Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week at a news conference in Baghdad the government of Iraq is considering offering amnesty to insurgents who "weren't involved in the shedding of Iraqi blood," as part of a process of national reconciliation.

The clear implication is that those responsible for the death of any of the 2,500 American service members killed in Iraq might be welcomed back into the fold.

The Washington Post reported the on proposal, quoting an Iraqi official. He was forced to resign within a day of the story as the Iraqi government tried to row back from what looked like a trial balloon that went bang.

But not before the notion had provoked outrage on Capitol Hill.

"The mere idea that this proposal may go forward is an insult to the brave men and women who have died in the name of Iraqi freedom. I call on President Bush to denounce this proposal immediately," said Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., introducing a sense of the Senate resolution last week.

Tuesday, the Senate voted 79-19 for the Reid resolution.

However, a group of officers in Iraq or with recent experience there contacted via e-mail said amnesty - done correctly - could hasten the end of the war and may well be a service to U.S. troops.

The common caveat was that any proposal had to exclude al-Qaida in Iraq - the group that claimed responsibility for the gruesome deaths of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

They believed rejecting amnesty out of misguided loyalty to U.S. casualties could have the inadvertent - although predictable - effect that "de-Ba'athication" had three years ago.

Under that initiative - implemented by then-U.S. proconsul L. Paul "Jerry" Bremmer, at the urging of returning expatriate Iraqis - anyone who had been a member of the Ba'ath party at a mid or senior level was banned from holding government jobs. De-Ba'athification is consistently identified as a major strategic error.

Thousands of respected, well connected and well resourced Iraqis were effectively told they had no future in Iraq. They are believed to be a large part of the insurgency, either active in fighting, paying others to fight, or organizing and supporting anti-occupation forces.

Several officers even suggest U.S. troops are actually legitimate targets - armed, wearing armor and occupying a foreign country - and the Iraqis attacking them not outside the laws of war.

"Whether we like it or not almost everyone considers us legitimate targets, even our friends (among the Iraqis)," said an officer currently in Tikrit. "I hate the idea of bad guys getting away with murder, but I'm consoled by the fact that we've dished out much worse than we've taken, and I don't want our wall of fallen soldiers to gain any more pictures before we redeploy.

"I think the 'slate is clean' approach will go over well here, and that will provide an excuse for civilians to turn the bad guys in since they were offered a generous amnesty but continued their violence, confirming that they're just bloodthirsty criminals."

Another officer in Baqubah referred to a teen movie popular during the Cold War that depicted the United States overrun by Soviet troops.

"Everyone our age saw the movie 'Red Dawn,' and we'd be fighting occupiers in America too if they were there," a captain working with Iraqi police said. "It's important to drive a wedge between those insurgents who are fighting legitimately (i.e. targeting fellow combatants) and those who are simply nihilists."

The notion of amnesty offends his emotions - but he acknowledged the potential benefits of such a plan.

"I don't know many soldiers here who would favor giving the insurgents amnesty. I understand the insurgent vs. occupation framework, and understand their perspective. But we see ourselves as trying to help the Iraqi people through myriad non-kinetic efforts.

And yet, whether we're running a medical clinic in a nearby town, training the police on Iraqi law, or taking Iraqi police to an academy so they can learn how to be good cops, the insurgents still try to hit us regardless of what good we're doing," he said. "So I'm torn on the whole thing."

A senior commander in the United States told UPI offering amnesty may undercut the enemy by draining his number and bring about a faster end to the war. He echoed the suggestions of senior Iraqi government officials that South Africa - which enacted a broad amnesty for those prepared to come clean about their role in apartheid crimes as part of a broad reconciliation process - might be a model.

"That said, neither the irreconcilables nor the foreign fighters will accept amnesty, nor should they be offered amnesty," he said.

Denying amnesty to those who have killed U.S. troops - or participated in a cell that makes roadside bombs - would render such a program meaningless, one commander said. It would leave almost no one to forgive. "Also, as a practical matter the Iraqi bad guys don't really know if they have any blood on their hands, and probably assume they do," the commander said.

He suggested a detailed list of conditions that would make amnesty effective.

First, it should apply to everyone for any attacks against coalition forces, Iraqi security forces, sectarian violence and even tribal feuds, but it would not be offered to foreign fighters and specific, named Iraqi high-value individuals. But they should be offered hope, he said.

