The "Pendleton '8' K/3/5 - Hamdaniya" The Death of the Marine Corps?

[LivinSoFree]

Talk about a railroad... that damn corpsman was standing in ranks with those Marines until he decided to take a sweeter deal... Here's a politically motivated "cleanup" if I've ever seen one.

[bootlace15]

Just got an e-mail from Senator Satorums office. He states that he is in contact with the Department OF THE Navy. They have assured him that our Marines are being treated Humainly. However Senator Santorum assures me he will keepa very close on this topic. What a vote getter.......... I just hope Senator Santorum can do something.....

Bootlace15

[thedrifter]

Marine to plead in murder case

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
Thu Oct 26, 4:49 AM ET

The first combat tour of Pfc. John J. Jodka III ended just four months after it began, when he and seven others were accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man.

On Thursday, the 20-year-old Marine infantryman will appear at his court-martial, where he was expected to plead guilty to lesser charges and tell his account of what happened the night of April 26.

Jodka's attorney Joseph Casas said the San Diego area native would plead guilty to assault and obstruction of justice in the case, which involves six other Marines and a Navy corpsman.

Jodka was charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, assault and housebreaking. Casas has declined to discuss details. Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 15.

On Oct. 6, the Navy corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy in a deal with prosecutors. He testified at his court-martial and agreed to do so at future court proceedings.

In his testimony, Bacos said he and the Marines were searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times and released. The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, Bacos said.

The squad took Awad to a roadside hole and shot him before planting a shovel and AK-47 to make it appear he was an insurgent planting a bomb, Bacos said. He was sentenced to a year's confinement; murder and other charges were dropped.

According to government charge sheets, Jodka — the squad's youngest and lowest-ranked member — was one of five Marines who shot at Awad, while others stood by and then helped cover up the killing.

"He was trained to follow his leaders and do as they commanded without questioning," his grandfather Joe Snodgrass said Wednesday. "He was trying to be the best Marine possible."

Snodgrass, 71, said Jodka has paid for any wrongdoing, noting his grandson has been locked in the brig since May.

"Whatever he may admit to, I think that the punishment he has already received is enough," Snodgrass said, adding Jodka fought bravely in Iraq. Snodgrass noted his grandson's flak jacket was peppered with bullet holes from when he'd been shot at on patrol.

Former Army prosecutor Tom Umberg said other Marines might follow Jodka's lead and negotiate pleas.

"As the government's evidence gets stronger, the defendants start to look around," Umberg said. "They want to be sooner rather than later."

However, Umberg said any decision to make a deal would be difficult.

"You are trained from day one to support your buddy, and also taught that there are certain values as a soldier or Marine you are fighting to uphold," he said. "The resolution for a young man can be heart-wrenching."

Five of the remaining six Marines face courts-martial. A decision on whether squad leader Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins will be referred to trial has yet to be announced.

[thedrifter]

Jodka describes killing Iraqi citizen by Marines
By David Hasemyer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

12:09 p.m. October 26, 2006

CAMP PENDLETON – An Encinitas Marine testified Thursday that he helped kill an Iraqi civilian last spring in Hamdaniya, Iraq.

During his court-martial at Camp Pendleton, Pfc. John Jodka IIIsaid he was one of five Marines who shot at what he thought was an insurgent while the other three members of his unit looked on.

In reality, the victim was Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a 52-year-old civilian whom the squad abducted after not finding their targeted man. The unit's members had placed him in a roadside hole, Jodka recounted, all part of an effort to make it look like they were defending themselves against an insurgent who started a firefight while planting a bomb.

“I couldn't see the man in the hole at the time we were firing, sir,” Jodka told the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones. “I only saw him stand up and run down the road to the north.”

Awad staggered a few feet before falling dead, Jodka said. He ended up with at least 13 rounds of bullets in his head and chest, according to documents filed by prosecutors.

His body was taken to an Iraqi police station. Jodka said the unit's members talked about what had happened on a roof back at their base.

He testified: “Once on the roof, (our leader) gathered members of the squad and he said if anyone asks what happened, the words he used were, 'You know what to say.' I took that to mean if anyone asked, we would say that we had seen this man approach with a shovel and begin digging and that he engaged us and that we had lawfully engaged him.”

Hours before the April 26 killing, Jodka said, his unit's leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, sat under a palm grove with other Marines and hatched a plot to kill an insurgent who had been released three times from jail.

