More reporting from Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times,
Accused of manslaughter, Marine says he's eager to return to Iraq Snipped from the article:
......."A cursory investigation after the shooting discovered no bomb and no weapons either on the four men or in their truck.
The truck disappeared a day after the June 17, 2007, incident, before Marines could conduct a more thorough search, a point Winnick's defense attorneys have stressed.
Winnick killed one man from several hundred yards away with a rifle shot.
Then, as Marines rushed toward the truck, he killed another with a close-in blast from a shotgun as the man was crawling toward a cellphone".......
But Capt. Oliver Dreger, an intelligence officer whose assignment was to oversee Winnick and other snipers, said he believed Winnick acted too quickly and without sufficient information to conclude that the men were showing "hostile intent."
"I wasn't pleased with the judgment exercised by Sgt. Winnick,"
said Dreger, who order Winnick relieved of duty the day after the incident.
Dreger said that a Marine has to be "pretty damn sure" before firing at a target and has to realize "that decision will be scrutinized by outsiders."
But under tough questioning by Winnick's attorney, Gary Myers, Dreger conceded that there is a subjective element to determining "hostile intent" and "positive identification," phrases contained in the official rules of engagement.
Myers suggested that Dreger, who was questioned as part of the investigation into the 2005 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, was thinking of his own career by immediately relieving Winnick.
"The first thing you did and your battalion commander did was to get as far away from these Marines as possible," Myers said, an accusation Dreger denied.".......
Gary Myers and Dan Conway did a tremendous job. Maybe it was overkill, in a sense, because they didn’t do any fancy lawyering. Just got to the heart of the issues, but that’s what it should be all about. Kudos to them both.