Fallujah
Marine Faces Charges of
Conspiracy to Murder in California
Federal District Court
by Nathaniel R. Helms
August 14, 2007 --
Former Marine Corps Sergeant Jose Nazario
may face charges of conspiracy to commit murder in Federal District
Court in Los Angeles, California for killing eight Iraqi prisoners of
war in Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004. Nazario was a probationary
patrolman on the Riverside Police Department when the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service informed his superiors the former infantryman
was a suspect in the alleged murders. He was subsequently fired from
his job.
Nazario said Wednesday he took and passed polygraph tests before being
selected by the Riverside Police Department for employment. In both
polygraph tests he was asked if he had ever participated in wrongful
killings. In both instances he answered truthfully that he did not.
Nazario passed both test, he said.
Nazario was a squad
leader in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines at
Fallujah. He was implicated in the shooting of eight Iraqis as the
result of statements made by former Corporal Ryan Weemer, a member of
his squad. Both men belonged to 3rd Squad, Third Plt., Kilo
Co. Weemer was a fire team leader under Nazario’s command. Weemer
revealed the murders during a polygraph test administered by the
Secret Service for its job application process, he said.
The Secret Service
subsequently passed on Weemer’s allegations to NCIS, who initiated an
investigation. Since then several former and at least one active duty
Marine have reported being interviewed by NCIS Special Agents. Several
of the Marines who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they were
interviewed by S.A. Mark Fox. One former Marine Fox interviewed said
the NCIS special agent told him they were trying to identify the
Marine or Marines who allegedly gave an order to shoot the prisoners.
Two Marines from the same
platoon face charges of multiple murder for the incident at Haditha a
year after events at Fallujah unfolded. Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum
and SSgt Frank Wuterich are charged with participating in the murders
of 15 Iraqi civilians following an ambush of their squad at Haditha a
year ago.
Two Marines charged in
the same incident have already been exonerated for lack of evidence in
that case. LCpl Justin Sharratt and Capt. Randy Stone have been
cleared of all the charges by Lt Gen J. N. Mattis, the convening
authority in the Haditha investigation.
Numerous attorneys who
have been apprised of the allegations initially leveled by Weemer and
filed by NCIS dismissed them 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, they
opined.
Arraignment Thursday
Nazario reportedly will
be arraigned Thursday before a U.S. Magistrate at the U.S. District
Court in Los Angeles, California, sources close to the case said.
Nazario is from nearby Riverside. Currently the charges against
Nazario are sealed. One source said the NCIS was trying to compel
Nazario to make a deal in order to escape prosecution. Nazario
reportedly refused to cooperate. If he doesn’t cooperate the
indictment will be unsealed and Nazario will be charged on Thursday,
the source said.
NCIS spokesman Ed Buice
said that “any comment regarding this case will need to come from the
US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.”
Thom Mrozek, the Public
Affairs Officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District
of California, said he could not comment on the case in “any way,
shape or form.”
“We are not in a position
to make any comment on this. There is no public record of this right
now, so no comment.”
Civilian court
The investigation was
conducted and the complaint filed by the NCIS. The agency is the
investigative arm of the United States Navy and has both military and
civilian jurisdiction in criminal cases involving sailors and Marines.
Their action is not unprecedented, court records show. Former service
members charged with crimes that occurred while on active duty can be
tried in civilian courts.
A former Army private faces rape and murder charges
in federal District Court in Paducah, Kentucky after being discharged
from active duty. Former Pfc. Steven D Greene allegedly raped and
murdered a 14-year old Iraqi girl and her family after a drinking
binge. Several of Greene’s former squad mates have already been
convicted and sentenced in the case Greene pleaded not guilty before a
federal magistrate and is awaiting trial. Squad member Pfc. Jesse
Spielman was convicted and sentenced to 110 years in prison and three
other soldiers who pleaded guilty under agreements with prosecutors
received sentences ranging from five to 100 years.
Nazario’s case is
considerably different. He was fighting in the heat of close combat
when he allegedly conspired to kill the suspected enemy combatants. It
is not clear without reading the secret indictment who he conspired
with. Two or three days after the alleged shooting Nazario would be
fighting at the famous Hell House incident, where two 3/1 Marines
earned the Navy Cross in a single engagement.
Nazario reportedly denied
any knowledge of the allegations. So far, Weemer is the only witness
or evidence acknowledged by the government. He was named by NCIS
agents while conducting their interviews as the original source of the
allegations, former Marines said.
Critics of NCIS
investigatory tactics are already claiming NCIS is bringing the
charges to discredit Marines who might be witnesses in any
courts-martial against members of 3/1 facing charges for murder and
malfeasance in Haditha. NCIS spokesman Ed Buice has repeatedly
declined to comment on the investigation, why it was ordered, or by
whom.
