WASHINGTON: US military snipers in Iraq are reportedly baiting for Iraqis by scattering detonation cord, plastic explosives and ammunition in the streets before killing those who pick them up, in a program ordered by the Pentagon.
The classified military program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three US snipers accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Captain Matthew Didier, the leader of a sniper scout platoon, is quoted as saying in a sworn statement.
"Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it," he says. "If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual, as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against US forces."
In documents obtained by the Washington Post from family members of the accused soldiers, Captain Didier says members of the Pentagon's Asymmetric W
arfare Group visited his unit in January and later passed along ammunition boxes filled with the "drop items" to be used "to disrupt ... attempts at harming coalition forces and give us the upper hand in a fight".
US National Institute of Military Justice president Eugene Fidell said such a baiting program should be reviewed.
"In a country that is awash in armaments and magazines and implements of war, if every time somebody picked up something that was potentially useful as a weapon, you might as well ask every Iraqi to walk around with a target on his back," Mr Fidell told the newspaper.
US soldiers said about a dozen platoon members were aware of the program, and numerous others knew about the "drop items" but did not know their purpose, the Post reported.
Two soldiers, who had not been officially told about the program, came forward with allegations of wrongdoing after they learned they were going to be punished for falling asleep on a sniper mission, the paper said.
Army officials declined to discuss the classified program, according to the report.
After US units in the area suffered heavy losses, members of the sniper platoon said they felt pressure from commanders to kill more insurgents.
The sniper unit, dubbed "the painted demons" because of their use of tiger-stripe face paint, often pursued insurgents going to and from hidden weapons caches.
Months after the program's introduction, three snipers in Captain Didier's platoon were charged with murder for allegedly using items to make the killings appear legitimate, the Post reported.
While the three alleged shootings may not specifically have been part of the classified program, defence lawyers argue that the program paved the way for the soldiers' actions by blurring the legal lines of killing.
James Culp, a civilian lawyer for one of the snipers, Sergeant Evan Vela, said the soldiers were "battle-fatigued pawns in a newfangled concept of 'baiting' warfare that, like an onion, perhaps looked good on the surface, but started stinking to high hell the minute the layers were pulled back and scrutinised".
Specialist Jorge Sandoval and Sergeant Michael Hensley allegedly put wire - often used to detonate bombs - in the pocket of an Iraqi man whom Specialist Sandoval had shot on April 27 on Sergeant Hensley's orders.
The man was cutting grass when he was shot, court documents show. The pair were charged with murder and with planting evidence.
Two weeks after the killing, Specialist Sandoval and his sniper team spent the night in the village of Jurf-as-Sakhr on the Euphrates River. While other snipers slept, Sergeant Hensley watched as an Iraqi man, Genei Nesir Khudair, approached the hide. Sergeant Hensley radioed to Captain Didier for permission to go for a "close kill".
"I told him that as the ground forces commander, I would authorise that if it was necessary," Captain Didier testified.
"And about five minutes later, he told me he had indeed killed the individual."
The US military alleges that Sergeant Vela, on Sergeant Hensley's order, shot the Iraqi twice in the head after he had been taken into custody. It was Sergeant Vela's first kill, and he was visibly shaken. "He looked weird," Sergeant Robert Redfern testified. "Just messed up from it."
Sergeant Vela and Sergeant Hensley claimed the man had an AK-47 with him and that he posed a threat, but other soldiers alleged the AK-47 was planted next to Khudair's body after he was shot.
Specialist Sandoval's lawyer, Captain Craig Drummond, told the Post his client was innocent.
Sergeant Hensley is also accused of killing an Iraqi man the sniper team suspected of placing wires on a road. Sergeant Hensley allegedly shot the man outside his home, claiming he appeared to be moving for a weapon.
Specialist Sandoval is expected to face a court-martial in Baghdad tomorrow.
Sergeant Vela's father, Curtis Carnahan, was quoted by the Post as saying the US military was holding the proceedings in a war zone to hide the facts.
The Australian, News from Australia's National Newspaper
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