Re: Details Differ in Iraqi POW's Death

Date: January 27, 2004

"Details of Iraqi POW's death vary in hearing

Three Marines face charges all tied to abuse of prisoners


By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 27, 2004

CAMP PENDLETON – Far different scenarios emerged yesterday during the start of a military court hearing into how an Iraqi prisoner of war died while in the custody of Marine reservists.

Nagem Sadoon Hatab died June 6 at Camp White Horse, a detention center run by the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment near Nasiriyah, Iraq. The Marine unit is based in New England but was attached to the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton.

Hatab was naked and covered in his own filth after three days of physical abuse and medical neglect, Marine prosecutors said in their opening statement. They said an autopsy found that Hatab, 52, had several broken ribs and died from essentially having his windpipe crushed.

Maj. Clarke A. Paulus, Sgt. Gary P. Pittman and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez face charges in the military's version of a preliminary hearing. All allegations are tied to abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

The three defendants said little during the hearing in a cramped courtroom on the base within earshot of Marines training on the firing range for their next deployment to Iraq.

Paulus – the commanding officer at White Horse at the time of Hatab's death – and Hernandez are accused of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment and assault. Pittman is accused of dereliction of duty and assault. Paulus also is charged with making false official statements.

"What the case is about is what degree of care did the Marines owe the detainees," prosecutor Capt. Leon Francis said.

He said Hatab was abused as soon as he arrived June 3 at the makeshift camp, where prisoners were forced to relieve themselves into cardboard boxes because there were no toilet facilities.

Hatab was treated harshly, Francis said, because of his alleged connection to an attack on an Army convoy.

Paulus ordered Hernandez to drag Hatab by the neck, the prosecutor said, after the Iraqi man – covered in his own feces – couldn't move on his own from one holding area to another.

Jack B. Zimmerman, representing Hernandez, said that his client gently moved Hatab by his neck because there was no other way to maneuver the filthy man.

He argued Hatab was in poor physical condition and that his most serious wounds were not inflicted by Hernandez.

"The cause of death is going to be clearly in question, and it clearly did not involve Lance Cpl. Hernandez," said Zimmerman, an attorney from Houston.

Paulus' attorney, Keith T. Higgins from Worcester, Mass., said little during the first day of the proceedings. His client faces some of the tougher charges.

Staff Sgt. Freddy Tellocastillo, the top enlisted man at White Horse when Hatab died, told the court during testimony that Hernandez did not abuse Hatab and that Paulus did not allow mistreatment of prisoners.

Hatab, a ranking Baath Party member, was being held after the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Battalion that killed 11 soldiers and left Pfc. Jessica Lynch a prisoner of war. On a tip, Marines questioned Hatab, who led them to a M-16 identified as coming from the 507th.

A fourth Marine, Lance Cpl. William S. Roy, also was supposed to be a defendant at the hearing. But he has struck an agreement with Marine prosecutors to offer testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution, said his attorney, Donald G. Rehkopf Jr.

Rehkopf said Roy also would be a witness for the defense.

Col. William Gallo is the investigating officer for the hearings, which were expected to last about two weeks. After listening to the evidence, Gallo will make individual recommendations to Maj. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division. Mattis will then decide whether to try the Marines in military court.

Maj. William F. Vickers, commander of the White Horse detention center before Paulus, had an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, in December, also before Gallo.

There has been no recommendation whether he should go to court-martial on one charge of dereliction of duty.

Prosecutors argued that Vickers knew that his guards were making prisoners stand for as long as 50 minutes an hour for as long as 10 hours and that this constituted abuse of prisoners he should have not allowed.

Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com"