Another Marine Charged in Unlawfully Killing Iraqi Suspects

Jose Nazario, former squad leader in the U.S. Marines, was charged last week with voluntary manslaughter according to USA Today and the Associated Press.  The charges stem from an incident in 2004 during intense fighting in Fallujah, Iraq where at least two Iraqi men were allegedly shot and killed by Nazario.  The Associated Press learned that charges initially surfaced after a fellow Marine, Ryan Weemer, answered affirmatively to the question of whether he had ever been involved in a wrongful death while undergoing a lie detector test for a position with the Secret Service.  After the lie detector test, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) took over an investigation into the allegations that "Camp Pendleton Marines killed between five and ten unarmed suspected Iraqi insurgents who had been captured during a fierce battle in Fallujah in 2004."  The article stated the NCIS described the events of November 9, 2004 in their criminal complaint and the story is mostly corroborated by Navario that the squad entered a home after being fired on by those inside.  The squad captured the insurgents inside and Navario spoke to a yet unidentified marine on his radio who asked Navario "Are they dead yet?"  When Navario responded that they weren't he was allegedly told to "make it happen."  The LA Times offered further information as to the incident and stated an affidavit filed in federal court by Adm. Mark Fox of the NCIS that colleagues of Navario saw him grab "one of the men, took him into the next room and shot him.  Afterward, Navario emerged and said, 'Who else wants to kill these guys, because I don't want to do it all myself."  Navario then apparently ordered the other squad members to kill the other men and then shot another man himself.

Navario, however, maintains his innocence and Navario's attorney, Kevin McDermott, claimed the charges were merely a tactic by the government to incite Navario's cooperation in the NCIS investigation.  The Salem News stated that other attorneys agree that there isn't a good case against Navario.  The publication stated "numerous attorneys who have been apprised of the allegations initially leveled by Weemer and filed by NCIS dismissed the charges as pointless.  They said that without corroborating witnesses, physical evidence, a crime scene, or the identity of victims, the case would be impossible to prosecute."  Nazario told the LA Times that he dutifully served as a Marine and fought hard for his country.  Navario's claim of innocence seems to be supported by the fact that, like Weemer, he has passed two polygraph tests that asked whether he had participated in unlawful killings.  The Salem News reported that while applying to police departments before landing a job with the Riverside Police Department.  "In both polygraph tests he was asked if he had ever participated in wrongful killings he answer truthfully that he had not to both and passed both tests."  Unfortunately, Nazario has since lost his job with the police department due to the investigation.  These charges represent another in a list of Marines undergoing investigation or convicted of killing Iraqi civilians.  The Salem News reminded readers that two other Marines from the same platoon as Navario and Weemer had faced charges of murdering fifteen civilians in Haditha in 2005.

To see more on this topic please see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/world/middleeast/17civilians.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-marine17aug17,1,296913.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true 

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august142007/jose_nazario_81407.php

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-08-16-marine-fallujah_N.htm?csp=34&POE=click-refer