Army Recommends Death for Accused GIs...

Breitbart:

An Army investigator has recommended the death penalty for four soldiers accused of murder during a raid in Iraq.
Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.

Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during the May raid in the Salahuddin province.

Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spc. William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, and Spc. Juston R. Graber, all of the Fort Campbell, Ky.- based 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, were accused in the deaths.

The soldiers have claimed they were ordered to "kill all military-age males" during a raid on an island on a canal in the province. According to statements from some of the soldiers, they were told that the target was an al-Qaida training camp.

Hunsaker told investigators that he and Clagett were attacked by the three men and shot them in self-defense. Clagett said he was hit in the face and Hunsaker claimed he was stabbed during the attack.

"I had felt this action necessary for they had tried to use deadly force on me and my comrade," Hunsaker wrote in a statement.

Also from Breitbart... Death Penalty Recommended in Iraq Raid:

... Paul Bergrin, Clagett's civilian attorney, said he was surprised that Daniel recommended the case be taken to trial at all.

"I'm extremely disappointed and disheartened," Bergrin said Saturday. "They are being used as pawns in the war on terror. They followed the rules of engagement. They were confronted with violence by a known al- Qaida training camp member."

Other lawyers in the case, several of whom are deployed to Iraq, did not immediately respond to e-mail requests for comment.

The soldiers are expected to be tried at Fort Campbell. They have been jailed in Kuwait since their arrests this year.

The U.S. military has not executed a soldier since the 1960 hanging of a soldier convicted rape and attempted murder.

Justice, or sending a message?