Big_Dave
September 23rd, 2007, 08:40
This is a bit late, but I just found this article last night and have been going over some of the things that bug me in my mind.
Marine Charged in Iraqi Soldier's Death
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES — A Marine reservist has been charged with murdering an Iraqi army soldier as the pair stood watch together before dawn on New Year's Eve in Fallujah, an attorney said Tuesday.
Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes, 21, of Indianapolis, is accused of stabbing Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin at a security post after Hassin violated orders not to display illuminated objects because of the threat of sniper fire, Holmes' lawyer Steve Cook said.
Hassin had opened his cell phone and then lit a cigarette at the post, and Holmes repeatedly tried to make Hassin extinguish the cigarette, Cook said.
"(Holmes) said 'No, no,' but the Iraqi soldier refused to put out the cigarette," Cook said. "Holmes knocked it out of his hands and they started wrestling on the ground."
Holmes thought Hassin was reaching for his loaded AK-47, so the Marine killed him with his bayonet, then radioed for help, Cook said.
Holmes faces charges of unpremeditated murder and making a false official statement and has been in the Camp Pendleton brig since Feb. 23, Cook said.
Cook said his client acted in self-defense.
"Lance Cpl. Holmes is not guilty of the charges, and he intends to prove that at trial," Cook said.
Holmes was arraigned July 31 but reserved his right not to enter a plea.
A message left with a Camp Pendleton Marine spokesman was not immediately returned Tuesday night.
The attorney said he waited until now to go public about his client's case because he hoped the Marines "would do the right thing" and drop the charges.
Holmes' court-martial is set to begin Dec. 3, said Cook, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego.
Holmes enlisted in the Marine reserves in May 2004 and was on his first deployment in Iraq, Cook said. He is from the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, based out of Lansing, Mich.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug14/0,4670,MarinesReservistCharged,00.html
To maintain security at any position, whether it be a base camp or your own little foxhole, there's several things that you absolutely do not do in order to keep your enemy from observing and/or possibly killing you.
The main thing you do at night is to extinguish ALL forms of light. This includes cigarettes, lighters, cell phones, flashlights, etc.......ANY light emitting device / source.
A well trained sniper can and will spot the 'cherry' on the end of a cigarette from quite a ways off.
If the Iraqi soldier was an 'undercover' insurgent, proper planning with a sniper before hand could've set-up the Marine at that guard point.
It bothers me that only 2 guards were present at the guard point, especially when 1 of them was an Iraqi.
Was the Marine justified in killing the Iraqi? I don't know, because all the facts are known but to the dead Iraqi and the Marine. I would also like to read the 'false statement' mentioned in the article.
Marine Charged in Iraqi Soldier's Death
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES — A Marine reservist has been charged with murdering an Iraqi army soldier as the pair stood watch together before dawn on New Year's Eve in Fallujah, an attorney said Tuesday.
Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes, 21, of Indianapolis, is accused of stabbing Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin at a security post after Hassin violated orders not to display illuminated objects because of the threat of sniper fire, Holmes' lawyer Steve Cook said.
Hassin had opened his cell phone and then lit a cigarette at the post, and Holmes repeatedly tried to make Hassin extinguish the cigarette, Cook said.
"(Holmes) said 'No, no,' but the Iraqi soldier refused to put out the cigarette," Cook said. "Holmes knocked it out of his hands and they started wrestling on the ground."
Holmes thought Hassin was reaching for his loaded AK-47, so the Marine killed him with his bayonet, then radioed for help, Cook said.
Holmes faces charges of unpremeditated murder and making a false official statement and has been in the Camp Pendleton brig since Feb. 23, Cook said.
Cook said his client acted in self-defense.
"Lance Cpl. Holmes is not guilty of the charges, and he intends to prove that at trial," Cook said.
Holmes was arraigned July 31 but reserved his right not to enter a plea.
A message left with a Camp Pendleton Marine spokesman was not immediately returned Tuesday night.
The attorney said he waited until now to go public about his client's case because he hoped the Marines "would do the right thing" and drop the charges.
Holmes' court-martial is set to begin Dec. 3, said Cook, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego.
Holmes enlisted in the Marine reserves in May 2004 and was on his first deployment in Iraq, Cook said. He is from the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, based out of Lansing, Mich.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug14/0,4670,MarinesReservistCharged,00.html
To maintain security at any position, whether it be a base camp or your own little foxhole, there's several things that you absolutely do not do in order to keep your enemy from observing and/or possibly killing you.
The main thing you do at night is to extinguish ALL forms of light. This includes cigarettes, lighters, cell phones, flashlights, etc.......ANY light emitting device / source.
A well trained sniper can and will spot the 'cherry' on the end of a cigarette from quite a ways off.
If the Iraqi soldier was an 'undercover' insurgent, proper planning with a sniper before hand could've set-up the Marine at that guard point.
It bothers me that only 2 guards were present at the guard point, especially when 1 of them was an Iraqi.
Was the Marine justified in killing the Iraqi? I don't know, because all the facts are known but to the dead Iraqi and the Marine. I would also like to read the 'false statement' mentioned in the article.