MILITARY: 'Article 32' documentary chronicles Hamdania killing

North County Times ^ | 09/14/2009 | Mark Walker

[Saoirise]

A documentary film chronicling a Camp Pendleton squad convicted in the 2006 kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man debuts in New York this week and will be screened in Oceanside next month.

"Article 32" was produced primarily by Don Sikorski, who began working on the project two years ago, after the seven Marines and a Navy medical corpsman were prosecuted for the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a retired Iraqi policeman and father of 11.

The 65-minute film tells the story of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment Kilo Company squad initially charged with capital murder.

After several plea deals and clemency orders, none of the Marines served more than 15 months except for the squad leader, Larry Hutchins III, who was convicted of murder and is serving an 11-year-prison term that is the subject of an ongoing appeal.

Article 32 is a reference to the pretrial hearing that takes place in military courts to determine whether criminal charges warrant going forward to trial.

[Saoirise]

One thing missing from the article by Walker is that the body has never been identified as that of Awad, a fact that came out at Sgt. Hutchins trial. To date, the identity of the man killed is unknown.

[optiguy]

Look at the case of LT Michael Behenna.

Something Terrible

[Saoirise]

I gotta ask this: How did the film maker guy find those family members when the Defense wasn't allowed to have access to them? Also, it makes it sound like a peaceful little Iraqi town. Left out the fact that that area was laden with terrorists killing Marines and almost everyone was hostile to our military. Sgt Hutchins was the scapegoat.

[Saoirise]

This is outrageous for the Lt and his family. Similar to Hutchins where the Govt would not allow evidence into the trial, evidence that would have cleared Hutchins.

[optiguy]

My oldest son who is 21 and a Marine, returns home from Iraq next week. My second oldest son is 19 and a Marine. He goes to Afghanistan shortly. I have very mixed feelings after seeing this type of political correctness that has infected the govt. I don’t know how these families maintain their self-control.

[ticked]

ping

[freema]

Do NOT buy this movie.

I have it on VERY good authority that Sikorski is an asshole.

I have been told: interviews went into details of how the men’s stories went from them being ordered to do the mission, to them testifying it was a legitimate IED hole to the story they ended up saying in court.

The men all went back to their original story once the convictions came in and Sgt Hutchins ended up denying all charges.

When spoken to on the phone, Cpl Thomas confirmed that they were given orders from Lt Phan to do the grab mission and kill the man they did for setting off IED’s in their area, similar to Operation Phoenix

This video denies all that and tells the government story. Artistic value is okay, but the content is total BS.

It ignores the abuses by NCIS and the JAG corp, ignores their original pleas.

And, as far as Mark Walker is concerned, like I said on another thread, he must be looking for some thrills. The big stories of his life haven’t panned out into the Pulitzer he was probably counting on.

[freema]

Thank you VERY much for the ping, ticked.

[Seaplaner]

...the content is total BS.

It ignores the abuses by NCIS and the JAG corp, ignores their original pleas.

All I need to know, thanks.

(Word gets out quickly, expect this to be a flopper.)

.

[Mr. Jazzy]

Thanks for the info.

[ticked]

You are very welcome, freema.

[Marine_Uncle]

"I have it on VERY good authority that Sikorski is an asshole."
I am sure your evaluation is one hundred percent correct.

[RaceBannon]

You can trust Freema implicitly. I know her sources.

[Jet Jaguar]

BTTT

I studied this case at the AF NCOA.

please continue to use the hamdania keyword.