Witness: Shooting of 2 Iraqis Unwarranted

04/27/2005

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) - A Navy corpsman who witnessed the shooting deaths of two Iraqis during a search for a terrorist hideout testified Wednesday that he saw no cause for an officer to shoot the men in the back.

Second Lt. Ilario Pantano, 33, a former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks, has admitted shooting the two men in April 2004 during a search in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, but has said he fired because he thought the men were attacking him.

The corpsman, George Gobles, testified Wednesday on the second day of an Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, to determine whether Pantano will face a court-martial.

Asked by a prosecutor if he believed the Iraqis’ actions merited a self-defense shooting, Gobles said: “Myself, I didn’t see anything.”

Under cross-examination by a defense lawyer, Maj. Phil Stackhouse, Gobles said he felt Pantano was a strong leader.

“I just felt a sense of security when a situation arose, I knew he would be able to take care of it,” Gobles said. “I felt the safest with this platoon more than any other platoon in our company, more than anything because of Lt. Pantano and his leadership.”

Gobles also said Pantano went out of his way to interact with Iraqi civilians. “They felt he was a friend,” he said.

In the April 2004 incident, Pantano’s unit had been ordered to search a house suspected of being a terrorist hideout. Marines stopped Hamaady Kareem and Tahah Ahmead Hanjil as they tried to drive away from the residence. Marines searched their car and found nothing of concern, he said.

Gobles said he was facing away from the car when he heard Pantano say “stop” in Arabic and in English. When he turned around, Gobles said, one of the detainees was trying to escape and Pantano fired about 30 rounds at the unarmed men.

In a statement, Pantano has told investigators the two Iraqis had their backs to him and were talking to each other despite warnings to be quiet.

“After another time of telling them to be quiet, they quickly pivoted their bodies toward each other. They did this simultaneously, while speaking in muffled Arabic. I thought they were attacking me and I decided to fire my M-16A4 service rifle in self-defense,” the statement said.

If convicted of murder, Pantano could be sentenced to death.