“Combat and armchair quarterbacking don’t mix”
Weemer went into
seclusion two months ago after retaining Cincinnati, Ohio attorney
Paul L. Hackett after press reports revealed he had confessed to
witnessing the alleged murders at Fallujah. In the past, Hackett said
his client had never talked with NCIS investigators.
Hackett also said he had
never met Nazario and was unfamiliar with his case, emphasizing he was
unaware that charges had been leveled against anyone who fought at
Fallujah. He declined to comment on Weemer’s role – if any - in
Nazario’s impending indictment. Hackett is a former combat Marine who
served at Fallujah during the vicious campaign there in 2004. He later
ran for a Congressional seat in his hometown as a Democrat and lost.
“Combat and armchair
quarterbacking don’t mix,” Hackett said Tuesday during a telephone
interview from his Cincinnati law office. “Nobody knows what these men
go through. I see the Weemers, and Nazarios, and Wolfs, and Kimbers,”
naming other 3/1 Marines he has counseled. “They are all true heroes.
They deserve to be allowed to come home and resume their lives without
being molested.”
James Kimber,
age 34, was a Captain in India Company 3/1 who was removed from
command with his commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R.
Chessani and Captain Luke McConnell. Kimber was nominated for a
Bronze Star for valor in Haditha, was relieved of command of India
Company, 3/1 when Marines under his command used profanity and
criticized the performance of Iraqi security services during an
interview with Britain’s Sky News TV, according to Hackett.
Francis Wolf is a former Marine
infantry sergeant and brilliant combat Marine who fought gallantly at
Fallujah and Haditha. He was granted immunity to testify in the
Haditha case and spoke glowingly of Chessani and the other Marines in
3/1 accused of misconduct.
More than two years ago
Weemer revealed to government investigators that he had witnessed the
“wrongful deaths” during combat operations in Fallujah of Nov 10 or
11, 2004 after being ordered by unidentified senior Marines to kill
the captives. The eight Iraqis, dressed in so-called “track suits”
frequently worn by the insurgents fighting in Fallujah, were captured
along “Phase Line Henry” during heavy combat.
According to Weemer’s
eyewitness account, the insurgent suspects had just fled from an area
where other Marines had encountered fierce resistance. The insurgents,
knowing the Marines’ Rules of Engagement prevented them shooting the
fleeing men when unarmed, frequently ran from one strong point to
another to take up hidden arms and resume the fight, Weemer said.
Weemer claimed during an
interview for a book about Fallujah in 2006 that after the men were
captured they were held under guard for a brief period before the
Marines were ordered to move on. When his leader – whom Weemer did not
identify – asked for instruction regarding their prisoner’s
disposition, a cryptic voice responded, “They are still alive?” Weemer
said the leader of their unit took that to mean “kill them” and the
Iraqi prisoners were subsequently executed.
Weemer was unavailable
Tuesday for comment. Hackett said Weemer is going to school in
Kentucky and will have no comment.
“I have him in a box,”
Hackett said, “and I intend to keep him there. He doesn’t need to be
making any comments.”
Hackett also declined
comment about the implications of Nazario’s reported predicament. He
preferred describing Weemer and all the other Marines who fought at
Fallujah as “heroes.” Hackett has represented four Marines who were
either at Fallujah, Haditha, or both, he said.
According to sources,
Weemer said in an affidavit filed with the NCIS complaint that Nazario
took eight captured Iraqi men into another room of a house they were
occupying and shot them dead. Weemer reportedly said he did not see
the killings and did not participate in them.
Numerous Marines who were
at Fallujah have denied knowing anything about the allegations Weemer
made two years. Several of the same Marines have subsequently
dismissed Weemer’s allegations to NCIS investigators as a total
fabrication, they said. Others have refused to talk to them at all.
One Marine interviewed by
Special Agent Fox last spring said he was told NCIS “had” to conduct
the investigation “to protect the honor of the Marine Corps or America
or something like that.” He said Fox wanted to know his squad’s
disposition, who was present, and whether he ever heard anything about
the alleged killings.
Several
former Marines who were interviewed claimed an NCIS agent who
contacted them raised the specter of recall to active duty if they
failed to cooperate. Their claims are corroborated by one attorney
representing a former Marine who said a Marine Corps prosecutor raised
the possibility of recall to his client in his presence.
Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines 14
August 2007
Note: Nat Helms is a Contributing Editor to Defend Our
Marines. He served three tours in Vietnam and, most
recently, is the author of
My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story (Meredith Books, 2007)