Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War

Also excluded was the killing of 24 civilians by Marines in Haditha in November 2005, which is under investigation.

There is no accurate count of the number of Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. forces. Iraq Body Count, an independent group that advocates more extensive investigation of civilian deaths, estimates that 40,000 to 45,000 civilians have been killed by insurgents, terrorists and U.S. personnel.

Military officials say they do not track overall civilian casualties. But recently, the military said that an average of one Iraqi civilian was killed by U.S. troops each day in 2005 in "escalation of force" incidents alone. These include, for example, shootings of drivers who did not heed instructions at checkpoints and appeared to be threats.

The harshest penalty, meted out to two soldiers in separate murder cases in 2004, was 25 years in prison -- one of the convicted shot an Iraqi soldier, and the other shot an Iraqi man in his house. Two others convicted in what was called a mercy killing of an Iraqi each received one year in jail.

Solis, who has studied civilian homicides from the Vietnam War, said there were 27 Marines and 95 Army soldiers convicted of murder and manslaughter in that conflict, which lasted much longer and produced many more casualties than the Iraq war has so far.

According to The Post's review of publicly reported cases from Iraq, 39 U.S. service members were charged with crimes in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians or for allegedly covering them up, from the start of the war in March 2003 through early 2006.

Twenty-four Army personnel were charged in connection with civilian deaths. Twelve were convicted of crimes and received jail sentences that ranged from 45 days to 25 years. Four others were tried at courts-martial, resulting in one acquittal and three convictions with no confinement.

Charges against two others were dropped. Six received administrative punishments, including four who cooperated with government prosecutions of their superiors. In administrative cases, no trial is held and the charges and penalties are not made public.

"Each case was evaluated independently, and appropriate action was taken in each case," Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said Friday after officials examined The Post's data. "Conviction and confinement is not always the measure of a correct result."

Five Marines were involved in homicide cases. One officer was convicted of dereliction of duty and maltreatment for strangling an Iraqi prisoner in 2003 and was dismissed from the Corps; one was acquitted; and charges against three others were dropped.

One naval officer was charged and acquitted in a case related to the death of a detainee at Abu Ghraib prison, and eight Navy SEALS and one sailor received administrative punishments in the same case.

Army and Marine officials confirmed that The Post's compilation of criminal homicide cases is comprehensive. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which handles Navy and Marine cases, did not respond to requests for comments on the data.