It was a well-orchestrated plan that each person in the squad – including Jodka, its youngest and least experience member – agreed to carry out, he said rapidly during questioning from Jones.

The chilling details were part of Jodka's plea bargain, which requires him to testify against his co-defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Besides clenching his fists, Jodka showed no emotion while he was arraigned on charges of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. His parents and grandparents sat behind him.

Jodka faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge at his sentencing hearing on Nov. 15. He could have qualified for life imprisonment if found guilty on more serious charges such as murder and kidnapping.

Jodka formalized his plea deal at a hearing Thursday in Camp Pendleton. Prosecutors had said before Thursday's hearing that they would not seek the death penalty against him.

Jodka and the other seven defendants have been confined since early May, and charges were brought against them in June. Through their lawyers and parents, the eight men professed innocence and declared their determination to prove it through courts-martial.

But on Oct. 6, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos agreed to testify against the other defendants in exchange for a lighter sentence. During a one-day trial to formalize his plea bargain, Bacos also identified Hutchins as the mastermind of the execution plot.

In exchange for his plea, the prosecution is expected to drop all other charges against Bacos, including murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

Bacos told authorities that the servicemen agreed to enter Hamdaniya to find suspected terrorist Saleh Gowad, who had been arrested by Iraqi authorities but was released three times before.

Since they did not find Gowad, Bacos said the group then went next door and abducted Awad instead.

Besides Bacos and Jodka, the other defendants are awaiting courts-martial slated to begin early next year. At least two of them are said to be negotiating plea agreements. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service started investigating the servicemen in early May after Iraqis reported Awad's death to Marine officials during a regularly scheduled meeting.

Staff writer Angelica Martinez contributed to this report.

Breaking News Team: (619) 293-1010; breaking@uniontrib.com

[thedrifter]

Teachers say Jodka was kind, considerate

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer

ENCINITAS ---- Hours after Marine Pfc. John "JJ" Jodka III pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice, two of his high school teachers Thursday defended him as kind and considerate.

Jodka attended San Dieguito Academy for four years and graduated in 2004. For all four of those years, Jodka attended the daily, 20-minute homeroom class of veteran teacher Blaze Newman.

When a reporter inquired about Jodka on Thursday, Newman became emotional, wept and cursed the military.

Composing herself, she said, "When I had him, he was a sweet, gentle, responsible, considerate human being."

Jodka also took care of his friends, she said.

"I would have trusted him with my life," Newman said.

Jodka turned 20 in April, about four months into his first deployment to Iraq as a member of 2nd Platoon, Kilo Company attached to Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

On April 26, he was the youngest and least experienced of eight Camp Pendleton men accused of plotting to kidnap and kill an Iraqi man in Hamdania, Iraq.

He is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 15.

As a boy, Jodka attended St. James Academy, a Catholic school in Solana Beach.

He moved on to San Dieguito Academy, a public high school in Encinitas with a long history of military service. Nineteen former students died in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. A memorial on the campus recognizes their sacrifices.

Also on campus, in a garden of native plants, a large rock is painted with the words "Make No War."

Next to the garden is the art room of teacher John Ratajkowski, where Jodka was a student.

"I actually liked him," Ratajkowski said. "I thought he was a pretty nice kid. He just sort of took care of business."

The 2004 yearbook shows Jodka smiling in his senior photograph. He had no apparent involvement with clubs or athletics.

After graduating from San Dieguito, the Encinitas native enrolled briefly at UC Riverside before joining the Marines.

Across town from the school, at the American Legion San Dieguito Post 416, a Vietnam veteran from Encinitas, Joseph Farrell, said higher-ranking Marines should take the heat for a crime that left a retired Iraqi policeman and father of 14 dead.

"I would think the worst thing he should have (happen to him) is to bust him back to private," Farrell said.

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.

[thedrifter]

Heat is on rest of Hamdania defendants to plead

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- Pressure to resolve their cases without going to trial is mounting on the remaining six defendants in the slaying of an Iraqi civilian last spring, the mother of one of the Marines charged in the case said Friday.

"Things are getting pretty hard on the men," Diann Shumate said. "They are getting scared and there's a lot of pressure being put on them to take a plea deal."

