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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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August 21st,
2007 - Former Marine Says Squad Made up Slayings Story |
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Former Marine Says
Squad Made up Slayings Story By Cable Networks News August 21, 2007 A former Marine sergeant
accused of killing two Iraqi captives in a 2004 battle in Iraq said his squad
fabricated the entire story. Former Marine Sgt. Jose Luis
Nazario faces manslaughter charges. Jose Luis Nazario has
pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges brought by federal
prosecutors in southern California. He left the service in 2005. According to an affidavit
from a Navy investigator, Nazario killed one prisoner and then asked his
squad: "Who else wants to kill these guys? Because I don't want to do it
all myself." The prisoners - four men who
had been captured in a house that was the source of hostile gunfire - were
killed so the Marines could keep up with the rest of their unit in the early
days of the November 2004 battle to recapture Falluja, the affidavit states. But Kevin McDermott,
Nazario's attorney, said his client denies the allegations completely. "They didn't
happen," McDermott told CNN. He called the charges
"a fish story" that originated from a former member of Nazario's
squad who first made the allegations during a 2006 polygraph test the squad
members took when applying for a job with the Secret Service. McDermott said military
investigators appear to be trying to find out who is supposed to have given
Nazario an order to kill the prisoners - a radio call recounted in the
affidavit. The document quotes interviews with three other Marines addressing
the purported call. "I think the government
believes the story, and I think they're interested in finding out who was on
the other end of the line," McDermott said. But, the attorney insists
there was no such call. "That call never
occurred," McDermott said. "That's what's so crazy about this whole
situation." Nazario was allowed to
remain free on $50,000 bail after his arraignment last week in Riverside,
California. He had taken a job as a police officer after leaving the Marines. Nazario was still within his
probationary period and was fired after his arrest, McDermott said. McDermott said his client
passed two polygraph tests before joining the police force and was
specifically asked during those sessions whether he had violated the laws of
warfare during his military service. Prosecutors say the killings
took place November 9, 2004 - the second day of the campaign to retake
Falluja, a restive Sunni Arab city west of Baghdad that had fallen under
insurgent control in spring 2004. U.S. troops faced fierce
house-to-house fighting during a battle that lasted more than a week. A
member of Nazario's squad had been killed earlier in the day. The squad had captured
several men inside a house that had been the source of hostile gunfire, members
told Naval Criminal Investigation Service agent Mark Fox. When Nazario
reported the capture, he told his fellow Marines, he was asked "Are they
dead yet?" When Nazario said no, he
told his squad mates that he was instructed to, "Make it happen,"
according to the affidavit. Once off the radio, Nazario
said, "We can't be here all day. You know what has to be done," the
affidavit states. Another member of the squad,
Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, has been charged with murder. Nelson is still in the
Marines and based at Camp Pendleton, California. He remains free while
awaiting a hearing, a base spokesman said Monday. McDermott said investigators
have no forensic evidence and can't identify the men the squad is supposed to
have executed. "I really think this is
a play to identify who the officer is that they talked to," he said. A third Marine, who has not
been charged, shot another prisoner, according to the affidavit. Prosecutors
blacked out the names of the witnesses before releasing a copy to CNN. The conduct of U.S. troops
during the battle for Falluja came under scrutiny at the time when a
television reporter recorded the shooting of four apparently wounded men in a
mosque compound. Military investigators later
determined the Marine corporal who pulled the trigger acted in self-defense,
"believing they posed a threat to him and his fellow Marines." External link: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/21/fallujah.case/ |