Posted on 05/26/2005 5:11:03 PM PDT by Wrangler22
2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano will not be tried on murder charges for killing two suspected Iraqi insurgents, a Marine general decided Thursday. You may recall Lt. Pantano from earlier posts on this blog. He served in the first Gulf War, afterwards he went on to become a Wall Street trader. In the aftermath of 9/11 Lt. Pantano re-inlisted in the marines and began to serve his country for a second time.
He was charged with murder in while serving in Iraq. The two Iraqis were killed during an April 2004 search outside a suspected terrorist hideout in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Pantano contended he shot them in self-defense after the men disobeyed his instructions and made a menacing move toward him. "Down at the unit level, there was never a question about Ilario's conduct and whether or not he did the right thing," Charles Gittins, Pantano's civilian lawyer, said. "It was up in the higher echelons. The people removed from combat situations needed to put more trust in their officers rather than assuming they're guilty." He is a true patriot and I salute his heroism. Congratulations Lt. Pantano.
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