WorldNet Daily is reporting “Marines urge patience in accused-officer case”.
Americans outraged at the murder charges against a Marine who claims he killed two insurgent terrorists in Iraq in self-defense should have confidence in the military justice system, insists a Marine Corps spokesman.
Maj. Matt Morgan of Camp Lejeune, N.C., told WorldNetDaily he understands why the public is rallying behind 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano after news of his case broke Friday.
Americans have seen what is in the press, and they have a tendency to support the Marines,” he said. “On the other side of that, completely unconnected, there is something called the law of war, and it is possible for a Marine to violate that. To say you can’t second-guess a Marine well, every Marine who deploys has the experience that anything they do can be second-guessed.”
Well, yeah, Major, we tend to get a little upset when we see an innocent man getting railroaded. According to Lt. Pantano’s attorney, Charles Gittins, Pantono’s accuser is a bit suspect:
He described the accuser as a “disgruntled” sergeant who holds the position of radio man, a non-leadership position that indicates he’s been put in a place where he can do the least harm.
Bear in mind that Mr. Gittins is a Marine Reservist. So he’s speaking from a position of inside knowledge. (Although I wouldn’t want my commo guy to be a disgruntled non-com.)
Major Morgan is correct when he notes “should have confidence in the military justice system”, since right now all we can really do is blog/speak out/raise merry hell and donate to the defense.
But if you really support our military men and women in the field, I feel you need to keep up with this story. It’s important. If the warriors in battle start to fear “Monday Morning Quarterback Syndrome”, then we’re going to start getting a lot of dead warriors. They’ll be afraid to pull the trigger when they should. And that will be the start of making all the sacrifice so far for naught.