Soldier Gets Six Months in Case of Drowned Iraqi
Sgt. Tracy Perkins was convicted at his court-martial of ordering two Iraqis thrown in the Tigeris River. One, Zaidoun Hassoun, drowned. His cousin, Marwan Fadil, climbed out of the river and survived. They were forced to jump in the river at gunpoint. The jury sentenced him to six months in jail and will keep his job in the military, despite a prosecution recommendation of five years and a dishonorable discharge.
Marwan Hassoun testified that he tried to save his cousin by grabbing his hand, but the powerful current swept Zaidoun away. Marwan said the body was found in the river nearly two weeks later.
Perkins said the man had made a gesture of slitting his throat. He said he never meant to injure or kill the Iraqi by throwing him in the river; and he ordered him thrown in the river to teach him a "hard lesson" about threatening U.S. troops. He testified he saw the man climb out alive. "Basically the enemy would test your resolve. ... I didn't want them to think we were soft or weak," said Perkins, who has 14 years of military service.
The enemy? These were two young men whose truck, filled with bathroom equipment, had broken down at night.
Zaidoun Hassoun was to have finished high school this year. Three weeks before his death, he got engaged to a cousin, and he hoped to start a family in Samarra, a trade and agriculture center whose name means "pleasant to those who see it."
For Marwan Hassoun, a bearded and burly 23-year-old who attends a teachers' college, the death robbed him of a companion and a childhood friend. Zaidoun's voice pleading for help still echoes in his ears.
"Every time I see an American soldier, a Humvee or a tank I become agitated. Many emotions rush into my mind: confusion, fear and rage. I am constantly thinking of how I could have helped Zaidoun. I feel so much guilt, but prayers and reading the Quran keep me going," he said.
It's a strange case. The defense claimed Zaidoun didn't die and someone else was in his coffin. The body was exhumed last month in preparation of Perkins' supervisor's trial. I haven't seen anything with the results yet. The jury didn't convict on involuntary manslaughter or making a false statement to the military but did convict for the aggravated assault on Marwan and obstruction of justice.
From Reuters :
Marwan Fadil, who was forced off the bridge along with his cousin, Hassoun, testified on Wednesday that the soldiers tossed the two at gunpoint into the water after they begged for mercy and then laughed as Hassoun drowned.
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