Two American soldiers, including one from Laredo, were charged with the premeditated murders of three Iraqis in separate incidents south of Baghdad over the past three months, the U.S. military said Saturday.Army Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley of Candler, N.C., was charged with three counts of premeditated murder, obstruction of justice and wrongfully placing weapons next to the victims’ bodies.
Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval Jr. of Laredo was charged with one count of premeditated murder and planting a weapon.
Both soldiers, assigned to the headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 501 Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, are being held in Kuwait until trial.
The killings took place near Iskandariyah, which is in the Sunni insurgent territory south of Baghdad where U.S. soldiers committed one of the most notorious atrocities of the war.
In March 2006, soldiers raped and killed a 14-year-old girl and killed her family in the town of Mahmudiyah. Two soldiers have been convicted in the case, and three are awaiting trial.
Presumed innocent
U.S. military officials said in a statement that the charges against Hensley and Sandoval were “merely an accusation of wrongdoing” and that they are “presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.”
Editors Note: You mean like the detainees at Guantanamo Bay?
The investigation, conducted by the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, was opened after fellow soldiers informed commanders of their suspicions. The men face so-called Article 32 hearings, which will determine the veracity of the charges and, if merited, send them on for court martial proceedings.
Sandoval, 22, was detained on June 26 while home on two-week leave and was sent to Kuwait, where both soldiers are being held in solitary confinement.
Sandoval’s mother, Alicia Sandoval, said her son was visiting his family when authorities came and asked to speak to him. They said he would be back shortly, but she heard nothing since and had no idea where he was taken until an Associated Press reporter called.
“I haven’t had any news,” she said in Spanish on Saturday from her home in Laredo. “It was all very sudden.”
Juan Dominguez, a second cousin reached by telephone in Laredo, said he lives two doors from Sandoval’s parents. He said Sandoval had served in ROTC and was eager to go to Iraq.
“He always liked Army stuff,” Dominguez said. “He was really into going to Iraq. He wanted to see what it was like. I told him, ‘Nobody wants to go over there, but I just hope God brings you back.’ “
No troublemaker
“I never knew him to be a troublemaker,” said Domin- guez, who added that he had been unaware of the arrest.Members of Hensley’s family could not be reached for comment.
The charges were announced on a day when U.S. soldiers clashed with residents of Sadr City, the densely populated Shiite district of eastern Baghdad.
The U.S. military said in a statement that shooting started before dawn after they raided a house believed to be used by a militant network that has ties to Iran and is involved in terrorist activities.
The soldiers encountered roadside bombs, fierce gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, and killed about 26 suspected militants and detained 17, the military said.
Residents in the area and officials linked to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia is prevalent in the district, disputed the U.S. account and said the U.S. soldiers killed innocent civilians.
Salah al-Ubaidi, a Sadr spokesman in Najaf, said U.S. bombings killed four members of a family, including women, and that 16 young men were killed in Sadr City.
“There were no clashes between the Mahdi army and occupation forces,” he said. “We are condemning this attack, which targeted the innocent people in their homes, and we are calling on the government to open an investigation with the occupation forces to find out what happened.”
A 29-year-old member of the Mahdi Army in the neighborhood, who gave only his nickname, Abu Bakr, said the fighting took place between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. He said U.S. soldiers killed the four family members in their house, shot up cars and left.
He acknowledged that there was “random shooting” in the neighborhood but said he saw no direct attacks on U.S. troops.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement calling on U.S.-led forces to explain what happened in Sadr City and demanding that the U.S. military notify Iraqi security forces in advance of operations.
