[xzins]

It’s scary because I know that story-telling gets done and not intentionally. It just sort of builds over time and retelling.

Take the football ranger hero, Pat Tillman. Go here for a story that is so common in that the storyline had to be rebuilt any number of times.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/25/MNGD7ETMNM1.DTL

How many of us believe that fellow Rangers intentionally killed Tillman? I hope none.

Therefore, the Rangers who had been firing at enemies thought Tillman was an enemy. Their initial report would have been, based on assumptions, that he’d been killed in contact with the enemy. There are now so many stories and retelling of stories that it’s really hard to determine what exactly happened.

The point is this: what story do the Rangers involved that day tell? How many stories do they tell?

There’s also the Marine SOC unit that has been charged with killing civilians and not killing civilians. See here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1805834/posts

What do they tell? What is the real truth?

Here’s the truth — If we’re at different points of an intersection, and 4 of us see the very same accident, we’re going to tell something different simply because we all had a different angle on it. If you put us together, we’re going to compare notes and gradually develop a storyline that tries to take all the different perspectives into account. And, so, in the end, the final storyline is different than the initial reports and none of them are able to be called, “what really happened.”

Nazario and crew were in combat. Enemies were in houses. Lots of different jumbled scenarios. Enemies were killed.

MOST TELLING of all to me is that the owners of the house came home and found nothing amiss. That doesn’t seem to indicate that the house was later blown up by artillery or bombs, does it? Why didn’t they report dried blood all over the place? You don’t shoot 4 people in the head and then, in the middle of a firefight for your lives, clean it up and carry out the bodies. If Marine mortuary folks later cleaned bodies out of houses, why is there no report of that area with 4 bodies removed?

“If you win you get prosecuted, if you lose you get dead.”

Nazario is right on.

[Girlene]

Latest from North County Times:

"A Marine sergeant charged with killing a detainee in Iraq headed to jail Wednesday after refusing to testify against a war comrade accused in the same incident, the sergeant's attorney said Thursday.

The detention came to light when Sgt. Jermaine Nelson failed to show up in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Thursday morning, where he was to be arraigned on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered Nelson, 26, to jail after the sergeant refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating his buddy, Jose Nazario Jr., according to Nelson's civilian attorney, Joseph Low.

"My client said, 'Sgt. Nazario saved my life on a number of occasions, and I'm not going to testify,' " said Low, who spoke outside of court after Nelson's arraignment was put on hold while the matter is sorted out."....

...."Nazario, 27, had left the Marine Corps and was a probationary Riverside police officer when he was charged. His case is in a federal civilian court because he is no longer an active-duty Marine.

His attorney, Kevin McDermott, said Thursday that the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke, is seeking a federal grand jury indictment against Nazario.

Nazario, who is not in jail, has already been charged with voluntary manslaughter and is scheduled for trial in July. McDermott said he believes prosecutor Behnke wants to toughen the charges to murder, and that is why he has taken the matter to a grand jury.

Behnke did not immediately returned a call for comment Thursday.

Attorney Low said Nelson made it clear that he does not intend to testify against his comrade.

"Sgt. Nelson got down on his knee, put his head between his hands and prayed," Low said, adding that his client then rose and said he would rather go to jail than testify.

"Now he's doing time for somebody who is not even in custody," Low said.

Low said Nelson opted for jail in spite of the government's offer of a limited type of immunity.

It is unclear when Nelson could be released if he continues to refuse to testify. Low said he could remain jailed until the grand jury finishes its term, which is set for December."