Hear no evil...
In his book Winning Modern Wars, Clark recalls, "I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, and one of the senior officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year plan, and there were a total of seven countries [including Afghanistan], beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, and Sudan. So this was what they meant by 'draining the swamp.' I moved the conversation away, for this was not something I wanted to hear. And it was not something I wanted to see moving forward, either."
Mick Farren | The General Takes the Field [November 2003]
Sergeant Lemus gave investigators the following account of what happened next: About 10 minutes later, the squad leader gathered Sergeant Lemus and three other soldiers in a house nearby, telling them to "bring it in close" so he could talk quietly to them. Sergeant Girouard spoke in a "low-toned voice" and "talked with his hands," making clear he was going to kill the three Iraqis.
"I didn’t like the idea, so I walked toward the door," Sergeant Lemus said in his statement. "He looked around at everyone and asked if anyone else had an issue or a problem." No one spoke.
Soon afterward, Sergeant Lemus recounted, he was standing near the landing zone when he heard shouts and bursts of gunfire. He saw the detainees running and then falling to the ground.
New York Times | Sergeant Tells of Plot to Kill Iraqi Detainees [July 2006]
