Posted on 07/02/2008 2:26:25 PM PDT by RedRover
A Marine sniper charged with two counts of manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two men he suspected of planting a roadside bomb in Iraq said Wednesday that he was doing his best to protect his troops.
"I did this action in defense of my Marines," Sgt. John "Johnny" Winnick II said at the conclusion of an investigative hearing that will help determine if the charges against him stand.
Winnick, 24, a veteran of four Iraq deployments, said he decided to shoot when he suspected the men were about to place a bomb near an intersection about a mile from a Marine outpost in the Anbar province.
Winnick said he had seen too many Marines killed and injured by roadside bombs and acted to protect his fellow service members.
"I didn't want them to end up like other Marines I have seen," the 2002 graduate of Del Mar's Winston High School said in a clear, calm voice.
Winnick faces as much as 40 years in prison if tried and convicted of the two counts of manslaughter, assault and failure to follow the military's rules of engagement.
Winnick headed a sniper team that was watching an intersection near an outpost on June 17, an area that had been his with two roadside bomb attacks. As he and his five men watched, two vehicles stopped and the men inside appeared to be preparing the surface of the roadway for a bomb, according to testimony during the two-day hearing.
A short time after those vehicles departed, an 18-wheel semi-truck stopped in the same spot. The driver got out, according to testimony, crawled under the truck and appeared to be preparing to place a jug on the roadway. At that point, Winnick fired at the man, killing him. His men also began firing at the truck and three other men who emerged from its two-seat cab.
As Winnick and another Marine from his squad ran up to the truck, a second man who had been shot was crawling toward a cell phone, prompting Winnick to fatally wound him with a shotgun blast, according to the undisputed testimony.
The two other men were evacuated by U.S. forces and treated for their wounds.
A subsequent search of the truck that appeared to be carrying soft drinks did not turn up any weapons or any bomb-making material. Testimony showed that the truck disappeared from the site within a day and was never fully searched.
Winnick was subsequently accused of failing to adhere to the military's rules of engagement when he decided to open fire.
Much of the hearing focused on confusion about those rules with Winnick's platoon commander, Lt. Dominic Corabi, testifying Monday that about a general confusion over their meaning.
Capt. Oliver Dreger, the intelligence officer for Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment that included Winnick's platoon, testified Wednesday that the failure to secure the truck for a full-scale search left a hole in the investigation.
"It would have been nice to know precisely what was in the back of that truck," Dreger said.
Dreger said roadside bombs in the area were considered a "significant threat" and that the types of jugs Winnick reported seeing were increasingly being employed by insurgents to transport chemical compounds for roadside bombs.
But Dreger also testified under questioning from the prosecutor, Capt. Nicholas Gannon, that he was disappointed in Winnick's decision to shoot rather than call for help.
"I would have preferred he call the (quick reaction force) as it didn't appear to be an immediate threat," he said.
The Marine officer presiding over the hearing, Capt. Jeffrey King, asked Dreger of his overall view of Winnick's actions.
"I think he was acting honestly out there and trying to do the right thing," Dreger responded.
King will write a report to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East and the convening authority over the case, stating whether he believes there is sufficient evidence to warrant ordering Winnick to court-martial. King has the option of also stating whether he believes the evidence would likely result in a conviction if the case went to trial.
During his unsworn statement Wednesday morning, Winnick said he appreciated the legal review the shootings are undergoing.
"I understand it has to go forward in the name of justice, but sir, I am eager to get back in the fight and serve my country," he said.
No one is disputing what happened on the day of the shootings. The only thing at issue, they agreed, is whether Winnick's actions constituted a crime or was a lawful response to a perceived threat.
Please visit the Winnick family's website HERE.
FREE Sgt Winnick!!!
The administration is going to let him hang...
This is just BS! These guys put their lives on the line to defend their country and their comrades, and they in turn get this JAG BS! No wonder things got so screwed up in Iraq and in Afghanistan!
Unless Capt King has been told to do otherwise (by some scumbag up the chain, like Sec. Winter, for example) he should dispose of this pretty quickly. I predict with great confidence that there will be no charges.
Sgt. Winnick has the presumption of innocence. If they don't know there wasn't a bomb in the truck they can't can't court-martial him, IMO. Charges should be dropped!
The administration let those 2 border agents rot in jail. The Haditha marines were hung in public opinion. I remember when the story first came out a well respected teacher of mine told the class how a bunch of Marines had “murdered” civilians in Haditha. And he wasn’t the kind of teacher to make wild accusations like that. I never heard a word from the administration. I don’t hear anything now. My pattern follows theirs. If you can show me evidence that Bush has made comments supporting (or saying that the military will work it out) the Haditha Marines or the sniper, I will gladly rescind my statement.
I stand with your prediction: no charges.
It was the Bush Administration which placed the prosecution of the war in the hands of a bunch of scumbag ACLU lawyers. It was the Bush Administration which appointed that moron Winter as Secretary of the Navy. And it has been the Bush Administration which has stood by twiddling its thumbs as it watches an excruciating, disgusting, and corrupt, two-year-plus railroad job perpetrated against eight Marines who responded, in accordance with their training, to a deadly ambush.
So yeah, when it comes to this kind of crap, I likewise tend to glance sideways at the Bush Administration.
FRegards,
LH
The administration has NOTHING TO DO with this proceeding. He is the F@#$@#@# COMMANDER IN CHIEF!!
What is occurring here is such complete bull$!@#.
ALL it would take is one little phone call from George baby and ALL this Horse$#@+ would END.
It would be really F@#$#$@ NICE if one GO!@#$M person in this ADMINISTRATION would man up, shoulder some responsibility, and put a complete stop to this F$#@$!@# CRAP!
Well said.
Has it gotten to the point where every Service member must second guess himself in every life and death situation and then "preserve the crime scene"?
Shooting the man crawling towards the cell phone was perfectly justified as cellphones are often used as detonators and if the truck contained explosives that would have been it.
Remember all of those muslim-arab "students" that were buying up the prepaid cell phones a while back? They have 2 uses: use it to make one call only and it's virtually untraceable and then you can use it as a detonator.
That’s the point I’m trying to get across. I don’t think they’ve done a very good job defending conservative values or standing up for the men in uniform that it told go fight a war. It’s not “bashing” it’s just criticism of an administration that hasn’t done what it set out to do.
bttt
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