Ilario Pantano

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Ilario G. Pantano
Born August 28, 1971 (1971-08-28) (age 39)
Place of birth	New York City
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1989-1993, 2003-2005
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Unit	1st Battalion 6th Marines 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines
Battles/wars	Operation Desert Storm Operation Provide Promise Operation Iraqi Freedom
Awards	Combat Action Ribbon with Gold Star (2nd Award)
Other work	Deputy Sheriff

Ilario G. Pantano (born August 28, 1971) is a former United States Marine Corps second lieutenant, author and 2010 Republican nominee for North Carolina's 7th congressional district.

Pantano came to national attention when he was accused by a demoted Marine of premeditated murder in the killing of two detainees during a unit mission near Fallujah, Iraq on April 15, 2004. An article 32 hearing found no credible evidence or testimony to support the accusation and declined to prosecute Pantano, dropping all charges.

[edit] Early life, education and career

Following high school graduation he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served active duty in the first Gulf War as a TOW gunner. Pantano completed Scout Sniper training, and was promoted to Sergeant, remaining in the Marine Corps until 1993.

Following his return to civilian life, Pantano earned an economics degree from New York University. He worked as an electricity trader for Goldman Sachs.

Immediately after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks Pantano joined the Marine Corps again. He was accepted as an officer candidate, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, at the age of thirty.

Pantano went to Iraq in February 2004 with 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines. This was quickly followed by the intense fighting in Fallujah during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004.

[edit] April 15th Incident

On April 15, 2004, acting on intelligence extracted from captured insurgents, Lieutenant Pantano led his platoon against a compound near the town of Mahmudiyah.^[1]

As the platoon approached the compound, they captured a vehicle with two Iraqis in it trying to escape the compound. Pantano ordered his men to stop the vehicle and to have the occupants of the vehicle handcuffed. The vehicle was searched for weapons. Lieutenant Pantano remained with the captives, while the rest of his platoon secured the compound. The compound was deserted, but his men found a cache of arms, including "several mortar aiming stakes, a flare gun, three AK47 rifles, 10 AK magazines with assault vests and IED making material."^[2]

When Pantano learned that the compound contained weapons, he ordered Sergeant Daniel Coburn and Corpsman George Gobles to watch for enemies. He then released the captives from their bonds so they could search the vehicle again more thoroughly. According to a statement Lieutenant Pantano made to military investigators in June 2004, he then used hand signals to order the captives to search the vehicle again.^[3] According to Pantano, during the search of the vehicle the Iraqis were talking and Pantano, believing they were conspiring together, warned them to stop. When they both suddenly moved toward him, he shouted "Stop!" in both Arabic and English, and when they did not stop, he shot them. After emptying his magazine, he continued to fire. He later stated: "I then changed magazines and continued to fire until the second magazine was empty...I had made a decision that when I was firing I was going to send a message to these Iraqis and others that when we say, 'No better friend, No worse enemy,' we mean it. I had fired both magazines into the men, hitting them with about 80 percent of my rounds."^[3]

[edit] Indictment

In June 2004, Sergeant Coburn, a Marine previously demoted by Pantano, registered a complaint about the incident, triggering a Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe.^[2] On February 1, 2005, Pantano was charged with two counts of premeditated murder, and faced the death penalty if convicted.^[2]

[edit] Article 32 hearing

On April 14, 2005, Pantano tried to waive his right to an Article 32 pretrial hearing, in an effort to speed the process toward a court martial. Pantano claimed that the government was withholding key evidence and witnesses and according to a statement made by his mother, waived his right to a hearing "in order to get a Military Judge to compel the prosecution to produce witnesses and evidence in his case."^[4] The request was denied and the Article 32 hearing was held on April 26, 2005 with Major Mark Winn as the presiding officer.^[5]

[edit] Autopsy report

Prior to Pantano's Article 32 hearing the Department of Defense had maintained that it was impossible to do a post-mortem examination on the corpses of Lieutenant Pantano's captives because they were buried in a cemetery that was in an area that was not under American control. However, shortly before the hearing and a year after the incident itself, the bodies were exhumed. The autopsy report was released the day after the Article 32 recommendation was made and, according to the Washington Times, confirmed Lt. Pantano's testimony that he had shot the men as they approached him in a threatening fashion.^[6]

[edit] Pantano's statements

Pantano acknowledged leaving a sign on a car above the corpses that said, "No better friend, No worse enemy," but then returned to remove it after one of his colleagues called it 'inappropriate'.^[5] This phrase is the motto of his Marine Corps battalion.

