Snipers say they felt pressure to raise kill count in Iraq
 The murder trial of the "Painted Demons," an elite US sniper unit that prided itself on fomenting fear in the so-called triangle of death has revealed a shocking -- but perhaps not unexpected -- product of war.
According to the LA Times, the Painted Demons' trial at Camp Victory, on the grounds of the Baghdad airport, portrays a group of young soldiers who say they were pressured to kill.
"Interviews and court transcripts portray a 13-man sniper unit that felt under pressure to produce a high body count, a Vietnam-era measure that the Pentagon officially has disavowed in this war," writes Times reporter Ned Parker. "They describe a sniper unit whose margins of right and wrong were blurred: by Hensley, if you believe Army prosecutors; by the Army, if you believe the accused.
The main line of defense for two of the soldiers is that officers advocated that they leave weapons as bait and allowed snipers to kill anyone who came to pick them up. The Army says this practice amounts to murder, and paints the soldiers as "rogue" elements of a professional force.
Not everyone agrees.
James Culp, defense attorney for 23-year-old Evan Vela, who stands accused of murder, says the Pentagon is trying to blame a widespread practice on a few men.
"I don't know how far up the chain this baiting program goes right now. I know the government is trying to dummy this down to the lowest level possible," Culp told the LA Times. He and other attorneys say the baiting practice came down from on high -- from the battalion commander if not higher.
A recent Washington Post report alleged that at the urging of Pentagon experts in special operations, US military snipers operating in Iraq are "baiting" Iraqis by scattering items like detonation cord, plastic explosives and ammunition and then ambushing and killing those who pick them up.
The newspaper said the classified program was described in investigative documents, that the Army refused to comment upon.
Documents supplied by family members of the accused soldiers allegedly claim that members of the Pentagon's Asymmetric Warfare Group visited his the alleged murderer's unit in January and passed along ammunition boxes filled with the "drop items" to be used to disrupt ... attempts at harming Coalition Forces and give us the upper hand in a fight."
Prior to this practice, commanders repeatedly seemed unhappy with the snipers' performance, the LA Times says.
"There was a moral question hovering over the sniper team," he writes. "If they had been authorized to bait an area with bomb-making materials and other props, then lie in wait to kill anyone who fell for the trap, couldn't they also lay the props down after they killed someone?
The Army's stance: absolutely not. But there was pressure to produce results.
"The directions to the snipers in the swamps seemed to be that it was OK to interpret rules of engagement liberally."
Parker's original article is here.
With wire services.
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