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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 30th,
2007 - Pendleton Marine Testifies for Squad Mate |
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Pendleton
Marine Testifies for Squad Mate By Teri Figueroa North County Times July 30, 2007 11:01 PM PDT Camp Pendleton - A corporal
on trial for his role in kidnapping and killing an Iraqi man in April 2005
told his squad mates the plot was "a stupid idea," one of the man's
squad mates testified Monday. "Magic said, 'I'm not
gonna shoot nobody,'" Cpl. Trent Thomas said of his squad mate, Cpl.
Marshall Magincalda, who goes by the nickname of Magic. Magincalda and his squad
leader, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, are on trial in separate military courtrooms
for their roles in the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the rural Iraqi
village of Hamdania on April 26, 2005 slaying. According to testimony from
troops in the squad, Awad was dragged from his home in the middle of the
night by a squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman. The troops marched him
a mile or so down the road, placed him in a dirt hole and shot him to death,
troops have testified. The squad then staged the scene to make it appear Awad
had been an insurgent planting a roadside bomb, Marines have testified. The eight troops were
charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and other offenses in Awad's
death. Magincalda is one of three Marines to take his case before a military
jury. The other five troops pleaded guilty to a role in the plot and
testified against their squad mates in exchange for lighter sentences,
ranging from one to eight years in military jail. Thomas, who was convicted of
conspiracy in the incident but acquitted of murder, was the first Marine
charged in the slaying to testify on behalf of one of his squad mates. As Thomas testified for
about two hours Monday, Magincalda sat stonelike, with his hands folded on
the desk in front of him. The thin Central California native appeared to
stare at the floor or straight forward as Thomas testified in his defense. "He's one of the most
laid-back persons in the platoon," Thomas said of Magincalda. "He's
like the chaplain." According to Thomas,
Hutchins presented the squad with the idea to kill an insurgent. The rest of
the squad agreed to be in on it, and even helped shape the details. "Magic was just going
along with it," Thomas testified. "Marines out there, they don't go
against the squad." "You said he was in.
Now you are saying he wasn't?" the lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean
Sullivan, asked. "He was in, sir,"
Thomas said. As Sullivan questioned
Thomas on cross examination, his tempo picked up pace and his voice rose. At
one point, Thomas asked Sullivan to "stop yelling." When Sullivan asked Thomas
if he knew what they were planning was illegal, Thomas said "not really,
sir." "I didn't think there
was anything unlawful about killing a terrorist, sir," Thomas said. Sullivan pointed out that, a
few months ago, Thomas told a judge in his own case that he knew what he had
done was illegal at the time. Two weeks ago, the military
jury that convicted Thomas of lesser crimes opted to reduce him to a private
and kick him out of the Marine Corps with a bad conduct discharge. Thomas,
who has not yet been demoted and who remains in the Marine Corps for the time
being, was released from the brig earlier this month. Even though his trial is
over, Thomas' attorneys allowed him to testify in Magincalda's defense only
under a grant of immunity, which Gen. James Mattis signed on Monday. Thomas
did not testify in Hutchins' trial. During his cross examination
by Sullivan, Thomas testified that four of the eight squad mates - including
he and Magincalda - went to grab the original target of their plan, a
suspected insurgent named Saleh Gowad. When they could not get to Gowad at
his home, the four men headed to the house next door. Thomas said he and
Magincalda went inside and found Awad asleep. They bent over him and, with a
finger to their lips to signal to Awad to be quiet, woke him up and made him
go outside. "We never pushed the dude,"
Thomas said. "He came willingly." Thomas acknowledged that the
men forced a "confused" Awad a mile or so back to the dirt hole,
with Awad repeatedly asking, "Why, mister?" in English. At one point, Awad began
"swinging, pushing, trying to get away from us," Thomas testified.
The men shoved Awad into the hole, where Magincalda and Thomas tied his feet,
and another Marine shoved a gag into his mouth, Thomas said. They ran back to meet their
squad mates, and then most of the squad opened fire at Awad under a dark sky,
Thomas said. Two members of the squad - Magincalda and a second man, Navy
corpsman Melson Bacos - did not shoot at Awad, he said. Instead, Bacos fired an
AK-47 rifle in the opposite direction, so as to mimic the sounds of a
firefight. Magincalda collected the
shell casings. "He got that role
because he didn't want to do anything else," Thomas said. After Awad was dead,
Magincalda sprinkled spent shell casings around the body, and someone left
the AK-47 by Awad's hand, according to prior testimony. A few times, when Sullivan
asked pointed questions, Thomas said he did not remember details. "I don't remember very
much about it. I donít know anybody who can remember a year ago," Thomas
said. "Well, how many plans
to kidnap and kill somebody have you been involved in?" Sullivan shot
back. Thomas paused, and then
mumbled something about pleading the Fifth Amendment. Sullivan moved on with
other questions. The accused men were all
members of Kilo Company's 1st squad, 2nd platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd
Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Thomas and Magincalda fought
in fierce battles in Fallujah in 2004. They were on their third tour in Iraq
at the time of the killing. Hutchins was on his first
tour. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/top_stories/0730077776.txt |