[edit] Witnesses

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Navy Corpsman George Gobles was present but did not witness the danger Lieutenant Pantano reported, because he was looking outwards, as ordered. He later stated when he turned back he saw the Iraqis trying to run away.

Sergeant Coburn is reported to have said "As soon as I turned my back, Lt. Pantano opened [fire] with approximately 45 rounds." Coburn, throughout the case, gave five distinctly separate versions of events.^{[citation needed]} Lieutenant Pantano's defense counsels have said they believe that Sergeant Daniel Coburn's account should not be given any credit, because he was disgruntled, having been demoted recently by Pantano.^[7][2]

Sergeant Coburn was criticized for some interviews he had given (he was under a gag order) as well as untruths and inconsistencies concerning the evidence in the case.^{[citation needed]}

Another witness, "Corporal 'O'", was an Arabic-speaking Nigerian-American in Pantano's platoon. His full name was kept confidential at Pantano's hearing because he is being trained for counter-intelligence duties.

In his testimony at Pantano's hearing, Corporal "O" described interviewing the two captives.^[5] He described seeing the vehicle being searched by other Marines, including the removal of its seats. He described seeing the corpses of the captives, following the shooting, face down, with the heads and torsos in the vehicle and their knees resting on the ground, as if Pantano shot the captives in the back while they were kneeling facing the vehicle. Corporal "O" described the sight as "weird". This account was later disproven by the forensic evidence.

"Sergeant M", a counter intelligence specialist whose full name couldn't be released, testified that when he questioned the two Iraqi men, they lied and said there were no weapons in the house they fled from. Marines found three AK-47 assault rifles with loaded magazines and mortar aiming stakes^{[clarification needed]}, in addition to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein propaganda in the house.^{[citation needed]}

Sergeant M said he believed the men were insurgents, and they were not going to be released.

^{[citation needed]}

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Sergeant M and Petty Officer 3rd Class George Gobles, the Navy corpsman attached to Pantano's platoon, both testified that Pantano was a good leader who frequently made himself available to the Iraqi people.

"He said we should always present ourselves as humanitarians and greet them with smiles on our face," Gobles said. "That was the way he was, and that was the way he taught us to be."^[8]

[edit] Coburn's internet statements

The blogosphere also played a role in the case. Coburn made remarks on Euphoric Reality during the case that were in direct contradiction of his statements to naval investigators. The blog owners turned in the comments to Pantano's attorney, who confronted Coburn on the stand with his own remarks in a dramatic cross-examination that resulted in Coburn being taken off the stand and read his Miranda rights. Coburn returned to the stand the following day after being granted immunity.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Recommendations

Major Winn recommended to Major General Richard Huck, commander of Lieutenant Pantano's division, that the murder charges be dropped and Pantano be held non-judicially responsible for the number of rounds he fired. It was his assessment that Sergeant Coburn was an uncredible witness.

The officer who conducted last month's hearing, Lt. Col. Mark E. Winn, recommended in a report to General Huck that criminal charges were not warranted, but sharply criticized Lieutenant Pantano's decision to have the car stopped and to focus so closely on the two men to begin with. Colonel Winn recommended nonjudicial discipline, because the sign and the number of rounds fired were in his opinion unwarranted and excessive. Lieutenant Edwards said, however, that General Huck would not issue any nonjudicial punishment.

Furthermore, Pantano's testimony regarding the shooting incident were corroborated by the forensic evidence discovered in the process of exhuming the bodies and the subsequent autopsies.

the spokesman, Second Lt. Barry Edwards, said of the autopsy. "The initial findings corroborated Second Lieutenant Pantano's version of the events." Lieutenant Edwards would not elaborate further on the autopsy results."^[9]

Under U.S. military law, the decision as to whether a court-martial should take place lay solely with General Huck, who dropped all charges.

[edit] Website, internet threats

On February 12, 2005, Pantano's mother appeared on CNN to publicize his case, and to tell the public about the site she founded for his defense.^[10] This website said that the Iraqis had advanced on him in a threatening manner, that he had ordered them to stop, and fired on them, in self-defense when they failed to do so. Prior to the press finding access to Lieutenant Pantano's statement, journalists and bloggers sympathetic to Pantano echoed the version on his mother's website.

