Court martial witness describes shooting of unarmed Iraqi

Armys say soldier killed unarmed Iraqi, defense says he followed rules of engagement
An Army medic testified at a court-martial Tuesday that after he told his sergeant a wounded insurgent was going to die, the sergeant ordered him to suffocate the Iraqi and then killed the man himself.

Sgt. Leonardo Trevino faces murder and other charges in the death of the man at Muqdadiyah, Iraq, in June 2007.

The medic, Spc. John Torres, said Trevino first asked him what could be done to speed up the Iraqi's death following a gun battle.

Torres said he suggested suffocating the wounded man but said he was only kidding. He said that when Trevino ordered him to carry out the act he only pretended to do so by lightly holding his hand over the man's mouth.

Under cross-examination, he denied defense attorney Richard Stevens' assertion that he felt bad because the Iraqi was dead when he removed his hand from his mouth.

"He wasn't dead," Torres testified. "He was still ... breathing."