US soldier given six months for assaulting Iraqi

FORT HOOD, TEXAS - A United States Army sergeant -- cleared of the drowning death of one of two Iraqis thrown off a bridge but convicted of assault -- was sentenced to six months in a military prison today.

A military court cleared Sergeant 1st Class Tracy Perkins, 33, on Friday night local time of a charge of involuntary manslaughter for the supposed drowning death of one of the two Iraqis.

That panel found Perkins guilty on charges of assault and obstruction of justice but cleared him on a charge of making false statements.

The same military court that passed judgment on Perkins also sentenced him to a one-grade reduction in rank to staff sergeant. Perkins faced a possible punishment of up to 11-1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge from the Army.

In a voice choked with emotion, Perkins, a 14-year veteran, apologised to army officers and his fellow enlisted personnel for the incident that provided fodder for those opposed to US military operations in Iraq.

"I recognise what we did was wrong, and I will accept the punishment given," Perkins told the panel.

Perkins was accused of killing Zaidoun Hassoun, 19, by having soldiers force him and Hassoun's cousin off a ledge about 3m above the Tigris River in Samarra, Iraq in January 2004.

Marwan Fadil, who was forced off the bridge along with his cousin, Hassoun, testified on Wednesday that the soldiers tossed the two at gunpoint into the water after they begged for mercy and then laughed as Hassoun drowned.

Defence attorney Captain Joshua Norris said the panel should not convict Perkins of manslaughter because there was "no body, no evidence, no death". Soldiers testified the both men made it safely to shore and the death may have been faked.

Another soldier, 1st Leiutenant Jack Saville, will face a court martial on March for his role in the incident. Several soldiers in the Perkins trial said Saville gave the direct order to throw the two Iraqis into the Tigris.

- REUTERS