Posted on 10/07/2006 3:37:29 PM PDT by radar101
Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, flanked by his civilian and military lawyers, walked to his court-martial yesterday at Camp Pendleton, where he told the military judge, "What possessed all of us (that day), I do not know."
Frustrated by the repeated release of a suspected terrorist in Iraq, a Camp Pendleton unit decided to enforce its own brand of justice with an execution.
So said Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos during his court-martial yesterday at Camp Pendleton. He detailed a sophisticated murder plot that ended with Marines shooting Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a former police officer with 11 children.
Bacos' revelations might intensify the national debate over whether allegedly poor Marine leadership contributed to the April 26 incident in the town of Hamdaniya, some military analysts said. It also will likely allow critics of the Iraq war to reassert that U.S. troops are increasingly frustrated because of high-stress urban warfare, inadequate resources and mounting casualties.
“What possessed all of us (that day), I do not know,” Bacos told military judge Col. Steven Folsom. “I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be loyal, but that is no excuse for immorality.
“Now I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I feel my honor is gone and I have let down others--The only honorable thing to do is tell the truth.”
Folsom sentenced Bacos to 10 years in prison, a reduction in rank, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all his pay and allowances.
But as part of a plea agreement and with time served while awaiting trial, Bacos will be confined for less than a year. He also will be allowed to stay in the Navy and keep his compensation.
In return, Bacos is expected to testify against the other seven defendants as they come up for courts-martial.
The prospect has spurred at least three of the suspects to seek their own plea deals, their parents said yesterday on the condition of anonymity.
The father of another defendant, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., didn't deny that such discussions might be under way.
“I still believe in my son's innocence and that he got caught up in something beyond his control,” Jerry Shumate Sr. said from his home in Washington state. “For his mother and me right now, it's wait and see – just continue through the military judicial process and see what it has to offer.”
In Encinitas, the father of Pfc. John Jodka III said his son stands by his not guilty plea entered this week.
“There aren't any plea deals that we're involved in,” the senior John Jodka said. “There should be no rush to judgment. . . . I want to remind people that as a local boy, John needs the support of people in San Diego.”
An attorney for defendant Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington said Bacos' account will be scrutinized heavily during the trial of his client.
“This is just one guy's version,” said the lawyer, David Brahms of Carlsbad.
On April 25, Bacos recalled, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III suggested kidnapping and killing suspected terrorist Saleh Gowad, whom Iraqi authorities had arrested but then released on three occasions.
“I kind of brushed it off,” Bacos said of the idea. But later, he recounted, the members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, agreed to carry out the plan. Bacos was serving as a medic for the squadron, which included Hutchins, Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Jodka, Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda, Pennington, Shumate and Cpl. Trent D. Thomas.
The men entered Hamdaniya on patrol early the next morning. Failing to find Gowad at his home, they went next door and abducted Awad after binding his hands and feet and gagging him.
The squadron had intended to get someone else if they didn't capture the insurgent, then stage a firefight to make it look like they fought against a terrorist who was planting a roadside bomb, Bacos said. Toward that end, the defendants allegedly stole an AK-47 rifle and a shovel to plant on Awad's body once they killed him.
Bacos said he asked his squad mates to let Awad go, but that Magincalda insulted him, calling him weak, and told him to stop protesting.
“I know what we did was wrong,” Bacos testified. “I felt I couldn't stop them. They were going to do what they were going to do.”
The execution took place moments afterward, he recounted in a barely audible voice.
“I witnessed Sgt. Hutchins . . . fire three rounds into the man's head,” Bacos testified. “Then Cpl. Thomas fired seven to 10 rounds into the man's chest.”
The prosecution showed graphic photos of Awad's body, with his head cracked open and brain matterspilling out.
Bacos said that after Awad died, he fired an AK-47 rifle into the air so the spent casings would create the appearance of a firefight.
“I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach,” Bacos testified.
He recalled standing in the road minutes later when another Navy corpsman drove by.
“He asked me what happened, and I was very vague,” Bacos recalled. “I said, 'I want you to remember something. We're different. We're not like these men.' ”
Bacos' wife, Heather, and his father sat in the front row of the courtroom for the court-martial. During a break, Bacos turned to his wife and mouthed the words “I love you.”
