BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U Army private f...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U Army private forward Tuesday described the ever-present fear of death gripping his unit, whose members stand accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl and killing her family in Iraq's infamous "Triangle of Death."

"You're just walking a death walk," Pfc Justin Cros told a hearing to determine whether five equal soldiers must stand trial in the March 12 attack near Mahmoudiya.

Testimony during the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury has painted a picture of a demoralized unit, drained emotionally after the deaths of comrades and exhausted after the every-day attacks in the mostly Sunni Arab area, a fort of al-Qaida in Iraq and other religious extremists.

"It drives you nut You be wrought up like every step you might come by blown up," Cross told the hearing. "You just hit a point where you're like, 'If I die today, I die.' "

Cros said the unit was "full of despair," and he feared dying at his seat before he could go fireside

"I couldn't doze mainly for fear we would be attacked," Cros said. He said the deaths of sum of two units soldiers at a checkpoint "pretty a great deal crushed the platoon."

To cope with the stres he said, soldiers make go rounded to whiskey -- a violation of U regulations in Iraq -- and painkillers to ease their fears.

Sgt 1st Class Jeffrey Fenlason, the platoon sergeant, also testified. He was sent to the unit to restore discipline after several soldiers, including Pfc Steven fresh began suffering emotionally after losing comrades.

"I recall a conversation with him regarding his lack of belong to or caring for Iraqi life versus American soldiers' life," Fenlason said.

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