by TChris

The U.S. military, growing more attentive to the need to respond to criminal acts committed against Iraqis in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, reportedly intends to charge an officer with murder for shooting a wounded Iraqi citizen. Soldiers fired on a vehicle carrying suspected al-Sadr loyalists on May 21, severely injuring the driver and a passenger.

After the vehicle came to a stop, the Army captain allegedly approached the car and shot the wounded driver, killing him instantly. Military officials told NBC's Jim Miklaszewski that the soldier was apparently acting in good faith, shooting the badly wounded driver to "put him out of misery."

Shooting a horse to put it out of its misery might be an act of good faith. Shooting a human, rather than providing medical care, is murder. The officer in question has not been publicly identified.