Her son, Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr., faces a court-martial early next year, as do four others from the 2nd platoon of Kilo Company attached to Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

A decision on whether the unit leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, will be ordered to trial is expected in the next few days.

Shumate said the pressure is also getting more intense on the men's family members to come up with the money to pay their sons' civilian attorneys and to travel to Camp Pendleton on weekends to visit them in the brig.

"It's been a long time since this started," she said in reference to the troops being jailed in late May and charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related offenses in June. "Finances are running low, and it's all just been really hard lately."

Fueling the angst for the six Marines and their families are the guilty pleas prosecutors reached with two defendants, Navy Petty Officer Melson Bacos, the squad's medical corpsman, and Pfc. John Jodka III, an Encinitas native.

Jodka pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the April 26 killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who was shot to death by members of the squad in the Iraqi village of Hamdania.

Jodka will be sentenced Nov. 15 during a hearing that will reveal the terms of the deal he made.

Shumate said during a telephone interview from her home in Washington state that she has no ill will toward Bacos or Jodka, who must testify against the other defendants if prosecutors call upon them.

"I don't blame them for doing what they did," she said. "I can totally understand why ---- I just feel bad that it has come to this."

Steven Immel, Shumate's attorney, declined comment when asked if a plea deal is in the works for his client.

Joseph Low, attorney for Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, said there was no plea deal on the table for his client. He acknowledged that the prosecution has additional armor with the implicating statements made by Jodka and Bacos. Each testified that all of the men willingly participated in a planned kidnapping and killing, and did so knowing they were breaking the law.

"Everything is difficult in this case," Low said. "It was difficult for the men who took a plea deal because I know they didn't want to do so, but were scared.

"It's a difficult case for the Marine Corps, a difficult case for the families, and a difficult case for the nation."

The Marine Corps will not comment on whether negotiations continue with the defendants.

Gary Solis, a former Marine legal officer who now teaches military law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said the defense attorneys face a steep challenge.

"There's not much stronger evidence than the testimony of an eyewitness participant," Solis said, noting that the Jodka and Bacos plea agreements require they testify truthfully or see their deals withdrawn.

"Their pleas mean the attorney now can't defend on the facts ---- they have to raise some other defense, such as they thought they were shooting a lawful target."

Each Saturday since shortly after the men were incarcerated, a group of people have held rallies at Camp Pendleton's main gate. One of the organizers, Christine Bruce, said the rallies were not necessarily focused on guilt or innocence.

"We started our rallies because of the conditions they were being held in at the start," she said in reference to troops initially being shackled when they met with attorneys and family members and forced to eat their meals in their cells.

The pickets believe the rallies helped lead to a removal of those restrictions, Bruce said.

"We never said that these guys didn't do this," she said. "We said they are innocent until proven guilty and we wanted them treated fairly. We respect the system and any findings that come out."

Don Greenlaw, a retired Oceanside resident and former Marine who has helped raise money for the men's defense, is going to visit the accused troops today, something he does routinely to help keep their spirits up and address any needs they may have.

"The only thing I can say to these guys now is that they are the only ones who know what really happened and to make sure they are telling their attorneys and their families the absolute truth."

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

2nd Marine to plead in Iraq killing

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Another Marine charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man has agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges, his attorney said Monday.

Thomas Watt, attorney for Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, declined to discuss details of the agreement but confirmed that a deal has been reached and that his client is due in court next week to plead guilty to some charges.

Jackson, 23, of Tracy, is the third service member to have made a plea deal in the case, in which seven Camp Pendleton-based Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with murdering 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

Last week, another Marine, Pfc. John Jodka III, pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The first to make a deal was Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, the Navy corpsman on patrol with the Marines. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy.

A Marine Corps spokeswoman, Capt. Amy Malugani, declined to comment on Jackson's case.

At their courts-martial, Jodka and Bacos testified about the death. In return, prosecutors dropped murder and other charges against them. Bacos was sentenced to one year in prison; Jodka's sentencing is set for Nov. 15.

Bacos said the squad entered the Iraqi town of Hamdania on April 26 while searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times, then released. The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad.

Bacos said the squad took Awad to a roadside hole and shot him before planting a shovel and AK-47 with him to make it appear he was an insurgent planting a bomb. Jodka said he and other Marines shot at Awad.

