Marine who shot dead unarmed Iraqi may escape prosecution

An American Marine who shot dead an injured unarmed Iraqi in Fallujah, in an incident captured on video which led the Pentagon to open a war crimes inquiry, was reported yesterday to have escaped prosecution over the death.

According to CBS news network, investigators had concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge the Marine and that given the circumstances of the battlefield it was possible that he felt his life was threatened. "At the very least, Navy legal experts believe the situation is ambiguous enough that no prosecutor could get a conviction."

But the US Marine Corps issued a statement from Iraq saying that no decision had yet been taken and that the investigation was still continuing. Issued from US Camp Fallujah, it said: "The investigation into the allegation of the unlawful use of force in the death of an enemy combatant inside a mosque in Fallujah during combat operations on November 13, 2004 has not been completed."

The incident took place during the operation last November to take control of the city that was long considered a stronghold of the resistance. The week-long operation cost the lives of more than 70 marines, hundreds of insurgents and uncounted number of civilians. The city was all but destroyed in the effort.

The shooting of the wounded Iraqi fighter who was lying in a mosque with some other injured men was captured on film by a US television crew. Viewers were able to see the marine pointing his rifle at the man and hear him say: "He's f*****g faking he's dead. He faking he's f*****g dead." A clatter of gunfire could then he heard and another marine says: "He's dead now."

At the time of the incident the shooting was described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a demonstration of "utter contempt for humanity". The marine was withdrawn from combat operations pending the results of the investigation.

The initial report about the incident said that the marine who had shot the insurgent had apparently himself been shot in the face the day before and that one of his comrades had been killed the previous day by a booby-trap bomb that had been placed on the body of a dead insurgent.

But Kevin Sites, the freelance reporter who filmed the story, wrote several days later in an "open letter" to the Marine Corps: "Observing all of this as an experienced war reporter who always bore in mind the dark perils of this conflict, even knowing the possibilities of mitigating circumstances - it appeared to me very plainly that something was not right."

- INDEPENDENT