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Race, this is so important, many thanks. We need to follow this and help where we can. Most Freepers know about Michael Yon and his (On Line Magazine) - today in an interview with Chris Muir (political cartoonist) Muir mentions Pat Dollard. Curious, I went to (Dollard's War Zone) - Don't Miss It.

Kerry's response to the Marines and Sailor's plight as well as Kennedy and Delahunt is exactly what anyone can expect from the socialist Democrats, Anti-American and Anti-Military. Don't ever vote for a Democrat if you want to see America remain free, Democrats will not protect you…..they will defer to the United Nations. Does anyone know why these Socialists were selected and were there other politicians who did help?

Pantano case has parallels to Hamdania incident

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

Ilario Pantano, a former Marine accused and later exonerated of two counts of premeditated murder in Iraq in 2004, has a message for the eight Camp Pendleton servicemen now facing a similar accusation.

"Keep the faith," said Pantano, who chronicles his experiences in a new book titled, "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy."

"You need to keep the faith in each other and in the Marine Corps," he said.

The story of Pantano and the eight servicemen accused in the April 26 kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdania west of Baghdad has some striking parallels.

Like the Hamdania Eight, as the Camp Pendleton group is being referred to by some supporters, Pantano was accused of premeditated murder resulting from combat action in an area of Iraq known for insurgent activity.

Like the Hamdania Eight, Pantano was the target of a probe conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and eventually the subject of an Article 32 hearing to determine whether the charge would stand.

And like the Hamdania Eight, Pantano's family and others rallied to his defense almost immediately, hiring private, civilian attorneys to assist in his defense and creating Web sites to solicit money to help pay legal fees.

"If these guys are found guilty, then they should be punished," Pantano said in a telephone interview from New York City last week. "But I absolutely believe these guys are innocent until proven guilty and deserve every benefit of the doubt."

He said he would still be "in this fight" in Iraq if not for the charges that were filed against him. After the charges against him were dismissed, Pantano opted to resign from the Marine Corps and was given an honorable discharge last August.

"I was a platoon commander who killed men in combat and I don't have one regret about it," he said, adding that his book gives him a chance to identify the shortcomings he believes exist in some of the U.S. military policies and procedures in Iraq.

"Now I have the honor of trying to speak for men and women who can't speak for themselves," he said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/02/news/top_stories/22_22_057_1_06.txt

It became obvious that since each of the 3 persons contacted were Democrats, they were not going to help the accused.

I think that accusation is going a bit far. It's entirely possible that they just don't feel able to commit to any specific help on short notice from someone who is, officially speaking, an uninvolved party. They can't be seen (and neither could any Republican) as interfering in the military justice process, especially when there's no evidence that anything contrary to law is being done.

The parental notification issues (of all the parents upon the initial incarceration, and of one father subsequently) sound at the very worst like administrative screw-ups, and in the case of the ongoing one, Flightline seems to be confident that's it's being dealt with. And I'm also not sure (and it's not explained here) what military policy is about informing family members of such proceedings involving their sons/daughters/relatives. I would think that there would be privacy issues here, and that the military isn't entitled, much less required to discuss these things with relatives without the permission of the accused, which may not have been given in all cases, especially if an attorney for an accused soldier advised against it.

What exactly were these elected representatives supposed to do, that they didn't do? It would be inappropriate to provide any special supportive attention to the families, because that could give the appearance that the repesentatives are pre-judging the case, and presuming the accused are innocent. Remember that soldier who tossed a greande into his commanding officer's tent in Kuwait? Should elected representatives have been calling up his family asking if they could do anything to help, while he was in the brig awaiting court martial? If they're not going to do it for everybody, they can't do it for anybody.

And then there were four...

By: North County Times Opinion Staff -

Our view: Admissions by half of Pendleton 8 reveal crimes that sabotage already nearly impossible mission

Patriotic Americans should be shocked and appalled at what three Marines and one Navy corpsman have admitted to doing in Hamdania, Iraq, on April 26. War is hell, but the crimes this half of the so-called "Pendleton 8" have admitted to are not justified by the familiar "fog of war." By their own admission, these men have helped sabotage the already difficult mission they were tasked with, for winning in Iraq has always meant winning over Iraqi hearts and minds.

Two Marines -- Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson and Encinitas' own Pfc. John Jodka III -- and Navy corpsman Petty Officer Melson Bacos pleaded guilty to participating in a plan to snatch an Iraqi man from his home, beat him and murder him. Another Marine, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., is expected to plead guilty next week. Jodka, Jackson and Shumate have said they didn't realize the man kidnapped, beaten and killed -- Hashim Ibrahim Awad -- was not the suspected insurgent their unit originally targeted. Bacos told military judges that the group planned to kidnap and kill an Iraqi that fateful night whether or not they found their initial target.

Many atrocities committed on the field of battle can be explained away by the "fog of war." But a premeditated plan with such lethal and unjust results hardly qualifies.

In plea agreements to testify against the remaining suspects -- their fellow Marines, a decision that must rattle the famously loyal Corps -- Jodka, Jackson and Shumate have identified platoon leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III as the mastermind behind the plan. Hutchins and the other three accused Marines are expected to go to trial in early 2007.

Many folks have admirably rushed to defend the Pendleton 8 since they were thrown in the brig last spring. Supporters have lined the streets leading into the base, bloggers have lobbed conspiracy charges against the Marine brass and prosecution. Many of us have anguished over the impossible task given these Marines and the rest of the American-led coalition in Iraq.

But we must also pause to consider what these men have now admitted to in military court: Planning to kidnap and kill a suspected insurgent, and instead kidnapping, beating and at least allowing an innocent Iraqi to be killed and staging the scene of the crime to make it look like their innocent victim had been planting a roadside bomb.

The U.S. military effort in Iraq appears to have little hope of achieving any definition of success we would have accepted in March 2003, when we invaded Iraq. Our military and especially our Marines have valiantly struggled and fought -- and suffered and died -- over there. But it is our unflagging support of the Marines and humble appreciation of their sacrifice that compel us to condemn what these men have admitted to.

Actions like theirs imperil other Marines, for they help foment the very insurgency that plants the roadside bombs that explode beneath U.S. vehicles. Actions like those admitted to by four of the Pendleton 8 undermine the proud reputation of the U.S. Marines, a reputation that is unparalleled in its glory. Actions like what transpired in Hamdania on April 26 make a nearly impossible mission all the more difficult.