Both Jodka and Bacos singled out their squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, as hatching a plan to kidnap an insurgent. Hutchins' attorney, Rich Brannon, has said he did not believe Hutchins did anything wrong.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

3rd Marine to Plead Guilty in Iraq Killing

By THOMAS WATKINS
Associated Press Writer

October 31, 2006, 5:08 AM EST

SAN DIEGO -- Another Marine charged with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man has agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges, his attorney said Monday.

Thomas Watt, attorney for Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, declined to discuss details of the agreement but confirmed that a deal has been reached and that his client is due in court next week to plead guilty to some charges.

Jackson, 23, of Tracy, is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, housebreaking and larceny. He is the third service member to have made a plea deal in the case, in which seven Camp Pendleton-based Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with murdering 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

Last week, another Marine who faced charges similar to Jackson's, Pfc. John Jodka III, pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The first to make a deal was Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, the Navy corpsman on patrol with the Marines. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy.

A Marine Corps spokeswoman, Capt. Amy Malugani, declined to comment on Jackson's case.

At their courts-martial, Jodka and Bacos testified about the death. In return, prosecutors dropped murder and other charges against them. Bacos was sentenced to one year in prison; Jodka's sentencing is set for Nov. 15.

Bacos said the squad entered the Iraqi town of Hamdania on April 26 while searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times, then released. The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad, Bacos said.

The squad took Awad to a roadside hole and shot him before planting a shovel and AK-47 with him to make it appear he was an insurgent planting a bomb, Bacos said. Jodka said he and other Marines shot at Awad.

Both Jodka and Bacos singled out their squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, as hatching a plan to kidnap an insurgent. Hutchins' attorney, Rich Brannon, has said he did not believe Hutchins did anything wrong.

Gary D. Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge advocate who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, said he was surprised the prosecution struck another deal.

"If you are a prosecutor, then prosecute," Solis said. "One has to ask, if the prosecution is so unsure of itself, if it needs to have multiple layers of witness testimony, it must be a much weaker case than it appears."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 06, 2006
Marine details run-up to Hamdaniya killing
Plea deal compels leatherneck to testify in other 3/5 cases

By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The junior-most Marine with an infantry squad charged in an Iraqi’s death described to a military judge Oct. 26 how he and his squad leader followed through on a plot to kidnap and kill a man they believed was an insurgent.

Pfc. John J. Jodka III, testifying at his general court-martial, said that Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III “developed a plan to kidnap and kill a man named Saleh Gowad ... [who] we had identified as a terrorist.”

Jodka told the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, that the eight men on an ambush patrol mission near Hamdaniya, Iraq, planned to shoot Gowad, who was on the battalion’s high-value target list, and plant an assault rifle and shovel near his body to make it look as if the Iraqi had been planting a roadside bomb.

However, before they grabbed the man from his house, Hutchins gathered the men in a circle. “Sergeant Hutchins then went around to each member of the squad and asked” about the plan, Jodka said in court.

“If any person had an objection,” the plan would be dropped, Jodka said.

“I agreed to that plan,” he said, “and I agreed to go forward without objection.”

However, the man killed in the wee hours of April 26 wasn’t Gowad but Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a 52-year-old neighbor.

The squad members took Awad from his home when they were unable to locate Gowad, according to testimony by Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos at his Oct. 6 court-martial.

Reduced sentence expected

Jodka walked into court the day of his trial with his four attorneys and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice by lying to investigators about the man’s death.

The maximum punishment the judge could impose is 15 years in prison, reduction to private, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. But under a plea agreement, Jodka is expected to receive a lesser sentence at a Nov. 15 hearing; in exchange, he is expected to testify in other cases involving his squad with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.

Under military law, a judge can accept a guilty plea only if he is convinced the defendant committed the crime and the plea is voluntary.

With the agreement, the Marine Corps dropped charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, housebreaking, assault, larceny, obstruction of justice and making a false official statement.

It was unclear from the limited questioning and testimony Oct. 26 whether Jodka knew at the time of the incident that the man the Marines shot wasn’t Gowad, the initial target. But, the judge told him, “It’s irrelevant who that individual is.”

Staging the assault

The shooting occurred near an intersection of routes Hurricane and Penguin at about 1:30 a.m., the Marine told the judge.

Hutchins “asked all the members of the squad to get in line ... and fire towards the road where the man was staged, and assault across,” Jodka said, speaking in a clear, confident voice throughout the hearing. Jodka was among those firing, using a squad automatic weapon.