"Even for them, hold out the carrot of a fair trial and no death penalty if they turn themselves in and give up their weapons, ammunition, and details about their organizations," he said.

Second, amnesty should come with an expiration date - perhaps a week from its initial announcement, or a Muslim holiday, and it should be well publicized throughout the country.

Third, the penalties for continue resistance after the amnesty deadline should be steep "such as automatic five-year sentences at a Kurdish prison for anyone caught attacking (Iraqi or coalition forces); minimum 10 years for every person they kill in the attack; minimum 10 years for any (car bomb) maker; and the forfeit of property for any weapons, (bomb)-making materiel or propaganda found in their homes or businesses after the (amnesty expiration) date. Also (there should be) mandatory sentences for anyone involved in attacks against oil and power infrastructure."

Fourth, he believes there should be graduated rewards set up, with an expiration date, for weapons and ammunition turned in, and reward money offered for the turning in of high-value targets to be paid once the amnesty period is up.

Finally, the battalion commander said amnesty should coincide with a revision of the de-Ba'athification policy to allow lower members of the party full integration into the new Iraq.

"Those who were higher members (should get) a speedy resolution by presenting their case to a board, some of whom are Sunnis in good standing," he said. "The de-Ba'athification policy is (a) huge (issue) here in majority Sunni areas.

Like the Communist Party in Russia, to get anywhere you had to be in the party, so if you had any ambition you were a member. Many of these guys are educated and will prove useful to improve the quality of life in Iraq."

The Army captain agreed the Ba'ath policy needs to be changed.

"The technocratic elite of Iraq, and its middle class, were members of the Ba'ath party. We desperately need their involvement to recreate Iraq's civil society and to leave a functioning state in our wake," he said. "If that requires amnesty, that is a cost we must be willing to bear."

Eight US Marines Charged In Iraq Killing

In other news, seven marines and a navy corpsman were charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping and other offenses Wednesday in the killing of an Iraqi civilian in April, US military officials said.

The eight, who could face the death penalty, were accused of breaking into the home of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, knocking him to the ground and dragging him away with his hands and feet bound, according to charge sheets released by the US Marine Corps.

The charge sheets do not spell out how Awad was killed, but he was reported to have been shot to death on April 26 in the Iraqi town of Hamdania.

The marines have been accused of leaving a shovel and an AK-47 assault rifle on the ground next to him to make it appear that he was setting up a roadside explosion.

"Based on the findings of a criminal investigation," the marines and the corpsman "have been charged with offenses including kidnapping, murder and conspiracy in connection with the death of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania, Iraq," Marine Colonel Stewart Navarre told reporters.

Other charges against them include assault, larceny for allegedly stealing a shovel and an AK-47 assault rifle, housebreaking, making false official statements and obstruction of justice.

Navarre said it was too early to say whether military prosecutors would seek the death penalty if charges of premeditated murder are referred to court martial.

But a conviction on a charge of premeditated murder carries a penalty of death or life in prison under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

A so-called Article 32 investigation - the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury - will examine the evidence against the eight and submit recommendations to a commanding general who then must decide whether to refer the charges to trial by a military court.

Awad's alleged abduction and killing was first brought to the attention of senior marine leaders on May 1 by local Iraqi leaders.

After an initial investigation, 11 marines and the navy corpsman were sent back to Camp Pendleton.

Four of the marines were not charged Wednesday and restrictions on their movement have been lifted, Navarre said.

"I cannot discuss those marines further as the matter is still under investigation," Navarre said.

The case is one of a cluster involving allegations of US troops killing Iraqi civilians.

The US Army on Wednesday announced that a fourth soldier has been charged with premeditated murder in another case, the May 9 killing of three detainees near the Muthana Chemical Complex in Salaheddin province. They were shot to death.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has also been investigating allegations that marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians November 19 at the town of Haditha.

In that incident, marines are alleged to have gone on a rampage after a roadside bombing killed one of their comrades. They are alleged to have gone house to house shooting men, women and children. Five men were reported to have been killed in a taxi near the scene of the bombing.

The marines initially reported that 15 civilians were killed in a roadside bombing that killed the marine.

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