Hearing set for Marines accused of mistreating prisoners

[thedrifter]

January 26, 2004

Hearing set for Marines accused of mistreating prisoners

By Seth Hettena
Associated Press


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Four Marine reservists are due in military court Monday to face charges of mistreating Iraqi prisoners at a detention facility in southern Iraq last year where one man was killed.
Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez, and his superior officer, Maj. Clark A. Paulus, face the most serious charge, negligent homicide, stemming from the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Baath Party official. Both men also are accused of cruelty, assault and dereliction of duty.

Hatab was killed on June 6, 2003 when Hernandez grabbed him by the neck and accidentally snapped a bone in his throat, according to the Marine Corps. Paulus, who faces an additional charge of making false official statements, was commanding officer of the detention facility near Nasiriyah, Iraq at the time of Hatab’s death.

Hatab had been captured a month earlier with a weapon from the Army unit that included Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the Marines said. Lynch’s unit was ambushed in March in Nasiriyah. Eleven soldiers were killed and six were captured — including the West Virginia teenager whose rescue made her one of the war’s most enduring heroes.

Prosecutors will begin presenting evidence Monday against Hernandez, Paulus, Sgt. Gary Pittman and Lance Cpl. William Roy at an Article 32 hearing at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base north of San Diego. Pittman and Roy are both accused of dereliction of duty and assault. Roy is also charged with cruelty.

The Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, will help commanders at the base determine whether the four will be court-martialed.

A total of eight reservists are accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Camp Whitehorse, a small, makeshift jail for possible enemy prisoners rounded up during raids in Iraq. Three reservists have been ordered to face special courts-martial.

An Article 32 proceeding was held last month for Maj. William Vickers, 36, who oversaw the camp before Hatab’s death. He was accused of dereliction of duty for failing to stop his men from mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

At Camp Whitehorse, prisoners were kept awake and ordered to remain standing for 50 minutes at a time for hours on end — conditions that are forbidden by military law, according to testimony at Vickers’ hearing.

Col. William Gallo, the officer overseeing the Article 32 hearings, has not yet issued a recommendation on whether Vickers should be court-martialed.

The other members of the unit ordered to face special courts-martial are Sgt. Albert Rodriguez-Martinez, accused of making false official statements and assault; Lance Cpl. Andrew D. Rodney accused of assault; and Lance Cpl. Konstantin Mikholap accused of making false official statements and assault.






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2586370.php


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Details of Iraqi POW's death vary in hearing




Three Marines face charges all tied to abuse of prisoners

By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 27, 2004

CAMP PENDLETON – Far different scenarios emerged yesterday during the start of a military court hearing into how an Iraqi prisoner of war died while in the custody of Marine reservists.

Nagem Sadoon Hatab died June 6 at Camp White Horse, a detention center run by the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment near Nasiriyah, Iraq. The Marine unit is based in New England but was attached to the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton.

Hatab was naked and covered in his own filth after three days of physical abuse and medical neglect, Marine prosecutors said in their opening statement. They said an autopsy found that Hatab, 52, had several broken ribs and died from essentially having his windpipe crushed.

Maj. Clarke A. Paulus, Sgt. Gary P. Pittman and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez face charges in the military's version of a preliminary hearing. All allegations are tied to abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

The three defendants said little during the hearing in a cramped courtroom on the base within earshot of Marines training on the firing range for their next deployment to Iraq.

Paulus – the commanding officer at White Horse at the time of Hatab's death – and Hernandez are accused of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment and assault. Pittman is accused of dereliction of duty and assault. Paulus also is charged with making false official statements.

"What the case is about is what degree of care did the Marines owe the detainees," prosecutor Capt. Leon Francis said.

He said Hatab was abused as soon as he arrived June 3 at the makeshift camp, where prisoners were forced to relieve themselves into cardboard boxes because there were no toilet facilities.

Hatab was treated harshly, Francis said, because of his alleged connection to an attack on an Army convoy.

Paulus ordered Hernandez to drag Hatab by the neck, the prosecutor said, after the Iraqi man – covered in his own feces – couldn't move on his own from one holding area to another.

Jack B. Zimmerman, representing Hernandez, said that his client gently moved Hatab by his neck because there was no other way to maneuver the filthy man.

He argued Hatab was in poor physical condition and that his most serious wounds were not inflicted by Hernandez.

"The cause of death is going to be clearly in question, and it clearly did not involve Lance Cpl. Hernandez," said Zimmerman, an attorney from Houston.

Paulus' attorney, Keith T. Higgins from Worcester, Mass., said little during the first day of the proceedings. His client faces some of the tougher charges.

Staff Sgt. Freddy Tellocastillo, the top enlisted man at White Horse when Hatab died, told the court during testimony that Hernandez did not abuse Hatab and that Paulus did not allow mistreatment of prisoners.

Hatab, a ranking Baath Party member, was being held after the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Battalion that killed 11 soldiers and left Pfc. Jessica Lynch a prisoner of war. On a tip, Marines questioned Hatab, who led them to a M-16 identified as coming from the 507th.

A fourth Marine, Lance Cpl. William S. Roy, also was supposed to be a defendant at the hearing. But he has struck an agreement with Marine prosecutors to offer testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution, said his attorney, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr.

Rehkopf said Roy also would be a witness for the defense.

Col. William Gallo is the investigating officer for the hearings, which were expected to last about two weeks. After listening to the evidence, Gallo will make individual recommendations to Maj. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. Mattis will then decide whether to try the Marines in military court.

Maj. William F. Vickers, commander of the White Horse detention center before Paulus, had an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, in December, also before Gallo.

There has been no recommendation whether he should go to court-martial on one charge of dereliction of duty.

Prosecutors argued that Vickers knew that his guards were making prisoners stand for as long as 50 minutes an hour for as long as 10 hours and that this constituted abuse of prisoners he should have not allowed.



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Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040127-9999_1m27marines.html

Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[Sgt Sostand]

Be Dam if you do be Dam if you dont