CALIFORNIA – A US Marine is facing a court martial for killing an unarmed captive in Iraq in a case that only came to light when he allegedly confessed during an interview for a secret service job.
A lawyer for Sgt Ryan Weemer told a jury of eight officers at Camp Pendleton, California, on Tuesday that prosecutors could not prove their case because they had no body, no forensic evidence and no complaining relatives.
But prosecutors played recorded interviews in which Sgt Weemer said he and other marines shot a total of four men in Fallujah in November 2004 after their squad suffered its first fatality.
Sgt Weemer (26), of Hindsboro, Illinois, is accused of the unpremeditated murder of one man and dereliction of duty. His former squad leader was acquitted of related charges in federal court and another squad member has yet to face court martial.
The case came to light in 2006, after Sgt Weemer left the Marine Corps and applied for a job in the secret service. During a background interview before a polygraph test as part of the application, he was asked about the most serious crime he ever committed.
“We went into this house, there happened to be four or five guys in the house,” Sgt Weemer said in a recording of the interview played during the prosecution’s opening statement. “We ended up shooting them, we had to.”
The US military had ordered all civilians out of Fallujah ahead of an assault aimed at recapturing the city from insurgents. Operation Phantom Fury involved vicious house-to-house fighting.
Sgt Weemer’s account triggered a criminal investigation and led to him being recalled to active duty to face military prosecution.
Sgt Weemer’s civilian lawyer, Paul Hackett, said it was “a tragic story that represents the reality of combat”.
Sgt Weemer’s squad, led by Sgt José Nazario, had been ordered to clear a house after losing its first man, Lance Cpl Juan Segura, who was shot by a sniper.
Inside the home, the Marines found three young men and one older man, who were unarmed and had their hands in the air, prosecutors said.
Mr Hackett said a sweep of the property turned up at least two AK-47s with hot barrels as well as spent ammunition cartridges.Weemer said in the interview that the unarmed Iraqis were killed after the squad asked superiors for instructions.
“We called up to the platoon leader and the response was, ‘are they dead yet?’ ” Sgt Weemer said in the recording.
In an interview by US Navy investigators Sgt Weemer described an argument among squad members over what to do with the detainees. He said that after Sgt Nazario shot two men, the squad leader asked his colleagues to help him dispose of the other two.
“I just remember that we didn’t want to do that,” Sgt Weemer said. “Finally, I grabbed a guy and took him . . . and I shot him . . . with my pistol.” – (AP)