US officer faces legal hearing over Iraq assault
By Dean Yates
TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 18 — A senior U.S. officer went before a preliminary military hearing in Iraq on Tuesday over charges he beat up an Iraqi during interrogation and fired his pistol near the detained man's head.
Johnson, who was West's driver, said that after about an hour of fruitless interrogation, Hamoody was taken outside.
When the Iraqi still did not cooperate, he was forced to lean over into a sandbox which soldiers use to clear their weapons. West then fired his pistol into the box.
''He was scared, he was really scared,'' Johnson said.
Johnson said he and other soldiers also beat Hamoody around the head and body during the interrogation.
''We weren't hitting him as hard as we possibly could,'' Johnson, 20, said.
He did not say that West struck the detained man.
Asked to describe Hamoody's reaction during the beating, Johnson said: ''He was curling up in a ball.'' (snip/...)
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-18-062733.asp?reg=MIDEAST~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BBC:
(snip) ...Colonel West's driver, Private Michael Johnson, is appearing as a government witness.
He said the officer wanted information from Mr Hamoody, an Iraqi policeman, about an alleged plot to kill him.
Private Johnson told the military court: "When he was not giving information that was pleasing to the interrogator or translator, we'd use abusing tactics, mainly striking him."
He said soldiers later pushed the detainee's head into a box of sand, and Colonel West fired shots near his head.
"He was just scared," Private Johnson said of the detainee. "I knew it was wrong."
'Screaming'
An officer who questioned Colonel West after the incident told the court that the defendant had admitted to firing near Mr Hamoody's head, and that soldiers had beaten the detainee, who was shouting and screaming. (snip/...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3281051.stm