Colonel testifies at sergeant's hearing By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
Arizona Republic April 26, 2005 Sgt. Hasan Akbar, center, is led from the Staff Judge Advocate Building at Fort Bragg, N.C. Monday, April 25, 2005, during the sentencing phase of his court-martial. Akbar, a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division was convicted last week by a unanimous 15-person jury on two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder. Akbar faces either a life sentence or death sentence for killing two officers and wounding 14 others at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, March 23, 2003.(AP Photo/Gerry Broome) FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) -- An officer testifying in the court-martial of a sergeant who attacked his fellow soldiers with a rifle and grenades in Kuwait said he never dreamed his first casualties in the war would come at the hands of a comrade. Army Col. Ben Hodges testified Monday at a sentencing hearing for Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who was convicted last week in an attack at the start of the Iraq war, that left two soldiers dead and 14 wounded. Hodges commanded the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team and was among those wounded in Akbar's attack. He testified for the prosecution, which is seeking a death sentence for Akbar, 34. "I never dreamed my first casualties would occur inside Camp Pennsylvania and they would be caused by one of my own soldiers," he said. After the prosecution and defense call their witnesses, the jury will then retire to its deliberation room a second time to ponder Akbar's sentence. He could face either life in prison or death. Hodges said Akbar's attack took out of action key personnel responsible for planning troop movements. He said that resulted in the brigade being slow to isolate the city of Najaf, allowing some Iraqi fighters to escape. "I lost three or four positions that were the worst possible ones we could have lost," Hodges said. Fifteen soldiers testified about their wounds - physical and emotional - in the March 2003 attack in Kuwait. The troops were getting ready to join in the invasion of Iraq, launched just days earlier. A wounded lieutenant colonel sobbed on the witness stand as he spoke of accompanying the 1-year-old son of a slain colleague, Capt. Christopher Seifert, on what is normally a father-son rite of passage. "I took Benjamin (Seifert) to get his hair cut," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Romaine, who was wounded in the hands and thigh by rifle bullets. Seifert, 27, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, were killed in the attack. Fourteen soldiers were wounded. Capt. Gregory Holden said he had shrapnel wounds in at least 13 parts of his body, including a bone-mangling wound to his left leg that required him to wear a brace for months. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't put my foot down without some sort of pain," he said. If he is sentenced to die, Akbar would become the sixth person on the military's death row. Capt. Mark Wisher, an Air Force liaison officer whose liver was lacerated and who still had shrapnel in an eye and near his heart, recalled looking at one victim and seeing "the fear in his eyes and the realization that he wasn't going to see his family again." Capt. Tony Jones said the attack made it harder for him to trust others in his own unit. "You expect stuff to come out of left field when you go to war, but nothing like this," Jones said. C 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our <http://apdigitalnews.com/privacy.html> Privacy Policy. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. 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