Official: Marines believed to plan killing Staff and agencies 06 June, 2006
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 1 minute ago
WASHINGTON - U.S. military investigators believe the killing of an Iraqi civilian on April 26 was planned by a small group of Marines who shot the man and then planted a shovel and an AK-47 rifle at the scene, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.
The AK-47 and the shovel, which were taken from another home before the shooting, were meant to make it look like the man had been digging a hole for a roadside bomb and was killed in an exchange of gunfire, the official said.
Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are being investigated in this case, but no charges have been filed. All eight were removed from duty with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in Iraq and are being held at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Sullivan said his client is being held in solitary confinement in the brig at Camp Pendleton and is allowed one brief exercise period per day, during which he remains shackled at the hands, waist and ankles. Anytime he walks in the recreational yard, he is escorted by at least one military prison guard who grasps onto his waist shackles at all times. Sullivan said this was "cruel and unusual."
The Marine Corps and Pentagon spokesmen have refused to comment on any aspect of the Iraqi man‘s death since the investigation was announced May 24. In that announcement the Marines said Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the commander of all Marine forces in Iraq, had asked for a criminal investigation after a preliminary probe found sufficient information to warrant further investigation.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that the Iraqi victim at Hamdaniya was Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie, a 52-year-old disabled man shot four times in the face. His family told the Post that a small group of U.S. servicemen came to them last week and offered the family money in exchange for supporting the Marines‘ version of the killing.
