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MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine has been
charged with premeditated murder and could face the death
penalty for shooting two Iraqi men during a vehicle search
near a weapons cache in Iraq last year, the Marine's attorney
says.
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| Lt.
Pantano returning from a raid in Fallujah in 2004. |
The Marine Corps released a statement
on Thursday saying 2nd Lieutenant Ilario G. Pantano was
charged on February 1 for his involvement in the shooting
deaths of two Iraqi men on April 15, 2004, during combat
operations in Iraq.
The release said the commanding general
of the 2nd Marine Division, Major General Richard Huck,
had convened an investigation to determine if Pantano
should stand trial, and details of the charges would not
be released. A spokesman at Camp Lejuene, the North Carolina
base where Pantano is stationed, did not return calls
seeking comment,
Pantano's civilian attorney, Charles Gittens,
said the 33-year-old Marine was charged with premeditated
murder and "he's made it pretty firmly clear that
he is not guilty." The crime carries the death penalty
but the Marines have not said whether they will seek that
punishment if he is convicted, Gittens said.
Pantano was the commander of a Marine
platoon sent to search a suspected insurgent hide-out
in an area south of Baghdad on April 15. The Marines found
weapons, ammunition and bomb-making material in the building,
and saw two men fleeing in a sport utility vehicle, Gittens
said.
The Marines shot out the vehicle's tires
to force it to a halt, took the two men into custody and
ordered them to rip out the seats and the interior of
the vehicle during a search for booby traps and secret
compartments, Gittens said.
One of the men turned suddenly toward
Pantano "as if to attack," and the pair kept
moving when Pantano ordered them to stop, Gittens said.
"He (Pantano) thought he was in danger
and he fired and he killed them and that's what we do
to terrorists who don't listen to orders. ... It's a combat
situation, kill or be killed," the attorney said.
Pantano feared the men may have been trying
to detonate explosives remotely, Gittens said.
"What's he supposed to do, wait until
he's standing in the inferno?" the attorney added.
Pantano served three more months in Iraq
after the shooting and returned to Camp Lejeune when his
tour of duty ended. The former commodities trader is from
New York City and also fought during the first Gulf War,
Gittens said.
He had not been placed in confinement
or otherwise restricted at Camp Lejeune, the Marines said
in their statement.
The investigators could recommend Pantano
face court-martial, receive administrative discipline
or that the charges be dropped altogether, the Marines
said.
Pantano's mother, Merry Pantano, has established
a Web site (http://www.defendthedefenders.org/pages/1/index.htm)
to raise money and awareness for the defence of her son
and other soldiers and Marines facing combat-related charges.
"I won't sit idly by while his reputation,
honour and sacrifices are diminished by bureaucrats squeamish
with the sight of blood while our country is at war,"
she says on the site.
(Tony's Note: I obviously don't
know all the details, but it sounds like this was a case
of a commander doing his job quite properly. The murder
charge is a travesty. This is Political Correctness gone
haywire.)
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