US navy medic admits part in killing of Iraqi man

CAMP PENDLETON, California - A US Navy medic admitted today taking part in the kidnap of an Iraqi civilian killed by his squad and said the execution-style murder was prompted by his patrol leader's anger at the release of a suspected "terrorist" from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.

Petty Officer Melson Bacos, 21, and the seven Marines he accompanied on an April patrol were charged with seizing Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home, killing him and placing an AK-47 assault rifle, spent bullets and shovel next to his body to suggest he was trying to plant a roadside bomb.

The killing in the town of Hamdania was one in a series of incidents in which the conduct of American troops in Iraq have damaged the country's image worldwide.

Bacos told military judge Colonel Steven Folsom that squad leader Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins III had devised the plan to kill a different Iraqi who was "a known high-value individual whom he had detained who was later released from Abu Ghraib."

"He was just mad that they kept letting him go when he was a known terrorist, sir," Bacos said. "He was detained and released three times, sir."

Yet the squad did not find their intended target and seized instead a man from next door, Bacos said.

Bacos said when he eventually suggested they should let the man go, another soldier told him: "Quit being a pussy."

He said Hutchins fired three bullets into the man's head and another soldier fired 7-10 rounds into his chest.

A Purple Heart recipient with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Bacos was the first to admit his role in the Hamdania case. In his plea deal he avoided murder charges but agreed to testify about the incident.

Prosecutors dropped the original seven charges which included murder and added two charges against Bacos: kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and make a false official statement about the incident.

The son of immigrant Philippine parents, Bacos, a former high school varsity wrestler, had hoped to become a doctor and administered first aid for his squad.

He enrolled in the Navy after graduating from high school in 2003, was first deployed to Iraq in 2004 and redeployed for a second tour in Iraq this year. In court he wore a Navy summer white service uniform bearing several medals as he solemnly answered the judge's questions.

His plea deal will likely complicate the defence for others charged in the case and could create an incentive for other plea deals.

"The defence's job is to climb a mountain," said David Brahms, attorney for Lance Corporal Robert Pennington, who is also charged in the case. "With Bacos' plea, the mountain is slightly higher."

Other Camp Pendleton-based Marines are under investigation in a separate incident in November 2005 in which 24 civilians were killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Courts have also convicted a series of low-ranking US soldiers for abusing Iraqis at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

- REUTERS