Editor & Publisher May 02, 2003
Soldier in 'Las Vegas R-J' Story May Be Investigated
Story Could Result in War Crime Charge
By Rafe Bartholomew
NEW YORK -- Updated at 2:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
Military officials have yet to decide if a U.S. Marine will be investigated for possible war crimes in Iraq, after seeing an interview published in the April 25 Las Vegas Review-Journal in which the Marine described shooting an Iraqi soldier in the back of the head.
According to the newspaper story, Gunnery Sgt. Gus Covarrubias told Review-Journal reporter Richard Lake that when the action died down after an intense April 8 firefight in Baghdad, he slipped away from his unit to find the soldier who shot a grenade that exploded near Covarrubias and temporarily knocked him out. When Covarrubias found his chief suspect, an Iraqi soldier in a nearby house, he ordered him to stop and turn around, then "went behind him and shot him in the back of the head," he said in the story. "Twice." Then he chased the man's partner, who was outside trying to escape. "I shot him, too," he said, according to the newspaper story.
A military inquiry was launched after the story was published, and officials from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service interviewed Covarrubias to clarify what he meant by the statements and determine if a criminal investigation is needed. The inquiry could lead to Covarrubias becoming the first known U.S. soldier to be formally investigated for possible war crimes in the Iraq war.
Reached on Thursday afternoon, both reporter Lake and Review-Journal Editor Thomas Mitchell declined comment on the story and the investigation. When asked why he wouldn't respond to questions, Mitchell answered "because of potential for legal problems." When asked about the specific nature of those legal problems, he said, "use your imagination," and suggested E&P Online talk to the paper's attorney.
The attorney, Mark Hinueber, reached on his cellular phone Friday afternoon, was about as forthcoming as Mitchell and Lake. "I don't have any comment on that," Hinueber said when asked about possible legal action. Later, he added, "I know of no legal issues [resulting from Lake's story] related to the Review-Journal."
Hinueber also said that as far as he knew, no one from the military had contacted the paper regarding Covarrubias' statements. "I just think the newspaper is being cautious," he said. "It's a very sensitive story because the Marines are investigating." But, he added, "the story speaks for itself."
It's possible the soldier is disputing the account in the paper or claiming he was misquoted. The paper interviewed Covarrubias, 38, at his Las Vegas home after he was sent home on medical leave.
In the story, Covarrubias also claimed that he kept as souvenirs the ID cards of the two soldiers he killed, as well as the bayonet from the AK-47 carried by the escaping Iraqi. "This," he said in the interview, holding up the two ID cards, "is justice."
John Pike, director of the defense and intelligence policy organization Globalsecurity.org, said in an April 26 Review-Journal follow-up story that the inquiry would revolve around the question of whether Covarrubias killed a prisoner of war. "As soon as [the Iraqi soldier] had surrendered and obeyed a command to turn around, he was no longer an enemy combatant," said Pike in the story. "These kinds of incidents are a lot more common than anyone is ever going to let on," he added. "But it's usually not the sort of thing people talk about. The Iraqis quite possibly did it to us, and I'm not surprised we did it to them, but it's not supposed to happen."
In a second follow-up story on April 29, another American serviceman gave surprisingly candid statements to the Review-Journal. Tom Willis, who earned a Purple Heart as a Navy SEAL in the Vietnam War, supporting Covarrubias, said, "The rules of war? Come on, what are you talking about? ... You've got to blow these suckers away before they kill you."
Source: Editor & Publisher Online
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