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Last Soldier on Trial for Samara |
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by Robin Weage
Staff Writer ToTheCenter.com
The trial of the last of four soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division pits members of the same squad against each other. In a deal with prosecutors, Specialist William Hunsaker and Private First Class Corey Clagett agreed to testify against Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard. In return for their testimony, they received 18 years for releasing, then shooting three Iraqi prisoners on May 9, 2006.
The third soldier, Specialist Juston Graber, was charged with aggravated assault and sentenced to nine months for what he described as the mercy killing of the wounded survivor of the attack. He said that he shot the man after Girouard suggested that the Iraqi be “put out of his misery.”
Two other squad members also implicated Girouard, testifying that he threatened to kill anyone who told authorities about the alleged conspiracy.
On Tuesday, military prosecutor, Captain Joseph Mackey, told the jury that Girouard had ordered his men to cut the detainees loose and shoot them as they ran. Girouard then helped stage the murder scene.
“This is a case of fact versus fiction,” Mackey said. “The facts will reveal that Staff Sgt. Girouard orchestrated, planned and had his subordinates carry out the murders of three Iraqi detainees.”
The defense contended that the killings were the direct result of an order by commanders to kill all military-aged males on an island in Tharthar Lake, 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. Sp. Hunsaker’s testimony confirmed that his brigade and company commanders issued the order—and that the brigade commander offered knives and unit coins as rewards for killing Iraqis. A lawyer for the brigade commander, Col. Michael Steele, denied the allegations.
In her opening statement, Girouard’s attorney, Anita Gorecki, repeated her client’s claim that he did not tell his soldiers to shoot the detainees—just helped to cover up their deaths. “He saw what they did. He realized they killed the detainees, and in that moment, yes, he decided to help his squad members.”
She accused Claggett and Hunsaker of lying. She said that the two soldiers who actually killed the detainees—"the trigger-pullers"—have falsely implicated Girouard in order to receive reduced sentences under plea bargains. And borrowing from the prosecution's theme, she said, “What you will hear out of them will be fiction.”
Whether it is fiction or not will be left up to the jury, but their description of what happened is powerful. Hunsaker told the court that after the squad took the detainees into custody, Staff Sgt. Girouard reported to the first sergeant over the radio that he had prisoners. The Sgt. then called a hasty squad meeting and told his men: “The first sergeant, he’s pretty pissed these guys aren’t dead,” referring to the detainees. “He wants them dead. Make it look good.”
Hunsaker said that he and Claggett took the men outside and told them to run.
“I shot him [the first detainee] where his heart should be. I moved from right to left. I took aim in the same manner and aimed for the heart and the head.” Asked by Gorecki whether he felt remorse, he replied, “No, Ma’am.”
After the detainees had been shot, Girouard sliced Hunsaker’s face and arm with a knife and punched Clagett to make it look like there had been a struggle.
Their testimony contradicted the initial story the squad told investigators. Originally they had said they had fired in self-defense after the detainees attacked them and tried to flee. Prosecutors tried to counter the effect of the lie by asking Hunsaker why he had changed his story. He said, “I got tired of lying about it. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison for the deaths of what, in my eyes, were three terrorists.”
If convicted Girouard faces up to life in prison without parole, he is charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy, and other crimes.
Information from the BBC, the LA Times, and the Associated Press
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