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Ilario Pantano

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Ilario Pantano is a member of the United States Marine Corps, accused of premediated murder in the killing of two Iraqi terrorist suspects on April 14, 2004.

Scholarship to Horace Mann private school

Pantano won a scholarship to a prestigious New York private school.

First stint with USMC

Following his graduation he enlisted in the Marine Corps, and participated in the first Gulf War. Pantano completed sniper training, and was promoted to sergeant and remained in the Marine Corps until 1993.

Return to civilian life

Following his return to civilian life Pantano earned an economics degree from NYU. He built a successful career as an energy trader for Goldman Sachs, with an equally successful secondary career as a movie producer with a New York firm called The Shooting Gallery. He would later be a cofounder of a company specializing in interactive television, Filter TV. Mr Pantano married Jill Chapman, a fashion model, with whom he would later have two children.

Second stint with USMC

Pantano described cutting his hair and re-enlisting in the Marines the day the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001. Pantano's apartment was next to a fire station where eleven firemen perished in the attack. Four of them were, like Mr. Pantano, former Marines.

Pantano was 30 when he re-enlisted, putting him near the upper age limit for officer school. However, he was accepted as an officer candidate, and after completing OCS (Officer Candidate School)was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was a popular officer and his superiors described him as the best platoon commander in his battalion. His men reported they appreciated the extra training drills he put them through.

Return to Iraq

Pantano's unit proceeded to Iraq shortly before the first battle of Fallujah in April 2004. On April 15th 2004, acting on intelligence extracted from captured opposition fighters, Lieutenant Pantano led his platoon against a compound near the town of Mahmudiyah. As they approached the compound they saw a vehicle with two Iraqis in it. Pantano ordered his men to stop the vehicle and to have the occupants of the vehicle handcuffed. The vehicle was searched for weapons. Lieutenant Pantano remained with the captives, while the rest of his platoon secured the compound. The compound was deserted, but his men found a cache of arms, including several mortar aiming stakes, a flare gun, three AK47 rifles, 10 AK magazines with assault vests and IED making material.

When Pantano learned the compound contained weapons he ordered Sergeant Daniel Coburn and Medical Corpsman George Gobles to watch for enemies. He then released the captives from their bonds. According to a statement Lieutenant Pantano made to military investigators in June 2004, he then "used hand signals" to order the captives to search the vehicle again.

During the search of the vehicle Pantano stated he felt the Iraqis posed a threat to him. They were talking, and Pantano believed they were conspiring together. When they both turned to face each other, he shouted "Stop!" in both Arabic and English. According to Pantano, when they didn't stop, he shot them.

He emptied his magazine into the captives bodies. His statement said: "I then changed magazines and continued to fire until the second magazine was empty .... I had made a decision that when I was firing I was going to send a message to these Iraqis and others that when we say, 'no better friend, no worse enemy,' we mean it. I had fired both magazines into the men, hitting them with about 80 percent of my rounds."

Pantano acknowledged leaving a sign above the corpses that said, "no better friend, no worse enemy". This phrase is the motto of his Marine Corps battalion, and is promoted by his battalion commander as the combat philosophy of their unit.

In an interview with the BBC from March 20, 2005, Lieutenant Pantano said: 

"I'm a New Yorker and 9/11 was a pretty significant event for me,
Our duty as Marines is, quite frankly, to export violence to the four 
corners of the globe, to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Lieutenant General James Mattis

The slogan ["No better friend, no worse enemy"] Pantano scrawled over the corpses of the captives he killed was a direct quote from his commanding officer, Lieutenant General James Mattis. On February 1, 2005, General Mattis raised a controversy by giving a speech in which he stated: "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Investigation for murder

In February 2005 it became widely known that Lieutenant Pantano was under investigation for premeditated murder for this shooting. His mother appeared on CNN on February 12th to publicize his case, and to tell the public about the site she founded for his defense

Article 32 hearing

On April 14, 2005, Pantano tried to waive his right to his article 32 hearing -- the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing. His article 32 had been scheduled for April 25, 2005.

