Line between war, murder tough to draw

Before Haditha, there was Sadr City. Before the recent allegations that marines rampaged from house to house last November, killing women and children, there was the 2004 courts-martial of soldiers charged with killing seven men in a garbage truck in Sadr City – including one man who, according to a soldier, waved a white flag.

This week, fresh developments have stirred further scrutiny of American troops' behavior. On Monday, the military announced that it has charged three soldiers with the murder of Iraqi detainees. Wednesday, reports at press time suggested that charges would also be filed in another investigation into a civilian death in Hamandiya.

Yet in some respects, the charges are nothing new in Iraq. Since the war began, at least 11 US servicemen and eight British soldiers have faced murder charges. Though these past cases have largely escaped public notice, they shed light on the path ahead for current proceedings, pointing to the difficulty of defining and prosecuting a homicide in a war characterized by chaos.

"We are not alone in finding it difficult to obtain convictions or secure harsh sentences in cases arising out of this conflict," says Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice.

All the charges against the British soldiers have been dropped, for example. Dutch officials unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute a sergeant major for mistakenly killing an Iraqi with a warning shot.

The results of the US prosecutions have been more varied. Though the Army has no current list of how many soldiers have been charged with murder in Iraq, various reports suggest that at least five soldiers have been convicted or have pleaded guilty to a count of murder. At least six others have seen original charges of murder downgraded to manslaughter or other charges, or dismissed completely.

Some cases have further underscored the thin line between what is a bad decision and what is a criminal act. In one instance, Pfc. Edward Richmond was sentenced to three years in prison for fatally shooting a handcuffed Iraqi cowherd. Private Richmond said he thought the Iraqi had lunged for his partner. In fact, the partner said, the Iraqi had stumbled.

Yet 10 days earlier, Richmond's partner, Sgt. Jeffrey Waruch, had fatally shot a 13-year-old girl and wounded her mother and sister after a roadside bomb attack. The unit's commanding general decided the sergeant did nothing illegal and that there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

Before Haditha came to the forefront, the military's most troubling murder cases involved members of the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment in Sadr City. In August 2004, they opened fire on a dump truck they believed was planting roadside bombs. One staff sergeant was sentenced to three years in prison for what he called a "mercy killing" of an Iraqi wounded in the attack, while a second was given one year of confinement.

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