FT. KNOX, Ky. — Two military officers testified Monday that a man resembling Army Sgt. Asan Akbar warned that their unit was under attack just moments before grenades exploded in headquarters tents in Kuwait during the early days of the Iraq war.
The testimony came during the first day of a weeklong preliminary hearing that will determine whether Akbar, a 32-year-old native of Los Angeles, should face a general court-martial this year.
Army prosecutors contend that Akbar struck out at the military by hurling grenades and shooting at soldiers as they fled the burning tents. Two officers were killed and 14 soldiers injured.
But Akbar and his military lawyers are suggesting that the devout Muslim snapped after relentless harassment from his fellow soldiers, who blamed his religion for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Army Maj. Verner Kiernan told of seeing a man fitting Akbar's description yell, "We're under attack, sir," and then hearing a grenade roll across the floor of a command staff tent.
Air Force Capt. Mark Wisher recalled that after explosions sounded around Camp Pennsylvania, a U.S. military campsite about 25 miles from the Iraqi border, a man resembling Akbar came into his tent and shouted, "Sir, we're under a ground attack." Moments later, Wisher said, he saw a grenade roll into the tent.
The March 23 attack an hour after midnight shocked a U.S. military already tense from the start of war. But in a deeper sense, the incident tarnished the otherwise highly successful military campaign because of Akbar's complaints that some soldiers were personalizing the war as being the fault of all Muslims.
Sgt. Patricia Lewis, an equal-opportunity specialist who aided one of the injured, testified that several Muslim soldiers had complained of similar harassment. She added that she later heard that Akbar had "wanted to get even."
A recommendation on whether Akbar will face a court-martial proceeding is expected next week.
Akbar is charged with two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder and could receive a death sentence if convicted.
Akbar sat quietly through much of the testimony, flanked by his four military lawyers.
Wearing a desert camouflage uniform, he often placed his hands across his lap, looked down and appeared to be in deep thought. He did not speak.