As some members of the squad fired at Awad, two others fired AK47 rifles into the air “to make it seem like we were receiving incoming fire.”

Their location, he told the judge, was five miles from the company’s patrol base, and tracers and muzzle flashes would be seen by sentries on rooftops and reported to higher command.

Shortly afterward, he resumed his security position on the western flank, where he heard additional shots, Jodka testified. When he turned to look, he saw Hutchins and two Marines standing near the man’s body.

Bacos, during his court-martial, had testified that Hutchins and Cpl. Trent D. Thomas fired their weapons at close range at the man’s head and chest, respectively.

During an after-action briefing with the squad members a few hours later, Hutchins “said to us, if anyone were to ask us about the ambush ... ‘You know what to say,’” Jodka told the judge. “I took that to mean, if anyone were to ask ... we were to say that we had seen the man approach ... and he engaged us with AK47 fire.”

Jodka stuck to that story under questioning by Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Army Criminal Investigation Command agents in May.

Before accepting the plea agreement, Jones asked the Marine about his role in the shooting. “Did you immediately realize ... that this was an unlawful order?” the judge asked.

“Yes, I did,” Jodka said.

“You could have walked away. You could have not participated in this?” the judge asked.

“Yes, sir,” Jodka replied.

Jodka is the second of eight men with 3/5 charged in the Iraqi man’s death to cut a deal with prosecutors. Bacos pleaded guilty Oct. 6 to conspiracy and kidnapping charges and received a 12-month sentence, including pretrial confinement.

Meeting with reporters after the court session, Joseph Casas, one of Jodka’s attorneys, cautioned against jumping to conclusions on the Marine’s role that day, but he declined to discuss the plea arrangement until the Nov. 15 sentencing.

At that time, Jodka will get to explain the “pressures” he felt in Iraq and “the stress of combat and how that affected the decisions he made that day,” said Casas, a San Diego attorney and a former Marine and judge advocate in the Navy.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

The Haditha Massacre, One Year Later
Debate Over Whether Marines Engaged in Rules of Conduct or Committed Murder Continues One Year After Iraqi Family's Killing
By CYNTHIA MCFADDEN

Oct. 30, 2006 — - Almost a year ago, 12-year-old Sofa Younis lost her entire family.

Her home in Haditha, Iraq, was raided by American Marines on Nov. 19, 2005.

"They broke into the bathroom. They detonated a hand grenade into the bathroom. We were all sitting in a room. Then comes the American soldier, and [he] shot us all," Sofa said. "I pretended to be dead, and he did not know about me."

Sofa survived, but 24 Iraqi civilians died that day, including six children and four women. All 24 were killed by U.S. Marines from the Kilo Company.

American military authorities have investigated the events of that day and have compiled a 3,500-page report that has yet to be released.

The Kilo Company has been sent home to Camp Pendleton in California. Two officers from the company have been relieved from duty, but no charges have yet been brought against any members of the company.

'That Happens Every Day in Iraq'

After arriving in Haditha just 48 hours after the killings, embedded photojournalist Lucien Read did not think he was looking at a crime scene.

"What I was told when I got back and what I saw that day in the house where the bodies were, everything sort of fit together and not in a way that said to me, 'An awful crime has taken place here.' It said to me, 'That happens every day in Iraq,'" Read said. "This is just one more awful day in a long string of them."

According to an article written by William Langewiesche in the current issue of Vanity Fair, the morning of Nov. 19, 2005, began normally for the Kilo Company.

"This patrol was delivering a hot breakfast to an outpost, and on the way back the fourth Humvee was hit by a very powerful improvised land mine known as an IED," Langewiesche said.

Two Marines in the Humvee were injured, and a third, 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, was killed.

Langewiesche argues that the subsequent deaths of the Iraqi civilians happened under the rules of military engagement.

"The accusation is criminal conduct, murder and war crimes as opposed to legitimate killing and unfortunately collateral casualties," Langewiesche said. "It seems quite clear to me, though, having spent quite a bit of time on this, for the most part the killing was not a question of murder."

Retired Four Star Army Gen. Jack Keane disagrees, based on the alleged facts of the case.

"With no fire coming from the house, which is probably what happened here, to go in there and summarily shoot people who were in those rooms, it is a war crime in every sense of the word," Keane said.

