A Killing In the Desert: When Good Men Do Terrible Things – UPDATED

The main story on the cover of Sunday’s LA Times is called “A Killing in the Desert.” It is the first of a two-part story by Joe Mozingo, one of the Times’ remaining narrative writers skilled both in strong reporting and lyrical prose. (They used to have a whole stable, but what with cuts….)

This story chronicles the events leading up to and after the moment when a young, idealistic, compassionate Army 1st Lieutenant with a handsome and expressive face and the name of Michael Behenna shot and killed a Iraqi detainee as the man crouched stark naked in a dark dusty culvert outside of Baiji, Iraq.

It is a story loaded with well-reported facts that paint a picture drenched in tragedy and ambiguity—and no winners. But as with the best narrative journalism, the story takes us as readers deeper into the sometimes discomforting complexity of our shared humanity.

Here is a sample clip:

Behenna’s path to Iraq had the familiar thrust of a young man seeking purpose. He was the oldest of three brothers in a family that lived in a two-story brick home on a cul-de-sac in Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City. His father, Scott, was a tall, broad-shouldered special agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. His mother, Vicki, was an assistant U.S. attorney who specialized in white-collar crime.

It was a warm, Lutheran household. The family ate dinner together every night. Vicki encouraged the boys to explore, read, meet all types of people.

Michael was an inward boy. He didn’t charge into situations; he studied them first. But he was open and lighthearted with people he knew, and collected a wide and eclectic group of friends.

He learned Spanish so he could speak to the Mexican parents of a onetime girlfriend. He traced his roots back seven generations to Cornwall, England, and became fascinated with Native American culture.

A dark episode marred his adolescence though, and would affect him for years. When he was 13, his mother spent long spells in Denver working on the Oklahoma City bombing case, and the boys’ grandparents watched them after school. One day, Michael told his dad the unthinkable: He was being molested by Vicki’s dad……

Read the rest of Part One here.

UPDATE: This morning, Monday, the tale continues with Part Two of the article—the trial–in which an unlikely witness for the prosecution suggests that the shooting may not have been an execution at all, but self defense.

I will not give away the ending, but leave it to you to decide if justice was done or not.

Read Part Two here.

PS: This is certainly a story that calls out for a Part Three.