War Deserter Tells of Atrocities
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/033106M.shtmlA "trigger-happy" US Army squad leader shot the foot off an unarmed Iraqi man and soldiers kicked a severed head around like a soccer ball, a US war deserter told an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Thursday.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/03/30/pf-1512671.htmlMarch 30, 2006
U.S. deserter tells of atrocitiesBy ANDREW DAVIDSON
TORONTO (CP) - A "trigger-happy" U.S. army squad leader shot the foot off an unarmed Iraqi man and soldiers kicked a severed head around like a soccer ball, a U.S. war deserter told an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Thursday.
Joshua Key, 27, said he was never trained on the Geneva Convention and was told in Iraq by superior officers that the international law guiding humanitarian standards was just a "guideline." "It's shoot first, ask questions later," Key said of his squad's guiding principles. "Everything's justified." Key is one of five members of the U.S. armed forces asking for asylum in Canada.
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Key also said he witnessed one of his "trigger happy" platoon's squad sergeants shoot part of an unarmed Iraqi man's foot off in Khaldia, a village between Fallujah and Ramadi. The man was sitting on a chair outside a store and had raised his foot as a sign of disrespect, he said. Key added he was never questioned about the incident and was not aware of any charges being laid.
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