Yahoo! News - Killings Sting Proud Battalion

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Last week, in a makeshift military courtroom, the unit's reputation came under assault. Soldiers from 1-41 described how a member of a rogue platoon hauled an unarmed Iraqi man away from his family one hot August morning and casually fired two shots into his head. Then he photographed the corpse.

As disturbing as the testimony was for soldiers from a proud unit, it was just one episode in a shocking series of killings. Over a period of 26 days in August and September, seven 1-41 soldiers were charged with six murders on two continents.

Soldiers have described renegade infantrymen who bragged about their kills. In one case, they testified, soldiers from a 1-41 platoon argued over who should get credit for killing an unarmed Iraqi because they had bet on who would be the first.

Four of the victims were Iraqi civilians. In addition to the two alleged executions, soldiers were accused of shooting a critically wounded Iraqi teenager in a "mercy killing," and shooting an unarmed Iraqi, who, according to two soldiers, was waving a white cloth. Two more infantrymen were charged with murdering two fellow 1-41 soldiers in Kansas.

Court testimony suggests a unit in chaos, plagued by a handful of out-of-control soldiers and riven by internal divisions.

Soldiers said one squad leader ordered his men to take no prisoners, and at least one soldier who complained about misconduct had to be transferred for his safety.

Another 1-41 soldier was punished for kicking an Iraqi corpse after urine from the body dripped onto the soldier's hands.

Experts in military history say they cannot recall another case where so many members from a single unit were charged with so many killings in so short a period. In all, a dozen American servicemen in Iraq have been charged with killing civilians. During the Vietnam War, 122 servicemen were convicted of killing noncombatants.

Some military legal experts say the killing of civilians — whether accidental or intentional — can be expected in a war where insurgents use terrorist tactics such as car and roadside bombs, while also blending in with civilians and firing from mosques, schools and hospitals.

"The circumstances in Iraq are novel," said Eugene Fidell, a lawyer...
Yahoo! News - Killings Sting Proud Battalion