Emotion Transformed Into Hate Transformed Into Revenge

However, Keane maintains that despite the indefensibility of the killings, it is easy to understand how the loss of a comrade could fuel these deaths.

"They took the emotion of that and turned that into hate and then into revenge. And I believe acted more like a gang than a military organization," Keane said.

According to Langewiesche, though, the Marines believed they were still under attack after the IED exploded.

"Into this very tense situation drove a white opal car coming down the road," he said. "And there were five men aboard, and we know that the Marines ordered them out of the car, stopped the car legitimately, and very quickly afterward killed them all."

All five of the Iraqis in the car were shot while running away from the Marines. The Marines headed toward a house from which they believed the fire was coming. They shot a man at the gate and an old woman in the hallway of the house.

But according to Langewiesche, the Marines likely got caught up in the scene and did not realize who they were shooting at.

"Did they see an old woman and they shot her? Or did they see a figure down the hallway and did they shoot in dust and confusion and dimness and racket and noise?" Langewiesche asked.

Keane takes issue with Langewiesche's assessment.

"You're pointing a weapon at a child. You are pointing the weapon at a woman who are not using weapons against you. You know that you have no reason pulling that trigger," he said.

"You have been trained not to do that. You have been trained to target people who are trying to hurt you or to deal with people who have weapons or people who you knew were just armed and you are not certain what their status is," he said.

Unknown Solution to a Known Problem

Keane and Langewiesche agree on one point -- that the house-to-house patrols by U.S. troops, often intruding into private homes and detaining individuals, alienate ordinary Iraqis and fuels the insurgency.

"What a terrifying experience it would be if people 6 feet tall with big burly arms came through the door with weapons and a sense of aggressiveness and took control of our families and escorted the males rather firmly out the door," Keane said. "That is something that would be a defining life experience and everybody that was there would never forget it for the rest of their life."

According to Langewiesche, the patrols are not a new problem to Iraqis.

"It's a cycle. It's well-known," he said. "This is not rocket science. The insurgents themselves know it and it's … the problem is very well-known. The solution is very well unknown."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

General to mom: Hamdania defendant will stay in brig
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
North County Times

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The general overseeing the prosecution of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman accused in the kidnapping and killing an Iraqi has told a defendant's mother that he often thinks about her son.

Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis made the remark in a letter sent to Deanna Pennington, mother of Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, who along with six other Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged on June 21 with kidnapping and killing Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania, Iraq.

"Your letter moves me, and as a leader of Marines, my concern for the young men and women who have selflessly chosen to defend our nation and our way of life is foremost in my mind," his letter reads. "Your son is no less in my thoughts than any other Marine or sailor; and in many respects, even more so due to his current circumstances."

Disclosure of the Mattis' letter comes as Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson is set to become the third defendant in the case to take a plea deal with prosecutors. Jackson is scheduled to appear in a Camp Pendleton courtroom at 1 p.m. Monday for his court-martial.

As commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Mattis is the convening authority in the case arising out of Awad's slaying on April 26. A copy of her letter and Mattis' response was provided to the North County Times by Deanna Pennington.

Mattis also responded to her complaints about the treatment and conditions the men face in the brig since being jailed in late May, saying he has personally looked into each of her concerns.

"I give you my full assurance that his situation and the related matters will receive my continued evaluation," Mattis wrote. "I also assure you that I take my responsibilities in this matter very seriously and will do my best to do my duty fairly in all aspects of these cases."

The general also rebuffs Pennington's request that her son be let out of the brig pending further proceedings in his case.

"I regret I can take no action on our request to release your son at this time," Mattis wrote.

Previous efforts by attorneys for the men from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to have them released from the brig have been unsuccessful. Marine Corps officials have said the men are considered flight risks because of the seriousness of the offenses they face.

The deal reached by Jackson will become public as his case is heard before Lt. Col. Joseph Lisiecki, appointed to preside over his case.

Jackson's attorney, Thomas Watt of Vista, said earlier this week that his client is accepting a negotiated plea offered by military prosecutors, but would not provide the specific details of the agreement reached with prosecutors.

Jackson was originally charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, assault, larceny, housebreaking and obstruction of justice.

On Oct. 6, Navy Corpsman Melson Bacos pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap and making false official statements and was sentenced to 12 months in the brig with credit for time served.

