, all from the Irish Guards, and Colour Sgt Carle Selman, then of the Coldstream Guards, later concocted a cover story, it was claimed, but their accounts were inconsistent. Prosecutor Orlando Pownall QC said the soldiers took the looters to the Al-Zubayr Bridge over the Shatt Al-Basra canal after saving them from a baying crowd, who were stoning them and spitting at them.
Aiad Salim Hanon, one of the group, alleges he and Karheem had stones thrown at them after being ordered into the water.
Mr Pownall added: "Karheem was in obvious distress. His head bobbed to the surface and then disappeared."
Hanon, who accused the soldiers of the killing but could not identify them in identity parades, clambered out in his underpants and flagged a taxi home.
Mr Pownall said the four soldiers acted together to assault the four looters.
He said: "It's suggested that all sober and reasonable people would realise their unlawful actions must have subjected the 15-year-old boy to a risk of some physical harm if not fatal physical harm." There was a clear picture of a common design or a plan " to force the alleged looters into the water to teach them a lesson," Mr Pownall added.
At first, McGing denied picking up looters and said he was unaware of any incident at the bridge. But he then recalled four looters being driven to a river where one had got into trouble.
McCleary said one of the looters was "grabbing me, swinging at me, going crazy like" as he tried to calm him down. The looter ended up waist deep in water and that was the last he saw of him.
Cooke told investigators it had become "common practice" to drop suspected looters out of town to punish them and force them to walk back.
Mr Pownall said: "The looters had already been punished. All that was needed was for them to be released and to make their way home. What happened here was not in the fog of war, in the heat of battle but when there was an opportunity for reflection."
The soldiers all deny the manslaughter of Karheem in May 2003. The hearing at Colchester Garrison continues.
don.mackay@mirror.co.uk
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