Army captain to be court-martialed for allegedly telling Iraqi officers to kill civilians
Here’s an Army Times link to a KUSA-TV report indicating that Army Captain Carl Bjork will be court-martialed on 1 March for allegedly telling Iraqi officers to kill Iraqi civilians. He’s charged with one spec of reckless endangerment and two specs of premeditated murder. The Army is reportedly planning to try the first half of the case (the merits portion, perhaps?) in Iraq to accommodate the testimony of Iraqi detainees. The second half (sentencing perhaps? perhaps the Army shouldn’t count its conviction before it’s hatched) is planned to be tried in the United States.
Thanks, this is the first I’ve heard of this case. Of course a Google search brings up the usual bevy of people touting his accomplishments, saying he’s an upstanding Soldier, and focusing on one or two weaknesses of the case. It’s hard to find out what the allegations really are.
Well the language for aiding and abetting or being a principal is pretty darn broad. Anything remotely encouraging could be charged. Then again, he could have said, kill those guys. It’s probably not something that will come out until trial.
Does the Iraq-merits/U.S.-sentencing structure mean that an Officer Panel (if that is the election) would get a free trip to the U.S. during their deployment IF they find him guilty?
It may be the other way around. A CONUS panel gets a free trip to Iraq, which isn’t as common as it used to be, unless they acquit.
Based solely on the testimony of 4 imprisoned insurgents? That explains why the Army wants to do the merits in Iraq. But, stemming from a December 2006 incident?
According to this report, the IO found insufficient probable cause after the Art. 32!
http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-soldier-122109,0,7075175.story
How did they keep this under the wraps for so long, is an equally interesting question!