His plea was followed by that of Pfc. John Jodka III of Encinitas, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice on Oct. 26. Jodka is to be sentenced Nov. 15. The deals reached by Bacos and Jodka require that they testify against the remaining defendants if called by prosecutors at any future trials.

During the hearings in which they entered guilty pleas, Jodka and Bacos each told a military judge that every man charged in the case agreed to the plot that they said was organized by the senior man there that day, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III.

Bacos and Jodka also said that they knew what they were doing was wrong.

Hutchins has denied any wrongdoing.

Deanna Pennington said Friday that her son is not among at least two others Marines, aside from Jackson, who are reportedly said to be considering plea deals.

"We are not looking for a deal," she said. "I talked to Robert today and he is not going to make a deal. I just want him out of the brig so he can prepare his defense under some kind of normalcy before he goes on to his court-martial."

After Monday's hearing in Jackson's case, the Marine Corps has scheduled three days of hearings beginning Tuesday for motions and other matters in the court-martial of Cpl. Marshall L. "Magic" Magincalda, who has pleaded innocent to the murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and related charges he faces.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

[thedrifter]

Marines' lawyers reportedly told to keep quiet
by Ken Stanford

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego newspaper says defense attorneys - including one from Gainesville - representing Marines accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian are being strongly advised not to talk about an upcoming trip to Iraq.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Marine Corps says the lawyers should keep mum about the evidence-gathering trip, if they want to be included in it.

Rich Brannon of Gainesville is among those representing eight Marines from a San Diego base charged in the case.

Brannon is not commenting, according to the paper, but it says others confirm receiving a message about not sharing details of the trip. The Marine Corps will neither confirm nor deny issuing such a directive.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 06. 2006 4:39AM
2nd Marine due in court in Iraqi murder case

By THOMAS WATKINS
Associated Press Writer

When seven Camp Pendleton Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged in June with kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi civilian, legal experts predicted some would plead guilty to reduced charges and speak out against the others.

They were right. A Navy medic and a Marine who pleaded guilty to lesser charges testified against the others in military court, singling out some by name as they described what happened.

On Monday, another Marine is due in court at Camp Pendleton, expected to become the third serviceman to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for his testimony.

Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, 23, of Tracy, is charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, housebreaking and larceny. His attorney Thomas Watt declined to disclose what he would plead to, but another Marine who faced charges similar to Jackson's, Pfc. John Jodka III, last month pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The Navy corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy. He was sentenced to one year in prison; Jodka's sentencing is set for Nov. 15.

The eight men were accused of hatching a plot to kidnap and kill a known insurgent. According to testimony from Bacos and Jodka, when the troops were unable to find the insurgent, they went into a neighboring house and kidnapped 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who prosecutors said was a former policeman and father of 11.

Under cover of darkness, they dragged Awad to a hole several hundred yards from his house, put him in it and shot him, Bacos and Jodka said. They testified the squad placed a shovel and AK-47 by the body and conspired to make it appear Awad was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb, and that they had lawfully engaged him.

Jackson joined the Marines in March 2005 and was on his first combat tour.

His father declined comment. A Web site set up by his family to raise money for his defense says Jackson is innocent.

"To send these men to war to do a job and then imprison them for doing it is absurd," the Web site says, before decrying the men's' confinement in the brig since May. "Why are they being subjected to less rights and freedom of movement than the very terrorists they put their lives on the line to protect the world from?"

With Jackson's plea, attorneys for some other defendants could be scrambling to strike deals for their clients. The five remaining defendants are two lance corporals, two corporals and a sergeant.

"In the military, when you are holding the line and you see one soldier break and start running, the person next to him can get a little nervous and runs too," said former Army prosecutor Tom Umberg. "You don't want to be the last guy in the foxhole."

An attorney for Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. declined to comment when asked if his client had negotiated a deal, and Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington's attorney did not immediately return a call as to his client's position.

Ellie

[fontman]

Why our Marines are in the brig at Camp Pendleton
By Terry Pennington via email
11/4/2006

I have finally come to realize why our guys are in the brig. Here's how it goes:

In late April or early May, 2006, our enemies in Iraq accused seven Marines and a Navy corpsman of war crimes. By now everyone who has been conscious since then has heard the charges of murder, larceny, and cover-up. I find it tragically humorous that the government has chosen to include conspiracy in the list. It is our government who is guilty of conspiracy, not our American Heroes.

