AP: Marine Apologizes In Iraq Criminal Case

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MARINES_IRAQ_SHOOTING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Feb 16, 10:50 PM EST
Marine Apologizes in Iraq Criminal Case

By THOMAS WATKINS
Associated Press Writer

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- A Marine who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy apologized Friday to his country, the Marine Corps and the family of an Iraqi man his squad killed.

"I can honestly and truly say that I am sorry that I did what I did," said Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington at his sentencing hearing. "Saying I feel bad just does not begin to describe it."

Pennington, 22, pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping and conspiracy. He was part of an eight-member squad accused of kidnapping and murdering Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, last April in the Iraqi town of Hamdania.

A murder charge will be dismissed, provided Pennington sticks to the terms in a pretrial agreement requiring him to testify for the government and remain on good behavior. He was the sixth member of the squad to plead guilty in the case, though one of those troops withdrew his plea ahead of his sentencing.

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then who the hell are they gonna testify against? Who's left? Are they finally going to do this right and get the asshole officer who ordered the whole thing?

I have a friend whose half-brother came back from Fallujah damaged. Of course, he's back over there.

<Describing his mission in Hamdania as "fuzzy at best and convoluted at worse," Pennington said that as a Marine he had been taught to be aggressive, to take the initiative and to take the fight to the enemy.

<"As callous as it sounds, it's guilty until proven otherwise," Pennington said. "You have to make the assumption that unless they show you otherwise, treat them as thought they are your enemy.">

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17324074.htm

More at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/17/marines.hamdaniya/index.html