Semper Fi

Here is more on 2nd Lt. Pantano. His actions in Iraq were duly investigated and he was found to have acted properly by his on scene commanders. Sign the petition to stop this Article 32 investigation. - Sailor

Issues & Insights
Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Semper Fi
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Editorial

Military Justice: After watching the terrorist attack of 9-11, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War put a promising future on hold to once again put his life on the line for a country that may soon put him on trial for murder.

Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario G. Pantano, who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, returned from Desert Storm a hero. But after 9-11, he wanted to re-up. Friends argued that the 33-year-old married father of two had done his duty. But instead of watching Operation Iraqi Freedom from his den, Pantano entered the Marine training school in Quantico, Va.

Last April 15, his platoon raided a house south of Baghdad and found mortar aiming stakes, three AK-47s, 10 AK magazines and bomb-making material. Two suspected terrorists emerged from the house, got into an SUV and tried to flee. Pantano and his comrades shot out the tires, disabling the vehicle, and ordered the occupants to search the vehicle in case it was booby-trapped.

When the suspects unexpectedly turned and tried to rush Pantano and his men, he ordered them in Arabic to stop, not once, but twice, according to a Navy corpsman in Pantano's platoon in a sworn statement. They didn't, and Pantano, deciding in that split second that his life and the lives of his men were in danger, fired and killed them.

After a full investigation, Pantano's superiors decided he acted properly under the circumstances, and returned him to his combat duties for another three months. But on returning to Camp Lejeune with the full expectation of going back to Iraq to serve his country, he found that a lone Marine sergeant under his command was suddenly telling a different version of events, one that would lead to charges of premeditated murder.

Pantano was being accused, months after the event, of shooting the Iraqis in the back, leaving their bodies out in the open and putting a mocking sign on them to send a message. The charge was deemed sufficient to convene an Article 32 pretrial hearing, the military's equivalent of a grand jury. If the case proceeds to trial, and Pantano is found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

As far as is known, there's no evidence other than the sergeant's charge. As far as any outsider can tell, Pantano acted in good faith in a life-threatening situation in an environment where a seemingly innocent street vendor pushing a cart might be the last thing you see.

But after Abu Ghraib, and amid charges of torture as official U.S. policy at Guantanamo, fears that Pantano might be allowed to become a scapegoat to appease U.S. critics are not unfounded.

It's hard enough to recruit those "few good men" without sending a message that if you put your life on the line for your country and do your duty to the best of your ability, your reward could be a murder charge. Lt. Pantano faced a death sentence every day in Iraq. He was faithful to us, and we should be faithful to him.