| Colonel staged mock execution scare iraqi { November 19 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1088099,00.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1088099,00.html
'Mock killing' by US colonel
Julian Borger in Washington Wednesday November 19, 2003 The Guardian
A US lieutenant colonel went before a military hearing in Iraq yesterday charged with beating an Iraqi detainee and staging a mock execution to scare information out of him.
The case of Lt Col Allen West has become a cause célèbre in the US as conservatives have flooded radio talk shows in support of his self-defence claim, arguing that the information helped his unit avoid an ambush.
Lt Col West is the most senior US officer since the war began to be charged with ill-treating an Iraqi civilian.
He is facing a preliminary military hearing in Tikrit which will decide whether he should go before a full court martial.
According to the charges against him, he struck the detained Iraqi, Yahya Jhodri Hamoody, on the head and body and threatened to kill him during an interrogation in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, on August 20.
One of yesterday's witnesses, Col West's driver, Private Michael Johnson, said Mr Hamoody was an Iraqi policeman who was believed to have information about a plot to kill Lt Col West.
Pte Johnson said that after an hour's interrogation Mr Hamoody was taken outside and forced to lean over a sandbox used by soldiers to clear their weapons after a patrol.
Lt Col West then fired his pistol past Mr Hamoody's ear, he said.
Lt Col West's lawyer, Neal Puckett, said that the interrogation saved lives because it prevented an attack on the officer and his unit.
"He doesn't deny doing what is alleged in the charges but we as a defence team deny the criminality of the charges," he said.
Iraq's interim human rights minister, Abdel Basset Turki, said yesterday the occupation forces had committed violations and must hold its soldiers accountable.
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