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Hamdania incident
The Hamdania incident refers to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of an Iraqi man by United States Marines on April 26, 2006, in Al Hamdania, a small village west of Baghdad near Abu Ghraib. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service resulted in charges of murder, kidnapping, housebreaking, larceny, Obstruction of Justice and conspiracy associated with the alleged coverup of the incident. They were forced to drop many charges on the defendants. The defendants are seven Marines and a Navy Corpsman. As of February 2007, five of the defendants have negotiated pleas to lesser charges of kidnapping and conspiracy, or less, and have agreed to testify in these trials. Additional Marines from the same battalion faced lesser charges of assault related to the use of physical force during interrogations of suspected insurgents. Those charges were dropped.
Hashim Ibrahim Awad (1952 – April 26, 2006) was a disabled Iraqi veteran. He was known as Hashim the Lame because of the metal bar that was surgically implanted in his leg. He had been injured in the war with Iran in the 1980s. He also suffered from limited eyesight.
The Iraqi body is still unidentified, but the defense attorneys of the Marines on trial challenged this, stipulating that the victim was actually Hashim Gowad, a suspected insurgent and the cousin of the Marines' intended target, Saleh Gowad. The charges against the Marines were thereafter revised to identify the shooting victim only as "an unknown Iraqi." According to testimony received under various plea agreements, it was alleged that the Marines abducted an Iraqi man, killed him a half-hour later, placed an AK-47 and a shovel next to his body along the road, then falsified the formal report of the incident, asserting he was shot while digging a hole for a roadside bomb. In an interview on ABC television, Congressman John P. Murtha explained "some Marines pulled somebody out of a house, put them next to an IED, fired some AK-47 rounds so they'd have cartridges there. And then tried to cover that up."
According to neighbors at around 2:00 AM on the morning of April 26, Marines allegedly pounded on the door of one of the village houses demanding a search. They asked the occupant, an alleged cousin of the victim, if he had any weapons. He had an AK-47 (each family in Iraq is allowed one rifle). They took the rifle and also a shovel resting in front of the house, so he says. At the Iraqi's house in question, the Marines broke into the home while the victim was sleeping and took him from the house, not searching his house afterward. The Marines then bound the man's hands using plastic restraints and forced him to walk a distance back to the ambush site. Once they arrived at the ambush site, the Marines bound (the autopsy was inconclusive and could not verify this) the man's feet and placed him into a hole from an old IED blast. The Marines then ran back to the area where the other members of their squad were standing and fired upon the man in the IED hole. While some Marines were shooting him with their rifles, other members of the squad were shooting the stolen AK-47 rifle into the air to make it sound like a firefight was occurring. After the Iraqi man was dead, the Marines scattered the expended AK-47 brass next to the body, removed the plastic restraints, and placed the AK-47 rifle next to the body.
The next morning the local police brought a body to the neighbors for identification, saying he had been killed by the Americans. Family members recognized the man and the body was sent by the Iraqi police to the local hospital. The victim's face was swollen beyond recognition and he had been shot in the mouth. By other accounts he was shot four times in the face. The official autopsy results have not — as of the time of the Article 32 hearings for Jodka, Shumate, and Magincalda — been made public.
The Marines involved, members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines ("3/5"), 1st Marine Division, were placed in confinement at Camp Pendleton pending possible charges. Press reports noted it was unusual for Marines to be placed in the brig before charges were filed, suggesting concern by authorities the men were considered a flight risk. Under military law the defendants could face the death penalty. These Marines were brought back from Iraq with no restraint and had stops along the way back to Camp Pendleton. They were free to roam at Camp Pendleton upon arrival and until the next day and none of them made any attempt to flee. They were only, then, put in shackles and chains and taken to the brig.
On June 21, 2006, the Reuters news services reported that the United States Marine Corps announced charges of murder against seven Marines and one Navy Hospital Corpsman: Corporal Marshall L. Magincalda, Corporal Trent D. Thomas, Lance Corporal Robert B. Pennington, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Lance Corporal Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Private First Class John J. Jodka, and Lance Corporal Tyler A. Jackson, Lance Corporal Jason Finley. The charges also included kidnapping, conspiracy, making false official statements, and larceny.
Shortly after the incident came to light, the House and Senate armed services committees intended to hold hearings into the Hamdania events as well as the Haditha massacre. However, as of 2007[update] no hearings have been announced.
