Marines Probed in Alleged Captive Deaths, Fallujah

Below are excerpts from an AP story about Marines in Iraq describing the cost of glory. It is DDD; Death, Debt, and Destruction.

Bilbo Baggins.

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 29

Nearly three years after the battle of Fallujah earned Marines more Navy Cross medals for heroism than any other action in Iraq, prosecutors are investigating whether members of one squad killed a group of captured insurgents there.

If Jose Nazario's case goes to trial, defense attorney Doug Applegate said he would educate a civilian jury about the realities of combat.

"How do you convey to a jury confusion in the fog of war?" Applegate said. "We are going to have to convey that a guy who might cross the street under a white flag on your block might shoot your best friend on the next block."

Weemer's attorney, Hackett, a Marine reserve major, says it is unlikely that anyone who has never seen combat could grasp what Marines experienced in Fallujah.

"I remember the first day seeing a dog run down the street with an arm in its mouth. Dogs, cats eating bodies. Those are the kinds of scenes that a Marine is experiencing," Hackett said.

"You take a 22-year-old American, you shoot at him all day long, you deprive him of sleep, you make him see his buddies being killed, he has their blood on his boots and blouse, and when you don't see perfection in his decisions you court-martial him? It's absurd."

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press