Father traveling to Iraq to attend court-martial

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — The father of a Hawai'i-based soldier charged with murdering an Iraqi civilian will travel to that country for the soldier's court-martial.

Army Pfc. Edward L. Richmond Jr. is accused of shooting Muhamad Husain Kadir, who was handcuffed and unarmed. Richmond, whose home base is Schofield Barracks on O'ahu, is originally from Gonzales, about 60 miles west of New Orleans.

"Our understanding is that our son, Pfc. Edward Richmond, was attached to the 25th Infantry Division, and was engaged in a military operation somewhere in the areas of Tikrit, Kirkuk, and Mosul, when the incident occurred," a statement from Edward Richmond Sr. read.

The statement said Pfc. Richmond "considered himself to be acting in self-defense of himself and another soldier under the military rules of engagement, training he had received, and orders he had been given."

It went on to say that Richmond would appear before a military board in early August and that his father would travel to Iraq in late July to attend the proceedings.

Pfc. Richmond is accused of shooting the civilian on Feb. 28 while members of his platoon attempted to arrest the man during a roundup of suspected terrorists in al-Hawijah, a city southeast of Kirkuk.

In an interview with The Honolulu Advertiser, Pfc. Richmond said that his convoy instructed soldiers to shoot detainees if they tried to run. He said he did not know Kadir was handcuffed. "It was a reaction," Richmond told The Advertiser. "I fired in self-defense of another soldier, in which deadly force is authorized."

Richmond's court-martial is to start Aug. 1 in Tikrit. If convicted, he would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.