Marine faces murder charge

[Schweddy]

Source: NewsMax

On April 15, 2004, while serving as a platoon commander in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment in Iraq, Pantano was ordered to reconnoiter a reported terrorist hiding spot. He led his "quick-reaction" platoon to the site, a home in the town of Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad and not far from the bloody town of Fallujah.



Pantano's orders were to raid the house and neutralize the reported nest of insurgents holed up there with their arms cache.



The intelligence turned out to be correct, and Pantano's Marines discovered weapons and bomb-making equipment in the house. As the Marines were securing the building, two Iraqis bolted from the site to a nearby truck, a sport utility vehicle.

The Marines charged after the suspects and brought the vehicle to a halt by shooting the tires out. Pantano ordered the pair out of the truck and, in accordance with standard operating procedures, told the captives to tear the interior of the truck apart to ensure that it was not booby-trapped.



What exactly happened next remains uncertain.



The Marine Corps has not released any official rendition of what it alleges happened. However, Pantano's civilian attorney, Charles Gittins, says that the two Iraqi men began chattering to one another, then the Iraqis made what Pantano determined to be a threatening move. When told to stop in their native language by Pantano, they continued in his direction.

As Pantano described it to the Naval Investigative Service:

"After another time of telling them to be quiet, they quickly pivoted their bodies toward each other. They did this simultaneously, while still speaking in muffled Arabic. I thought that they were attacking me, and I decided to fire my M-16A4 service rifle in self-defense. ..."

After the fact, it is determined that neither suspect was armed nor rigged with explosives.

Gittins advises, however, "After the killing, the number of attacks in that area went down to almost zero." It was not until months later when Pantano returned to Camp Lejeune that he was informed he was being charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of the two Iraqis – a charge that theoretically could carry the death penalty.

Premeditated murder!

 

[Batman]

premeditated: To plan, arrange, or plot (a crime, for example) in advance.

This may be a deliberate overcharge, knowing they cannot prove the case. Still this is bad for troop morale.

 

[skabanger13]

i thank this is ridicules as well as the other cases. we give are solders guns and bullets send them to a hostile environment and expect them not to defend their selfs. not only does it decrees moral but than we have the lefty's saying see the American solders are out of control human rights human rights blah blah blah and thay just keep degrading our solders which also brings down our solders moral and makes the terrorists feal all warm and fuzzy.

 

[freedom69714]

Their an old Indian saying you do not have the right to judge me unless you walk A mile in my mocasans ...........I think of this every time one of our best and bravest are being charged with any type of crimmnal behavour .

pop up spell check ( I can not used spell check)

How can I judge this man I do not have the right ..
We put a young man / woman into an extremly danganours sisuwation and expect Him /her
To act in A certain way as if we are reading a book ....

I do not have the right to judge him / her ....You do not have the right to judge him / her ...only he milltary brothers and sisters have that right and..... Even at that I'll question this because of politics .

We put these brave men and woman into A hell hole and then expect them to act like we would when we are watching A movie

It's no movie when your life is put on the line .

Walk a mile in my mocasans
Freedom69

 

[skabanger13]

good job freedom, and i agree with you, which i don't thank will happen often. i thank its horrible that are solders are in a place where thay have to fight for their lives, thay have to make split second decisions that may mean the lives of them and solders under them, and people back hear hold them under a micro scope criticizing them, and putting them on trial for murder. the people that are perpetrating all this scrutiny on our solders, need to be put in a situation where their life could be decided on making a split second decision, i was in the military i know what its like to have to thank quick, we try to make the best decisions we can but wear not all perfect.