On February 17, 2005, it was reported that Ms. Pantano's site went down, and a parallel site with a similar name went up. It was reported that the parallel site contained threats against Pantano, and his family; that it contained a video simulating Pantano being decapitated.^{[citation needed]}

A website, using an address nearly identical to one launched by the officer's family, posted photographs depicting Pantano beheaded by a hooded jihadist.

Capt. Larry Hines of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office in Wilmington confirmed to WorldNetDaily an investigation regarding the website is underway, but he has not come to any conclusions yet. Hines also confirmed the FBI is probing the threat.

Gittins told the Times he believes the hostile site was created in Pakistan and said cyberattacks earlier this week from the Middle East country shut down the website created for Pantano's defense by his mother, Merry K. Pantano.^[11]

Retired Marines are reported to have volunteered to stand a security watch over Pantano's home.^[12]

[edit] Support

Pantano received support from internet websites and organizations which specialize in supporting the troops. He also received backing from talk radio personalities, specifically Michael Savage who spent day after day raising awareness of Pantano's situation and even conducted several interviews with Pantano and his family.

North Carolina Third District Representative Walter B. Jones introduced House Resolution 167 which expressed the support of the House of Representatives for Pantano. On February 25, Congressman Jones wrote a letter to President Bush asking for his support for Pantano.^[13]

On April 14, 2005, the Association for Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs sent a letter to then President Bush endorsing House Resolution 167 in support of Ilario Pantano.^[14]

[edit] On The Congressional Record

1. House Resolution 167 in support of 2LT Ilario Pantano, March 17, 2005. [1]
2. LA Deputy Sheriff's endorsement of HR 167, April 14, 2005. [2]
3. Congressman Walter Jones' public statement of support, May 5, 2005. [3]
4. Congressman Walter Jones' endorsement of Pantano's memoir, June 6, 2006. [4]

[edit] 2010 U.S. Congressional campaign

Pantano is challenging Democratic incumbent Mike McIntyre for North Carolina's 7th congressional district. He is the Republican nominee.^[15]

[edit] Works

• Ilario Pantano and Malcolm McConnell, Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy, Threshold Editions (2006) ISBN 1416524266 ^[16]

On July 10, 2006, Pantano appeared as a guest on The Daily Show to promote the book.

[edit] See also

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• Charles Gittins, Pantano's civilian lawyer.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ilario Pantano

• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Works by or about Ilario Pantano in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Life on the Front Lines Time Magazine, May 10, 2004
• Re-enlisting Led to Warfare And Charges Of Murder New York Times, Feb 12 2005
• FBI probing threat against accused Marine|Web photos depict beheading, home under security watch WorldNetDaily.com, February 16, 2005
• Did He Go Too Far? Time Magazine, February 28, 2005
• A WARRIOR FACES TOUGHEST BATTLE Hero Leatherneck facing charges he killed 2 Iraqis SPECIAL REPORT: DRIVEN BY THE SAVAGERY OF 9/11, PERSIAN GULF WAR VET REUPPED, ONLY TO END UP ON TRIAL The New York Daily News, March 6, 2005
• Euphoric RealityCollection of Blog Posts Covering Pantano Case, February 15, 2005 - June 11, 2006
• Murder or self-defense? N.C. Marine faces charge in Iraq killings Winston-Salem Journal, March 7, 2005
• Goldman Sachs GI ‘shot Iraqis in back’, Sunday Times, April 26, 2005
• New York Magazine interview
• BBC, where Lieutenant Pantano says: "I'm a New Yorker and 9/11 was a pretty significant event for me, Our duty as Marines is, quite frankly, to export violence to the four corners of the globe, to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
• Pantano hearing opens Jacksonville Daily News, April 27, 2005
• N.Y. MARINE IN THE CLEAR; KILLING IRAQ TERRORISTS WAS JUSTIFIED: PROBE New York Post, May 14, 2005
• Marine's Shooting of Iraqis Justified, Probe Concludes, Washington Post, May 15, 2005
• RUSH TO JUDGMENT - HADITHA 'FACTS' GET MURKIER The New York Post, Jun 13, 2006
• Article 32 Report
• Video interview on The Daily Show
• Ex-Marine Warns Not to Rush to Judgment|Ilario G. Pantano was cleared in two killings in Iraq and says others accused may be too. Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2006
• Web site to raise support for MarSOC Marines Marine Corps Times, May 10, 2007
• Inside the Ring - Intelligence Support Site Washington Times, October 29, 2009