Dustin Berg

Dustin Berg (February 19, 1983) is a former member of the Indiana National Guard. In July 2005, he pled guilty to shooting Hussein Kamel Hadi Dawood al-Zubeidi, who had been his partner during the U.S. Occupation of Iraq. He was sentenced to serve 18 months.

Berg's original claim of self-defense was initially believed, and he was awarded a Purple Heart for the event that later earned him detention, demotion and a Bad Conduct Discharge.

Investigation
Berg initially told investigators that he had been shot by the Iraqi police officer and then returned fire, killing him. Capt. Dan Stigall, who prosecuted the case, said Berg stuck with that story until 2004, when he admitted killing the Iraqi policeman.

Berg later claimed that, while on patrol with his Iraqi partner, he had a sudden premonition that his partner represented a danger to him. So he shot him three times, killing him.

Berg then shot himself in the stomach with his dead partner's weapon, so that he could claim he fired in self-defense. Berg's self-inflicted gunshot wound caused a relatively minor injury.

Although Berg admitted shooting himself, his Purple Heart was never formally revoked.

Court martial
Berg's court martial convened on July 25, 2005. On July 26, 2005, Berg pled guilty to negligent homicide, making false official statements, and self-injury in a hostile-fire zone.

Berg was defended by Charles Gittins, an officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve who defends American servicemen in his civilian practice.

During his guilty plea, Berg noted, "I feel great remorse. As a result of my ignorance, the Iraqi police officer left behind a 2-year-old daughter and a wife. I went to Iraq to make a better life for everyone else. By also shooting myself, I took away all the good I tried to do."

He received a six-year sentence and a Bad Conduct discharge from the U.S. Army. A plea agreement allowed him to be released after eighteen months.

Reaction
In June 2006 the Associated Press distributed an article on pressure within the US military justice system to impose stiffer sentences on soldiers who kill outside of the context of battle—including re-introducing the death penalty. The article listed twenty past or pending cases, including Berg's, that contributed to the pressure to start using the death penalty again.

In March 2008, when Berg's unit returned to Iraq, the Indianapolis Star noted Berg's conviction, in the context of new, tighter, rules of engagement intended to prevent GIs killing Iraqis who weren't enemies. The paper quoted instructions the new commander of Berg's old battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Rodney Fogg, issued to the men in Berg's old battalion:

In 2012 Alan F. Williams, a professor of law at Idaho University, who spent 20 years as a military lawyer, wrote an article entitled 'Overcoming the Unfortunate Legacy of Haditha, the Stryker Brigade “Kill Team”, and Pantano: Establishing More Effective War Crimes Accountability by the United States"'.  An appendix to that article, listed other cases "with questionable handling of war crimes prosecutions by the United States".  Berg's case was one of those described as questionably handled, in the appendix.