Army Vet Charged With Fraud

[Brooke Rowe <world-national-security@pacbell.net>]

Army Vet Charged With Fraud

(EXCERPT) Fri Feb 8, 8:00 PM ET, by JOHN GEROME, Associated Press
Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An Army veteran who figured in the exposure of the
refugee killings at No Gun Ri, South Korea (news - web sites), in 1950
was charged Friday with scheming to defraud the federal government.

Edward Lee Daily falsely claimed he was a Korean POW and that he had
been wounded by shrapnel, U.S. Attorney Richard F. Clippard said.

Daily was one of a dozen U.S. Army veterans cited by The Associated
Press in 1999 as witnesses corroborating the accounts of South Korean
survivors that the 7th Cavalry Regiment killed a large number of
refugees at No Gun Ri.

Daily later acknowledged he could not have been there at the time, and
had learned about the killings second-hand.

>From February 1986 to October 2001, Daily received compensation from
the Department of Veteran's Affairs and its predecessor, the Veteran's
Administration, based on an application he filed listing the injury
and claiming POW status, Clippard said.

Benefits included $324,911 in monetary payments that were wired to his
bank and $87,928 in medical care for his claimed service-related
disabilities, Clippard said.

Daily was indicted on a charge of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces
up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

He could not immediately be reached for comment. A call to the
Clarksville, Tenn., home phone number provided by directory assistance
reached a recording saying the number had been disconnected.

His public defender, Sumter Camp, did not return phone calls from the
AP.

Clippard said Daily had not been arrested and that an arraignment date
had not yet been set.

A Pentagon (news - web sites) investigation last year confirmed that
U.S. troops killed the refugees at No Gun Ri. At least 35 ex-GIs have
described the events to the AP or Pentagon investigators or both.

The killings were first reported by a team of AP reporters, who won
the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020209/ap_on_re_us/veteran_charged_1

---------------------------
   Brooke Rowe
   Associate Librarian
   The American War Library
   http://www.americanwarlibrary.com