- CAMP PENDLETON -ñ
A former Marine guard testified yesterday that it was common practice in
Iraq to kick and punch prisoners who didn't cooperate ñ and even
some who did.
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- Lance Cpl. William S. Roy, granted immunity for his testimony,
said guards often abused prisoners at the Camp White Horse detention center.
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- Roy testified on the sixth and last day of a preliminary
hearing in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, an Iraqi prisoner at Camp White
Horse.
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- Although guards beat and choked Hatab and although he
died in their custody, Col. William Gallo, the investigating officer, said
he had not seen evidence to substantiate charges of negligent homicide
against two Marines in the case: Maj. Clarke Paulus and Lance Cpl. Christian
Hernandez.
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- Gallo said there might be enough evidence, however, to
send Sgt. Gary Pittman to trial.
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- The Marines are facing charges arising from the death
June 5 of Hatab, a ranking member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, while
he was at Camp White Horse near Nasiriyah, Iraq.
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- The Marines are with the 2nd Battalion, 25th Regiment,
a reserve unit based in New England that was running Camp White Horse.
Because the regiment was assigned to the 1st Marine Division, the military's
version of a preliminary hearing is being held here, the division's home.
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- Paulus, an active-duty Marine assigned to the reserve
unit, was in charge of the camp; Pittman and Hernandez were guards.
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- Roy testified yesterday that he, Pittman and another
Marine once beat a sheik who had resisted being taken into U.S. custody.
The man had a bag over his head and his hands were tied behind his back.
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- In Hatab's case, Roy said the Iraqi might have received
more abuse because he was a difficult prisoner and because he was linked
to the ambush on the Army's 507th Maintenance Battalion. It was during
that ambush that Jessica Lynch was taken prisoner.
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- Medical experts have disagreed on what killed the 52-year-old
Hatab.
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- Government prosecutors argued that he died of injuries
after Hernandez dragged him by the neck from one holding area to another
on orders of Paulus.
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- Defense teams for Paulus and Hernandez countered that
any neck injury was not fatal.
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- Gallo said that he heard little that suggested Paulus
or Hernandez should go to court-martial, but he said that Roy's testimony
might be enough to recommend a trial for Pittman.
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- Gallo will send his recommendations to Maj.Gen. James
N. Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, who will decide how the
cases will be handled.
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- - Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
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- © Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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- http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040203-9999_1m3marine.html
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