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Hamdania incident
The Hamdania incident refers to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of an Iraqi man by United States Marines on April 26, 2006, in Al Hamdania, a small village west of Baghdad near Abu Ghraib. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service resulted in charges of murder, kidnapping, housebreaking, larceny, Obstruction of Justice and conspiracy associated with the alleged coverup of the incident. They were forced to drop many charges on the defendants. The defendants are seven Marines and a Navy Corpsman. As of February 2007, five of the defendants have negotiated pleas to lesser charges of kidnapping and conspiracy, or less, and have agreed to testify in these trials. Additional Marines from the same battalion faced lesser charges of assault related to the use of physical force during interrogations of suspected insurgents. Those charges were dropped.
Hashim Ibrahim Awad (1952 – April 26, 2006) was a disabled Iraqi veteran. He was known as Hashim the Lame because of the metal bar that was surgically implanted in his leg. He had been injured in the war with Iran in the 1980s. He also suffered from limited eyesight.
The Iraqi body is still unidentified, but the defense attorneys of the Marines on trial challenged this, stipulating that the victim was actually Hashim Gowad, a suspected insurgent and the cousin of the Marines' intended target, Saleh Gowad. The charges against the Marines were thereafter revised to identify the shooting victim only as "an unknown Iraqi." According to testimony received under various plea agreements, it was alleged that the Marines abducted an Iraqi man, killed him a half-hour later, placed an AK-47 and a shovel next to his body along the road, then falsified the formal report of the incident, asserting he was shot while digging a hole for a roadside bomb. In an interview on ABC television, Congressman John P. Murtha explained "some Marines pulled somebody out of a house, put them next to an IED, fired some AK-47 rounds so they'd have cartridges there. And then tried to cover that up."
According to neighbors at around 2:00 AM on the morning of April 26, Marines allegedly pounded on the door of one of the village houses demanding a search. They asked the occupant, an alleged cousin of the victim, if he had any weapons. He had an AK-47 (each family in Iraq is allowed one rifle). They took the rifle and also a shovel resting in front of the house, so he says. At the Iraqi's house in question, the Marines broke into the home while the victim was sleeping and took him from the house, not searching his house afterward. The Marines then bound the man's hands using plastic restraints and forced him to walk a distance back to the ambush site. Once they arrived at the ambush site, the Marines bound (the autopsy was inconclusive and could not verify this) the man's feet and placed him into a hole from an old IED blast. The Marines then ran back to the area where the other members of their squad were standing and fired upon the man in the IED hole. While some Marines were shooting him with their rifles, other members of the squad were shooting the stolen AK-47 rifle into the air to make it sound like a firefight was occurring. After the Iraqi man was dead, the Marines scattered the expended AK-47 brass next to the body, removed the plastic restraints, and placed the AK-47 rifle next to the body.
The next morning the local police brought a body to the neighbors for identification, saying he had been killed by the Americans. Family members recognized the man and the body was sent by the Iraqi police to the local hospital. The victim's face was swollen beyond recognition and he had been shot in the mouth. By other accounts he was shot four times in the face. The official autopsy results have not — as of the time of the Article 32 hearings for Jodka, Shumate, and Magincalda — been made public.
The Marines involved, members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines ("3/5"), 1st Marine Division, were placed in confinement at Camp Pendleton pending possible charges. Press reports noted it was unusual for Marines to be placed in the brig before charges were filed, suggesting concern by authorities the men were considered a flight risk. Under military law the defendants could face the death penalty. These Marines were brought back from Iraq with no restraint and had stops along the way back to Camp Pendleton. They were free to roam at Camp Pendleton upon arrival and until the next day and none of them made any attempt to flee. They were only, then, put in shackles and chains and taken to the brig.
On June 21, 2006, the Reuters news services reported that the United States Marine Corps announced charges of murder against seven Marines and one Navy Hospital Corpsman: Corporal Marshall L. Magincalda, Corporal Trent D. Thomas, Lance Corporal Robert B. Pennington, Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, Lance Corporal Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Private First Class John J. Jodka, and Lance Corporal Tyler A. Jackson, Lance Corporal Jason Finley. The charges also included kidnapping, conspiracy, making false official statements, and larceny.
Shortly after the incident came to light, the House and Senate armed services committees intended to hold hearings into the Hamdania events as well as the Haditha massacre. However, as of 2007[update] no hearings have been announced.