Marine pleads guilty
The week's news at a glance.
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
A Marine corporal helped kidnap and murder an unarmed Iraqi because he and his fellow Marines were “sick and tired of getting bombed,” the corporal testified this week. Trent Thomas, 25, admitted that he and seven other soldiers shot Hashim Ibrahim Awad to death in Iraq last April, then arranged his body to suggest that he had been killed while planting a roadside bomb. Awad, 52, pleaded for his life as he was led to his death, Thomas said. “He started asking, ‘Why, mister, why?’” Thomas said. “We didn’t say anything.” Thomas pleaded guilty to murder. Four others in his unit have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, and three are awaiting trial for murder and other charges.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff