Hanau, Germany - A US army captain charged with murdering an Iraqi follower of a radical Shiite Muslim cleric has claimed that he shot dead the man as an act of mercy, a military hearing was told on Wednesday. Rogelio Maynulet, 29, is charged with murdering the man on May 21 in an incident during which US troops fired at a civilian vehicle they believed had militia men aboard near the central Iraqi town of Kufa. Under US troop rules of engagement in Iraq, shooting at suspect cars is allowed under certain circumstances. Two men were in the vehicle. The passenger died instantly and the driver was badly injured. A witness, Colin Cremin, confirmed that Maynulet and his men told him that the driver "had half his brain hanging out, there was nothing more that could be done for him". He confirmed that Maynulet said he had stepped back and shot the man in the base of the neck or the back of the head. | I had a hard time with this one. Anyone who knows anything about military history knows soldiers have been doing this since before the first Hoplite strapped on his sandles. Not just to wounded enemy, but his own critically wounded comrades. If I had half my brains blown out, I'd want my buddies to finish me off. But, I'm afraid it's still at least manslaughter, if not murder. Sorry, Captain. |
"It was something he didn't want to do, but it was the compassionate response, it was definitely the humane response," Cremin said. Maynulet has denied charges of murder and dereliction of duty for killing the follower of Moqtada Sadr. After military investigators questioned Maynulet over the killing a few days later, Cremin said the accused told him: "I wouldn't be surprised if this would have some kind of negative action for me." Earlier, reporters were ordered to leave the hearing while the first witness, neurosurgeon Lieutenant Colonel Rocco Armonda, who had seen the injuries to the two men, testified in camera. His appearance was classified because a 10-minute army video of the shooting was shown, which would have revealed how the US military gathers information.
| Close up video from a drone aircraft, I'll wager. |
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