Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Iraqi soldier accused in deaths

Officials say the soldier with suspected ties to Sunni insurgents turned on the U.S. servicemen.

By Times Wires
Published January 6, 2008

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi soldier suspected of ties to Sunni insurgents is accused of shooting two decorated American servicemen to death, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said Saturday. Three other U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter were wounded.

The shooting took place Dec. 26 when a joint American-Iraqi patrol came under fire from gunmen as it tried to set up a combat outpost in a dangerous neighborhood in western Mosul. It is one of the few reported instances of an Iraqi soldier turning on U.S. forces since the March 2003 invasion.

The Iraqi soldier is accused of killing Sgt. Benjamin Portell, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif., and Capt. Rowdy Inman, 38, of Panorama Village, Texas, "for reasons that are yet unknown," the U.S. military said. Both were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and were based at Fort Hood, Texas. Inman had been awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Portell the Army Commendation Medal.

The Iraqi soldier fled but was later captured, the U.S. military said, and another Iraqi soldier is also in custody. The military is investigating whether he fired his weapon. The two have not been identified.

An Iraqi army official said the Iraqi soldier deliberately turned on the Americans during the firefight. "Suddenly, one of the Iraqi soldiers opened fire intentionally and immediately killed two American soldiers," said Brig. Gen. Mutaa Habib Jassim al-Khazraji, commander of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division.

"The shooting was deliberate," another Iraqi army commander in Mosul, Brig. Gen. Noor al-Din Hussein, told Reuters. "It was not an accident."

Initial results from an Iraqi investigation indicate he may have links to local militants, Khazraji said.

Maj. Gary Dangerfield, a spokesman for the 3rd Army Cavalry Regiment, could not confirm whether the two Iraqis have ties to insurgents.

"We believe this is an isolated incident," Dangerfield said.

Previously, the military had said only that Inman and Portell died from "small-arms fire during dismounted combat operations." The U.S. military disclosed the circumstances of the deaths Saturday after Iraqi commanders said the two men had been shot by the Iraqi soldier. The matter is under investigation by both countries.

Iraqi troop screening

Iraq's national police force is widely known to be infiltrated by Shiite militias - in the southern city of Basra, the police chief fired 1,000 officers in December - but the army is believed to be less prone to the phenomenon.

Iraqi soldiers undergo "thorough and very comprehensive screening" to make sure they have no major criminal background or ties to insurgents, Dangerfield said, adding that there was "no indication whatsoever" of a potential problem.

The U.S. and Iraqi military have been joined by predominantly Sunni tribal groups that have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki offered his strongest public support to date for the U.S.-backed groups, promising to integrate a large number of them in the security forces.

"A large number of (the groups) will be integrated by the police and army according to health, age, academic qualifications and criminal and security records," he said in the interview published Saturday in the London-based Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat. He gave no details. His government has said only 20,000 of the estimated 70,000 members will be absorbed into security forces.

Maliki, a Shiite, dismissed as "deliberate distortions" reports that his government was opposed to the predominantly Sunni groups, but added that he wanted to protect them against infiltration.

The comments came as Maliki returned to Iraq after spending a week in London for what his office had described as a routine medical checkup.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Saturday that doctors in London performed cardiac catheterization, a procedure in which long thin tubes are placed in veins or arteries to remove blockages.

"I give confidence to all my brothers that I am in a very good health situation and will start my work immediately with my brothers the officials and ministers," Maliki said.

More violence

The U.S. military announced that an American soldier in Diyala province was killed Saturday in a roadside bombing. No other details were released.

The military also rejected reports of a roadside bomb striking a passing minibus and killing six people north of the town of Muqdadiyah, about 55 miles north of Baghdad. However, an official in the joint coordination center of Diyala province and an officer in Diyala police said the attack had occurred, and both confirmed the casualty figure.

Information from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times New York Times and Washington Post was used in this report.

Fast facts

Capt. Rowdy J. Inman

- 38, of Panorama Village, Texas.

- 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Hood, Texas.

- Awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

- Veteran of Operation Desert Storm.

- Survived by his wife, Shannon; daughters Keeley and Casey; and son, Gary.

Sgt. Benjamin B. Portell

- 27, of Bakersfield, Calif.

- 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Hood, Texas.

- Awarded the Army Commendation Medal.

- On a second tour of duty in Iraq.

- Older brother is serving in Iraq and a younger brother has fought in Iraq.

- Survived by his wife, Michelle. They married in 2007.

Associated Press, Bakersfield Californian

Allies turned enemies

Other reported incidents of Iraqi soldiers turning on their American allies.

- The U.S. military said in April 2006 that an Iraqi soldier had been accused of fatally shooting a U.S. Marine at a base near Qaim, near the Syrian border.

- In June 2004, two National Guardsmen from California were killed by Iraqi security forces they were helping to train. The U.S. military originally attributed their deaths to an ambush by insurgents. But preliminary investigation results released in 2006 by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command concluded that the men had been killed by supposed allies.

Associated Press, Los Angeles Times

[Last modified January 6, 2008, 00:37:02]