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ST. ANTHONY, Idaho -- In light of Veteran's Day, one former soldier's father is raising his American flag upside down to show he remembers his son's sacrifice. Many may think it's a sign of disrespect, but the military uses it as a distress signal. The U.S. flag code state "the flag should never be displayed with union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property." Curtis Carnahan said his son, Sgt. Evan Vela, has spent more than three years in prison and is, along with other veterans, in distress, And he...

IDAHO FALLS - "Evan is not a murderer he is a soldier," says Evan Vela's father, Curtis Carnahan. Freedom, that's what Curtis Carnahan wants for his 25-year-old son, Evan Vela, a U.S. Army Sniper convicted of murder. Vela is currently waiting for his parole hearing October 7th in Arlington, Virgina. He was convicted of murdering an Iraqi civilian in Baghdad in February 2008, then sentenced for ten years at Fort Leavenworth Prison. In order for Vela to be released early, the Army Parole Board needs to hear a parole plan and the parole panel's remarks. Vela's family has been working...

IDAHO FALLS - An Idaho soldier convicted of murder in Iraq is seeking a plan for parole. 25-year-old Evan Vela was convicted in Bagdhad back in February 2008. A clemency hearing is scheduled for June 3rd, to hear the prison's recommendations for clemency. However, the Army Board in Arlington Virginia asked Vela's attorney to submit a parole plan for him. Vela's father explained to me his son was only following orders. He was told, in 2007, while under a mission in Iraq, to kill an Iraqi civilian. So he did. Now he is convicted of murder; however, with the Army...

We're now entering the final phase of an outgoing administration. And during this phase, George W. Bush, mere mortal but still president, has the practically supernatural ability to grant pardons. This endows him with the power of life over death, of clemency over conviction. For one month more, President Bush will be able to right wrongs, show mercy and restore faith. For one month more, he will have the opportunity to pardon Sgt. Evan Vela, now serving 10 years in a military prison for what a court martial called "murder" but what I, along with many, many Americans, call war.

Senator Mike Crapo and Congressman Mike Simpson have taken their support of a local soldier to the next level. They're asking President Bush to pardon Sgt. Evan Vela. Vela was convicted in a general court martial in February for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian. Crapo and Simpson maintain Vela was following the order of a superior during the incident. In a news release issued Thursday Senator Crapo wrote, "The safety and success of our men and women in uniform would be seriously jeopardized if every service member was subjected to the same scrutiny for their actions during combat as in...

This remarkable series of before and after pictures documents the rebuilding efforts of Task Force Marne, aka Multi-National Division Center, aka "the surge" Division in Iraq, 2007-2008. The Division's area of responsibility included some of the most violent areas on the southern edge of Baghdad (the "Baghdad belts") and in addition to peacemaking efforts in the region the Division's mission included halting the flow of "accelerants" into the city. Areas such as Salman Pak, Yousifiyah, Arab Jabour, Jisr Diyala, Mahmudiyah, and Iskandariyah may not be familiar to Americans (they were generally - and erroneously - referred to as "Baghdad" in...

Video piece from Alyssa Carnahan about the conviction of her husband, Sgt. Evan Vela Carnahan.

A trial unfolding in a makeshift courthouse in a dusty corner of the U.S. Army's main Baghdad base camp complex is demonstrating in stark and dramatic terms just how far some American soldiers are being pushed on the battlefield, just how doggedly the Army is willing to pursue serious alleged crimes like murder — and just how interested the Iraqi government is in the process. Part of an elite parachute infantry sniper-scout platoon, Sgt. Evan Vela is accused of murdering an unarmed Iraqi that his five-man squad had taken captive after the man breached their hideout.... ~ snip ~As the...

Camp Victory, Iraq - Dr. Michael Baden has been appointed as the forensic pathologist in the court-martial of Sgt. Evan Vela, an Army scout-sniper accused of murder in Iraq. Dr. Baden, who lives in New York City, is a forensic detective of international fame who is as much at home in front of a television camera as he is a jury. He is expected to testify in early February. The star of the Home Box Office television series “Autopsy,” Dr. Baden is the former Chief Medical Examiner of New York City and presently the chief forensic pathologist for the New...

