Some of you will recall that I wrote an article contrasting the treatment enjoyed by terrorist guests at our tropical resort at Club Gitmo with the treatment given to Marines held in solitary lockdown at Camp Pendleton on trumped up charges of murder of an Iraqi.
These were the men, many of them decorated combat veterans who congressman John Murtha (d-PA) accused of being `murderers' on television before they had even been charged or tried.
As I wrote, the government’s case seems to rest primarily on statements signed by the accused themselves, statements that defense attorneys of the "Pendleton 8" say are highly suspect and were made under the kind of duress that would not be tolerated if it were applied to one of the residents of Club Gitmo.
Several of the marines were kept incarcerated in high security solitary lockdown for a month before charges were even filed. And the NCIS (Naval Crimes Investigation Service) put each of the accused in a room for up to eight hours without food or bathroom breaks, threatened them with facing the death penalty if they didn’t cooperate, wrote up statements for them rather than taking statements, then browbeat the suspects into signing them.
The government has yet to comply with rules of discovery and share any other evidence it may have with defense attorneys or allow the defense to examine the alleged crime scene...so the case basically depends on statements screwed out of incarcerated and intimidated junior enlisted personnel, by Iraqis with a probable axe to grind, and on a completely contaminated crime scene in Iraq that the defence attoneys were forbidden access to.
Now, it appears that the government has managed to crack one of the defendents by promising him virtual immunity if he testifies and helps them convict a couple of the others as sacrificial victims.
Under the plea agreement, Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos,one of the suspects will give details of the alleged killing, according to his attorney. In return, all or most of the charges against him will be dismissed, and he'll be allowed to stay in the navy.
"That's the way it works," said David Brahms, who represents Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington.
Brahms said the deal signals to him that prosecutors have weak testimony from Iraqi witnesses and lack other evidence.
"The government has a lot of problems with this case," he added. "Not the least of those problems is . . . there is information obtained from Iraqi witnesses who will be shown to be hostile and whose testimony will be shown to be incredible."
Which, of course, is why the government was willing to deal. They want at least a couple of scalps to wave in front of the Iraqi government and our Arab `allies', and are willing to pull out all the stops in order to do it.
shrub is so out of touch.
ReplyDeletethis incident will do more to harm the morale of the military than 8 years of klinton.
shrub must do what his saudi masters tell him.
as for bacos.........allow him to stay in the navy?????
in what capacity?
anchor deployment inspector.
As soon as I read the title, I suspected that it was the Navy corpsman. Not to belittle the Navy, but fellow Marines would never do this to each other.
ReplyDeleteOf course, our dear Congressman Murtha is an exception to the rule.
BTW, I greatly appreciate your coverage of this. I think it's important that we know about this.