war crimes

i really hope this turns out not to be true:

Military prosecutors last month accused four soldiers in the unit of releasing three Iraqi men they captured that day, only to kill them. The soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder, a capital offense.

Lawyers for the soldiers deny that they released the detainees. They say the soldiers fired only after the Iraqis tried to break free and attack them.

But the lawyers are also making a more startling claim: that the soldiers were given explicit orders before the raid to “kill all military-age males” they encountered.

The lawyers say that two senior officers — a colonel and a captain — have acknowledged that they gave that order, as have other men in the same company.

Military officials in Baghdad declined to comment on the alleged order, first reported by The Associated Press, saying that the investigation was continuing.