Four soldiers charged in death of Iraq general

By Seattle Times news services

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FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Army charged four soldiers with murder yesterday, accusing them of suffocating an Iraqi general during an interrogation last fall.

Chief Warrant Officers Jefferson Williams and Lewis Welshofer Jr., Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer and Spc. Jerry Loper could get life in prison without parole in the Nov. 26 death of Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, 57, in Qaim, Iraq, near the Syrian border.

A summary released by Fort Carson of the charge sheets said the soldiers killed Mowhoush "by means of suffocating him with the use of a sleeping bag and electrical cord."

Mowhoush, a member of the Republican Guard's air-defense branch, was believed to have been financing attacks on U.S. forces.

The military initially described the general's death as apparently from natural causes but changed the account after revelations surfaced in the spring about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail on the outskirts of Baghdad.

All four soldiers charged were assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Carson, at the time of Mowhoush's death and have since returned to the United States. None of the soldiers has been jailed, and all remain on duty, officials said.

The charges bring to at least 10 the number of U.S. troops charged with murder in the deaths of Iraqis.

Four soldiers from Fort Riley, Kan., were charged last month with murder in the deaths of four Iraqi civilians in two incidents. A soldier from 1st Armored Division in Germany has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a wounded driver for anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Another soldier was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month after pleading guilty to murder in the death of an Iraqi National Guard member.

Two Fort Carson soldiers face courts-martial on manslaughter charges in connection with the drowning of an Iraqi civilian in the Tigris River.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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