US medic jailed over Iraq killing

A US Navy medic has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the killing of an Iraqi civilian.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos, 21, was charged along with seven Marines for the murder of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdania in April.

But Bacos, a medic, struck a deal with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy and agreed to testify yesterday at his court-martial in Camp Pendleton, California, and during impending proceedings about what he saw.

Military judge Colonel Steven Folsom reduced the 10 year sentence to one year because of the plea agreement. That will be further reduced by time served.

A reduction in rank and a dishonourable discharge were also suspended because of the deal approved by the military authority that convened the court-martial.

In return for Bacos’ testimony, other counts of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy were dropped.

Bacos testified that Marines in his patrol seized Awad from his home, threw him into a hole and put at least 10 bullets in his head and chest after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent.

He said he saw a Marine put fingerprints from the victim onto a rifle and on a shovel to implicate him as an insurgent.

“I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach,” Bacos said.

Before being sentenced, he said: “Why didn’t I just walk away? The answer to that question was I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be a respected corpman, but that is no excuse for immorality.”

Prosecutor Captain Nicholas Gannon said: “We are in Iraq to protect Iraqis and that fact makes this case more tragic and more criminal.”

Bacos said he asked the Marines to let Awad go, but Cpl Marshall Magincalda told him in crude terms that he was being weak and should stop protesting.

“I knew what we were doing was wrong,” Bacos testified. “I tried to say something and then I decided to look away.”

Bacos was the first of the servicemen face a court-martial. The seven others could get up to life in prison.

Prosecutors claim the servicemen killed Awad out of frustration and then planted the assault rifle and shovel by the body to make it look as if he had been caught digging a hole for a roadside bomb.

Bacos testified that the squad entered Hamdania on April 26 while searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times, then released. Squad leader Sgt Lawrence Hutchins was “just mad that we kept letting him go and he was a known terrorist”, Bacos said.

The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad, a former policeman, according to the testimony.

Bacos said the squad had intended to get someone else if they did not capture the insurgent, then stage a firefight to make it appear they had found an Iraqi planting a roadside bomb.

Awad was taken from the home with his feet and hands bound, then placed in a hole, Bacos said.

“I felt I couldn’t stop it any more that day,” Bacos testified. “They were going to do it. They were going to carry out the plan, so I continued on.”

Bacos said Hutchins fired three rounds into the man’s head after checking to see if he was dead, then Cpl Trent Thomas fired seven to 10 more rounds into his chest.

After the killing, Bacos said Hutchins called in to a command centre and reported the squad had seen a man digging a hole and wanted permission to fire at him.

Bacos said he saw Lance Cpl Robert Pennington put the victim’s fingerprints onto an AK-47 and on a shovel to implicate him as an insurgent who had fired first. Bacos was told to fire an AK-47 into the air to simulate the sound of a firefight.

After the killing, Bacos said, he was standing in the road when another Navy corpsman drove by.

“He asked me what happened, and I was very vague,” Bacos testified. “I said, ’I want you to remember something. We’re different. We’re not like these men.”’

Bacos’ wife and father sat in the front row of the courtroom during the court-martial.

Bacos was recently transferred from Camp Pendleton, where the Marines have been held, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for his own safety.