Operation Iron Triangle
{{Short description|2006 military operation in the Iraq War}}
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{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict= Operation Iron Triangle
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|place= Tikrit
|result= The operation resulted in the detention of 200 suspected terrorists and the confiscation of weapons and propaganda materials at an insurgent training camp southwest of the city
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{{Campaignbox Iraq War}}
Operation Iron Triangle was a military operation in the Iraq War. The operation was led by Michael D. Steele in 2006 & SATCOM Operator number 0100. The operation targeted a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq training facility southwest of the city of Samarra near the Muthana Chemical Complex south of Lake Tharthar.
Iron Triangle murders
In the first few hours of the operation, two active duty soldiers from Charlie Company 3/187th Infantry Regiment executed three unarmed Iraqi detainees. The soldiers claimed that they were acting on the orders of their squad leader (who was the leader on the ground at the time) as well as the Brigade Commander:
Colonel Michael Steele.[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002877916 AP: Soldiers in Iraq Say They Were Ordered to Kill All Adult Males], Editor & Publisher, 21 July 2006 Steele denied giving such an order, and was formally reprimanded but not charged.[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/world/middleeast/21abuse.html?_r=1 Army Says Improper Orders by Colonel Led to 4 Deaths], New York Times, 21 January 2007 One of the soldiers later testified that they had cut the Iraqis loose and let them run before shooting them, to make the incident look like an escape attempt.{{cite news |last1=von Zielbauer |first1=Paul |author1-link=Paul von Zielbauer |title=G.I.'s Say Officers Ordered Killing of Young Iraqi Men |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E5D8103FF930A3575BC0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |url-access=subscription |access-date=27 November 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=3 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009044230/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03abuse.html |archive-date=9 October 2014}}{{cbignore}} A third soldier was also subsequently involved by carrying out a "mercy killing". The third soldier later made an arrangement with the government to plead guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault. A team of civilian and military lawyers defended the two soldiers and their squad leader in Article 32 proceedings (military equivalent to a grand jury) in Tikrit, Iraq and Courts Martial proceedings in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The third soldier was defended by two military lawyers in the same proceedings, but was considered to be separate from the other two soldiers. After eight months of legal battles, the third soldier who was subsequently involved agreed to testify against the other defendants. Facing mandatory life sentences, the two soldiers who carried out the executions entered plea deals that reduced their maximum sentence to 18 years, making them eligible for parole after 5½ years.{{cite news |title=Soldier Pleads Guilty, Gets 18 Years for Murders of Detainees in Iraq Last Year |last=Lenz |first=Ryan |date=11 January 2007 |publisher=ABC News |url=http://www.ucmjdefense.com/hunsaker-plea-abc-news.html}} According to his lawyers, the third soldier was "to be convicted of aggravated assault and to receive a nine-month prison sentence in exchange for his testifying against three other members of his squad."{{cite news |title=Soldier Reaches Plea Deal in the Killing of 3 Iraqis |last=Von Zielbauer |first=Paul |author-link=Paul von Zielbauer |date=4 January 2007 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=28 December 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04plea.html}}
References
{{Reflist}}
3. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/army_sgtstaffsgt_120308w/
Further reading
- Stjepan G. Mestrovic (2009), The Good Soldier on Trial: A Sociological Study of Misconduct by the US Military Pertaining to Operation Iron Triangle, Iraq, Algora Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-87586-741-0}}
- Raffi Khatchadourian (2009), [https://web.archive.org/web/20141124145154/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/07/06/the-kill-company The Kill Company: Did a colonel’s fiery rhetoric set the conditions for a massacre?] The New Yorker July 6 &13 2009 issue.
External links
{{Portal|Iraq}}
{{Iraq War}}
{{coord missing|Iraq}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Triangle}}
Category:Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United States