Marine Goes on Trial in Death of Iraqi

[Barrett808]

Marine Goes on Trial in Death of Iraqi
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Military authorities began their trial Monday of a Marine reserve sergeant charged with assaulting an Iraqi POW who later died, and a judge ruled the defense could present testimony that contradicts a key witness.

The court-martial of Reserve Sgt. Gary Pittman in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab is the first court-martial known to be connected to the death of a prisoner in Iraq. Opening statements were expected to be presented Monday afternoon.

Hatab's death was the first that U.S. military authorities acknowledged. Hatab died two days after his capture in June 2003 at Camp Whitehorse, a makeshift lockup in southern Iraq that has since been closed.

Pittman sat quietly in a small courtroom Monday as 13 fellow Marines, all from this base north of San Diego, underwent questioning to form the panel of at least five soldiers who hear the case.

According to a fellow Marine who has been granted immunity, Pittman karate-kicked the handcuffed, hooded Hatab in the chest so hard that he flew three feet before hitting the floor.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040823/ap_on_re_us/us_iraq_prisoner_death&cid=519&ncid=1480

[napi21]

1. If he's guilty, he should be punished, but I hope all the truth

is exposed at his trial. If there are others involved, they should take the blame too.

[BeHereNow]

2. I don't support the death penalty

but I am tempted to in this case.
I don't want this man loose on the street
and I don't want to fund his prison time.
WHO are these people?
What kind of person would do this
to another human being?
BHN

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. Where is Seymour Hersh and the Abu Ghraib child rape video???

Will THAT horror be forever ignored by the American people? It seems like it's even been forgotten on DU.

[Barrett808]

6. He's coming out with a book -- scheduled to appear in September, I think

[gratuitous]

4. Pittman karate-kicked a man who was handcuffed and hooded

And his buddy is getting immunity to testify against Pittman. Is THIS what it means to be a Marine? I've always heard Marines throw around terms like "honor" and "integrity" but apparently I speak a different dialect of English.

[0007]

5. Hatab died of natural casuses, maybe an asthma attck?

" Tranberg said the doctor also will testify that it would be impossible for such a kick to break ribs on both sides of a person's body.

Pittman, who in civilian life was a guard at a Brooklyn federal prison, is one of three men charged in Hatab's eventual death.

An autopsy concluded that Hatab had seven broken ribs and slowly suffocated from a crushed windpipe. The accused Marines and their lawyers say Hatab died of natural causes, perhaps from an asthma attack.