Posted on 09/12/2006 6:52:53 PM PDT by kellynla
CAMP PENDLETON – A 21-year-old Marine Corps lance corporal broke down in tears after being questioned for an hour on his squad's alleged kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian, a Navy investigator testified today.
Special Agent Kelly Garbo said Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate answered questions calmly and straightforwardly through the first part of the interview, conducted May 11 in Fallujah. He broke down about halfway through the two-hour interview today, she said, then composed himself, and then broke down a second time near the end of the interview.
The statements came at Shumate's Article 32 hearing before Col. Robert Chester at Camp Pendleton. Shumate is a member of the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, charged with conspiracy and murder in the April 26 death of an Iraqi civilian in the strife-torn city of Hamdania.
Shumate also faces unrelated charges of assault in an attack with other Marines, including an officer, on another Iraqi civilian in the same region April 10. A second investigator testified that DNA had been taken in that case that may link Shumate to the crime.
The murder case has drawn international attention and sparked protests at the main gate of the Marine base by supporters of the defendants, known as the "Camp Pendleton Eight." The eight defendants have been held at the base brig since their return to the United States in June.
Battalion members recently held a memorial service for eight of the unit's Marines killed during their tour of duty in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
ping
If they are guilty, then they have done a very bad thing. They have diverted valuable time and resources better spent killing radical Muslims.
Must be hell to have your own country turn against you - actions in the heat of battle MUST be looked at differently - someone is shooting at you you get a severe case of tunnel vision - trying to survive - turning and assaulting the enemy directly showing no mercy lest you are killed instead.
Unlike the other services, when ambused or fired on, Marines are trained to immediately turn towards the fire source and ANIHALATE the enemy.
If you do not like that, do not send in the Marines.
I don't know the facts of this case except in a general sense, but Marines shouldn't start crying during questioning.
PING
Shumate also faces unrelated charges of assault in an attack with other Marines, including an officer, on another Iraqi civilian in the same region April 10. A second investigator testified that DNA had been taken in that case that may link Shumate to the crime.
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On Monday, the Department of Defense reported that another member of the battalion, Cpl. Johnathan L. Benson, 21, of North Branch, Minn., died Sept. 9 of wounds suffered on June 17 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
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Not good news, the reason the government kept them locked up (and some would say under constant stress) was to break them emotionally and get a confession so they would not have to depend on Iraqi witnesses.
Captain Obvious' Commanding Officer?
"Marines shouldn't start crying during questioning."
give me an f'ing break.......the kid is scared sh!@$ess!!!!
A LANCE CPL MEANS HE IS LIKELY 20 YEARS OLD!!! Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate DESERVES OUR SYMPATHIES.....EMPATHY....AND RESPECT....WHETHER HE IS GUILTY AS CHARGED OR NOT!!!!
Marines are in a class by themselves true.....but they are by and large just young men who were only boys last year.
I have seen these boy's cry.....i can call them that because my son is one of them....they cry for what they do......and the lives they have taken and been taken from them.....
who are you to make such a judgement.....you can't hold a candle to these fine young men.....
Maybe not, but you can bet his interrogators were threatening him with the Death Penalty if he didn't cooperate, while leading him to believe that they already had the goods on him. I don't know about you, but that would shake me up.
Also, I bet the questioning of the Pendelton 8 has been more intense than the version used at Gitmo when questioning the enemy. Did you catch the Lazy-Boy chair in the interrogation room?
Major Obvious? I guess it depends on the service...
I was being facetious, totally ignoring the gravity of taking an innocent human life. So... obvious? No. Callous in the name of cynical humor? Yes.
Imagine, this is a kid. Marine, yes, for what, 2 years. Now he, after going and putting his butt out there getting bombed and shot at by people he is 'helping' and probably has seen his buddies, other 'kids' killed. Now he's thinking his life is screwed, too. Let him have a cry. He undoubtedly misses his mom too.
Marine's Parents Arrive For Murder Hearing
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/militaryconnection/9828296/detail.html
I hate watching the PC marines eat their own. Nobody watched the cooking of Japanese in their holes during WWII?
This is the undoing of America. These PC generals at Pendleton will preside over the demise of the corp.
Ex-Marine Warns Not to Rush to Judgment
Ilario G. Pantano was cleared in two killings in Iraq and says others accused may be too.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-warlord9sep09,1,3392186.story?coll=la-news-a_section
My son went to Marine Officer Candidate School this summer, suffered a stress fracture in his leg running down a hill with a 65 lb pound pack, and still managed to finish at the top of his class WITH A FRICKIN' BROKEN LEG.
So don't lecture me about how tough or soft Marines are. I know.
"I don't know the facts of this case except in a general sense, but Marines shouldn't start crying during questioning."
No they shouldn't. They also shouldn't be kept in solitary for months without being charged.
"Callous in the name of cynical humor? Yes."
Unfortunately, those of us who have been in this Marine's boots, do not find any of this funny.
In fact, I think this whole investigation is ridiculous!
In war, people get killed and I would bet my house that these people were killed by crossfire and/or by the "bad guys" which is their M.O.
But for Marines to commit cold blooded murder?
Well that is just not in our DNA. Period!
If we are going to start taking the word of terrorists over Marines, then it is time to bring the Marines home.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
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