When the enemy came forward with their lies, the Marine Corps was very quick to act. They called in the NCIS to investigate almost immediately. Just as quickly, NCIS investigators wrote statements for the men, coerced most of them into signing the statements and then shipped them back to Camp Pendleton for disposal.

Initially the men were not incarcerated when they arrived at Camp Pendleton. Approximately two days after their return, they were rounded up, shackled hand and foot and transported to the base brig where they were placed in maximum security. A short time later then Major General Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division was quoted as saying they were jailed due to "information I'm privy to" - information that has never been made public nor revealed to defense counsel.

Here is what I believe caused these men to be placed in their current pretrial confinement situation. Within two days upon their return to Camp Pendleton, a decision was made at a very high level in our government, possibly above the commandant of the corps, that there must be convictions in this case in order for the Marines to save face and for the US to save face with the new Iraqi government. Therefore, truth be damned, accuser's affiliations be damned, and convictions are a must.

How can convictions be achieved with such flimsy evidence, if any, and with no corroboration of what evidence there may or may not be?

Only one way. Get the men to turn on each other. Threaten them with 30 years to life if they don't rat out their brothers. What would make the threat of long prison sentences more effective? Simple, subject them to harsh prison-like conditions for as long as possible before working them over for a plea deal. Once they've experienced what it would be like to suffer in jail for months making it far easier to effectively threaten them and extract a guilty plea in exchange for a shorter sentence.

In addition to the larger conspiracy to achieve convictions by any means possible, there are other significant advantages to having these men behind bars. The are able to monitor all of their telephone communications - both inside and outside the brig. When inside the brig it's very easy for conversations to be recorded. When outside the brig the "chasers" the guards who transport the prisoners to and from the legal services offices are instructed to ensure the men make no phone calls.

The "chasers" are also able to listen in and report on supposedly private meetings between the men and their attorneys. Even though such meeting are held behind closed doors, the walls surrounding those doors are constructed of 2 x 4 frames covered with 1/8" hardboard. It's easy to listen to a conversation conducted in a normal voice inside one of these so-called offices from the other end of the hallway. The "chasers" sit in chairs outside the office doors and may easily overhear and report on what transpires between attorneys and their clients.

I hope you find this information to be useful. I wake up, regularly, about 4 a.m., sweating profusely, repeatedly thinking about all the events that are happening against my son, an American Hero. I am devastated that my son volunteered to go to Iraq, defend the United States and get handled like captured terrorists, who apparently, enjoy more legal rights than my family.

Best,
Terry Pennington

Fontman note: Terry is the father of LCpl Robert B. Pennington, one of the incarcerated Marines.

[thedrifter]

Marine pleads guilty to assault, conspiracy in Iraqi murder case

The Associated Press
Published: November 6, 2006

CAMP PENDLETON, California: A Marine pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case of an Iraqi civilian who other servicemen said was kidnapped and killed by members of the squad.

Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, 23, entered the pleas through his attorney Thomas Watt at a military court hearing.

Jackson pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping, larceny, housebreaking and another charge of conspiracy.

Jackson was the third serviceman to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for his testimony

guilty to lesser charges and testified about the killing of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad last April in the town of Hamdania.

Jackson spoke only to confirm his identity, understanding of his rights and names of his attorneys.

He said "Yes sir" when asked if he understood what it meant to give a guilty plea.

Jackson has been confined to the brig since May.

Last month, Pfc. John Jodka III pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the incident.

The Navy corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy. He was sentenced to a year in prison. Jodka's sentencing was set for Nov. 15.

Members of the squad abducted Awad after their plot to kidnap and kill a known insurgent failed, according to testimony from Bacos and Jodka. The victim was a former policeman and father of 11.

Awad was shot after being dragged to a hole several hundred yards from his house, Bacos and Jodka said. A shovel and AK-47 were placed near the body to make it appear Awad was an insurgent planting a roadside bomb, both defendants said.

Jackson joined the Marines in March 2005 and was on his first combat tour.

His father declined comment. A Web site set up by Jackson's family to raise money for his defense said Jackson was innocent.

"To send these men to war to do a job and then imprison them for doing it is absurd," the Web site states.

"Why are they being subjected to less rights and freedom of movement than the very terrorists they put their lives on the line to protect the world from?" the site states.

Ellie