So yeah... I knew this dude. He was in my platoon at Ft. Bragg.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. Army interrogator who deserted his unit
several months after returning from Iraq said he will turn himself in
to military custody on Friday.

Sgt. Ricky Clousing, 24, sneaked out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
in June 2005 after a tour in Iraq where he said he witnessed a U.S.
soldier shoot and kill an Iraqi civilian and saw people detained for
weeks at a time without any evidence.

Investigations into whether Marines unlawfully killed 24 people at
Haditha in November, and accounts of the rape and murder of a 14-year-
old Iraqi girl in March are just a few high-profile examples of the
U.S. military's "abuse of power" in Iraq, Clousing said on Friday.


"My incidents that I witnessed are a larger picture of the daily
devastation of occupation," Clousing said at a news conference
surrounded by members of Iraq Veterans Against War.

"We Americans have found ourselves in a pivotal era where we have
traded humanity for patriotism."

Clousing said the events he witnessed caused him to desert when he
returned from Iraq. He plans to surrender at Fort Lewis in Washington
state.

A Fort Lewis spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the
case, but said if Clousing turns himself in at Fort Lewis, he will be
returned to his unit and an investigation will begin.

Clousing joined the Army in July 2002 and trained as an interrogator
before deploying with the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq in December
2004. He returned from Iraq in April 2005. Continued...
Although offered the possibility to file for "conscientious objector"
status by his superiors, Clousing declined because he said the
designation suggests he is a pacifist opposed to all wars, which he
said is not the case.

Lawrence Hildes, Clousing's lawyer, said he tried to negotiate a
discharge for his client, but neither Fort Bragg or Fort Lewis had a
record of the soldier or would take responsibility for him.

"It really is bizarre. Nobody wants this guy," Hildes said.

A missing soldier is not categorized a deserter until the soldier is
absent without leave for 30 days. The Army does not actively search
out deserters, according to the Army's public affairs office.


If a soldier is found guilty in a court-martial of deserting his unit
to avoid hazardous duty, the maximum punishment is five years
confinement, forfeit of pay and a dishonorable discharge.