Months before Bacos gave his testimony, it seemed inevitable that the Hamdaniya case would be a black mark on the government and military, said Ret. Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, formerly the Navy's top lawyer and currently president and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H.
“The public is most likely to think this is the outcome of a misguided war. There are too few soldiers fighting an enemy they can't see for reasons they can't comprehend. It's terribly frustrating,” Hutson said. “I don't mean to excuse their conduct if they are guilty, but this is a predictable result of a lack of leadership and mission. The comparison to what happened when the Vietnam War started going to hell is unmistakable.”
But it's premature to conclude that testimony from one defendant who has struck a plea bargain means the prosecution has won overall, said Eugene R. Fidell, who specializes in military law at the firm of Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell in Washington, D.C.
“It could set off a chain reaction of plea bargains,” Fidell said, “and I would think that the race to the prosecutor's door had begun before this.”
The overall impact of the Hamdaniya case might need to be considered along with an incident from last year that involves other Camp Pendleton Marines. On Nov. 19, those service members allegedly killed about 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq. Several investigations have been submitted to Camp Pendleton's commanding general and other military officials who will decide whether to charge the suspects.
“The public ought to be watching and thinking about such cases as a whole,” Fidell said. “Is the process transparent? Are the trials open and fair? Are any sentences handed down fair and credible? These are the critical questions,” Fidell said.
Despite Bacos' testimony yesterday, local supporters of the Hamdaniya defendants said they won't give up the faith.
Since June, Frank Mazen has been one of dozens of people who have protested outside Camp Pendleton's main gate to show their backing for the accused.
“This guy (Bacos) is a turncoat,” Mazen said. “I'm going to wait for all the facts. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to our American servicemen, and not to some Iraqis who are trying to hurt Americans or some guy cutting a deal.”
So, I thought, wow, there is something significant here. But, there was no mention of this in the rest of the article. Instead, it followed up with and only discussed this: "Bacos' revelations might intensify the national debate over whether allegedly poor Marine leadership contributed to the April 26 incident in the town of Hamdaniya, some military analysts said. It also will likely allow critics of the Iraq war to reassert that U.S. troops are increasingly frustrated because of high-stress urban warfare, inadequate resources and mounting casualties."
What happened to the bit about the repeated release of a suspected terrorist? Was that a typo? That seems to me to be VERY important. One of the ongoing frustrations in Iraq is the increasing incursion of legal mumbo-jumbo into the dirty, complicated world of fighting insurgents, where legal mumbo-jumbo doesn't pan out neatly enough to satisfy the lawyers at Brigade and above. I have a tough time believing that US Marines - infantrymen at that - would go out and kill a guy in cold blood whom they knew to be innocent. I could be wrong - I hope I'm not - but this just goes against every gut feeling I've got.
Yeah there was:
On April 25, Bacos recalled, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III suggested kidnapping and killing suspected terrorist Saleh Gowad, whom Iraqi authorities had arrested but then released on three occasions.< SNIP> The men entered Hamdaniya on patrol early the next morning. Failing to find Gowad at his home, they went next door and abducted Awad after binding his hands and feet and gagging him.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
No that's not a typo. The group was looking for Saleh Gowad, an insurgent who was captured three times and released each time. I believe he still walks free today.
There is another lesson to be learned besides the wrongness in killing innocent people (assuming that is proven), and that is our government and the government of Iraq cannot win this fight by letting guilty people go free.
Of course! Can't write for the MSM without your "Acme Vietnam Template."
Wasn't bagging on you, just wanted to call attention to something I caught and you missed. Understand skimming these long yawnfests as I do the same. They're 99% bull---- anyway.
I do think that things look pretty grim for the Pendleton 8 at this time, or should I say, Pendleton 7.
It was generous of them to let this kid stay in but I kinda think his career as a corpsman with Marines is over. Imagine being the skipper who gets him in your ship... "why me, Lord?"
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
As long as it was someone from the Wad family.
"But as part of a plea agreement and with time served while awaiting trial, Bacos will be confined for less than a year. He also will be allowed to stay in the Navy and keep his compensation."
I think his Navy career is over!
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