In spite of his willingness to waive his rights to an article 32 hearing Lieutenant Pantano did have an article 32 hearing after all. Major Mark Winn was the presiding officer. Sergeant Coburn was heavily criticized for some interviews he had given (he was under a gag order) as well as untruths concerning the evidence in the case.

The blogosphere also played a major role. Coburn made remarks on Euphoric Reality during the case that were in direct contradiction of his statements to naval investigators. The blog owner turned in the comments to Pantano's attorney, who confronted Coburn on the stand with his own remarks in a dramatic cross-examination that resulted in Coburn being taken off the stand and read his Miranda rights. Coburn returned to the stand the following day after being granted immunity.

Another Marine officer, Lt. Graham Hopkins, was a classmate of Pantano's during Officer Candidate School. Hopkins was slated to testify for the prosecution as a character witness against Pantano, and his testimony included anecdotes about Pantano's personality and leadership style while in training. However, Hopkins was not allowed to testify after he and his mother were found making the same type of comments as Coburn on military blogs covering the case. Hopkins' own record was also called into question, as his overall leadership ranking during officer school was last in the class of 192 students. Pantano was ranked fifth.

Major Winn recommended to Major General Huck, commander of Lieutenant Pantano's division that the murder charges be dropped. It was his assessment that Sergeant Coburn was an uncredible witness. He did however recommend that Pantano receive nonjudicial punishment for conduct unbecoming an officer, for the sign he left on the corpses. He described Lieutenant Pantano's treatment of his captive's corpses as a "desecration".

Under US military law, the decision as to whether a court martial should take place lay solely with the General commanding Lieutenant Pantano's division. And he decided to dismiss all charges.

Prior to the hearing the DoD had maintained that it was impossible to do a post-mortem examination on the corpses of Lieutenant Pantano's captives because they were buried in a cemetary that was in an area that was not under American control. However, shortly before the hearing, the bodies were exhumed after all. The autopsy report was released the day after the Article 32 recommendation was made and supported Lt. Pantano's version of events.

Various versions of events

Merry Pantano's version

The web-site created by Pantano's mother, Merry Pantano reports that that the Iraqis had advanced on him in a threatening manner, that he had ordered them to stop, and fired on them, in self-defense, when they failed to do so.

Prior to the press finding access to Lieutenant Pantano's statement journalists and bloggers sympathetic to Pantano echoed the version on his mother's web-site.

Medical corpsman George Goble's version

The Medical Corpsman did not witness the danger Lieutenant Pantano reported, because he was looking outwards, as ordered. But when turned back he saw the Iraqis trying to run away.

Sergeant Coburn version

Lieutenant Pantano's defense counsels have said they believe that Sergeant Daniel Coburn's account should not be given any credit, because he was disgruntled, having been demoted recently. In this account Sergeant Coburn is reported to have said "As soon as I turned my back, Lt. Pantano opened [fire on] them with approximately 45 rounds," Coburn, throughout the case, gave five distinctly separate versions of events.

Corporal "O" version

Corporal "O" was an Arabic speaking Nigerian in Pantano's platoon. His full name was kept confidential at Pantano's hearing because he is being trained for counter-intelligence duties.

In his testimony at Pantano's hearing Corporal "O" described interviewing the two captives. He described seeing the vehicle being searched by other Marines, including the removal of its seats. He described seeing the corpses of the captives, following the shooting, face down, with the heads and torso's in the vehicle and their knees resting on the ground, as if Pantano shot the captives in the back while they were kneeling facing the vehicle. Corporal "O" described the sight as "weird".

Internet threats

On February 17, 2005, it was reported that Ms. Pantano's site went down, and a parallel site with a similar name went up. It was reported that the parallel site contained threats against Pantano, and his family; that it contained a video simulating Pantano being decapitated. Retired Marines are reported to have volunteered to stand a security watch over Pantano's home.

See also

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