Sgt. Evan Vela, of the 501st Infantry Regiment, sits tonight in a military prison in Kuwait. Confined since July 1, Vela is one of three Army snipers charged with murder for an incident near Iskandariyah, Iraq. Two squadmates involved in the incident, Sgt. Hensley and Spc. Sandoval, were exonerated of murder charges in courts martial this past fall. As a soldier, Sgt. Vela was pushed beyond the limits of human endurance, going days without sleep in pursuit of our enemy in Iraq. While in confinement, Vela was diagnosed with moderate to severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Despite this diagnosis by...

BAGHDAD — As a military court prepares to try the last of three U.S. snipers on murder charges, the soldiers have accused their commanding officers of pushing to expand rules of engagement to produce more "kills" and then abandoning them when they were accused of murder.

BAGHDAD -- Here they were, hardened combat soldiers, grounded on a military base far from the palm groves, canals and marshes where they once prowled. But at least for a moment this week, they were still the Painted Demons, the elite sniper unit that struck fear in the so-called triangle of death south of Baghdad. That couldn't be taken away: not by breaking them up, as the Army had done, and not even by the murder trials of three of their members at Camp Victory. snipInterviews and court transcripts portray a 13-man sniper unit that felt under pressure to produce...

We are the proud parents of an Army Ranger. We are Curtis G. Carnahan and Anna Vela of St. Anthony, Idaho. Our son, Evan, has been wrongly accused of the murder of a military-age Iraqi male in Iraq. Of our four children, two serve in the US Armed Forces. Evan is in the Army, and Cory is an active six-year veteran in the Navy. Evan has served for three years and is currently a Sergeant. He is married with a family. Evan and his wife, Alyssa have two children, a son, Jarom, who is four years old, and a...

Sgt. Vela is currently detained in Kuwait, charged with one specification alleging premeditated murder, one specification alleging he wrongfully placed a weapon with the remains of a deceased Iraqi, one specification of making a false official statement, and one specification alleging obstruction of justice. Just days ago, the Army JAG assigned to Sgt. Vela's case recommended that an Article 32 be waived. Sgt. Vela had signed a statement, the inexperienced young JAG captain told Sgt. Vela's father, that the Army viewed as a confession. But now, through a grassroots network of volunteers (whose home base is the website, Free Republic),...

Mother: Son did not kill innocent Iraqis Family reflects on ordeal involving Candler soldier ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The parents of a North Carolina soldier charged with killing three Iraqis and planting weapons on them say their son turned down a plea offer and maintains his innocence. Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, of Candor, is one of three soldiers charged with murder and obstruction of justice. The deaths occurred between April and June south of Baghdad. "In your worst nightmare, you don't think something like this could happen," Jannette Hensley said Tuesday. The Hensleys are from the Asheville area and have...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen ambushed and killed an Iraqi police chief as he drove to work Saturday, police said. Lt. Col. Rahim Ali, the chief of police in the town of Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, was killed immediately in the 9 a.m. attack, said Lt. Ali Obeid, a police officer in the town. Insurgents have targeted Iraqi officials and police whom they accuse of collaborating with U.S. forces. In February, an insurgent suicide bomber explosed a truck bomb outside a police station in Iskandariyah, killing 53 people.

Sue Niederer wants some answers. She wants to know why her son, Army 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin, was killed Tuesday in Iraq. And she wants to know why the 24-year-old newlywed, who was trained in air defense artillery, was ordered to clear an area of homemade mines and bombs just before his death. "He was supposed to be defusing a bomb, but my son was never trained to defuse a bomb," Niederer said yesterday in her home in Hopewell Township. "He may have died in vain." Dvorin's sister, Rebekah Dvorin, said Army officers told the family Tuesday night that a...

Defense Department officials announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The three Combined Joint Task Force Seven soldiers were killed in an improvised explosive device attack on Jan. 27 near Iskandariyah. Killed were: 2nd Lt. Luke S. James, 24, of Oklahoma, Staff Sgt. Lester O. Kinney II, 27, of Zanesville, Ohio. Kinney and Luke were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 505th Infantry, Fort Bragg, N.C. Sgt. Cory R. Mracek, 26, of Hay Springs, Neb. Mracek was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery, Fort Bragg, N.C.

An improvised explosive device killed three soldiers and wounded three others in Iskandariyah, Iraq, south of Baghdad Jan. 27. This attack came about seven hours after another IED had killed three other U.S. soldiers in Khalidiyah, west of Baghdad. Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials said the wounded soldiers were taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital. No report on their condition was available. Officials are withholding all the soldiers' names until their families are notified. Also Jan. 27, Task Force Ironhorse soldiers killed three armed attackers who confronted them as they raided four locations in Bayji looking for members...