Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
August 15, 2007 By Rick Rogers, Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON – Tens of thousands of American and Iraqi troops serve together daily, but last December a dispute while on duty led to a Marine reservist stabbing an Iraqi soldier to death as the two stood watch in Anbar province.
Now Lance Cpl. Delano V. Holmes, 21, is accused of killing Mutather Jasem Muhammed Hassin inside a tiny observation post in Fallujah, according to charges filed by the Marine Corps.
Holmes, an Indianapolis resident who was on his first deployment, was arraigned July 31 and is scheduled for court-martial at Camp Pendleton in December.
The case marks a rare instance of a U.S. service member being charged with killing a member of Iraq's fledging military.
The two men argued and began fighting after Hassin illuminated their position with the glow of a cell phone and then with a cigarette in the early morning hours of Dec. 31, said Orange County defense attorney Stephen Cook, who represents Holmes.
Snipers often targeted the elevated watch post in downtown Fallujah. Holmes, fearing that the cell phone and cigarette would tip off ever-present snipers, gestured to Hassin to stop. A fight ensued when Hassin laughed, Cook said.
Holmes pulled a bayonet from the scabbard slung across his chest and plunged it into the Iraqi multiple times – twice piercing the man's spine – when he thought Hassin was going for his rifle.
Holmes, a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, a reserve unit based in Lansing, Mich., then radioed for help.
“I don't think there is any question that post-traumatic stress disorder and combat incidents played a part in this,” Cook said. “He was extremely well thought of by his unit.”
Cook said Holmes suffered psychologically from months of little sleep and the sight of seeing fellow Marines and civilians maimed and killed in dozen of incidents.
Twenty-two members of the regiment died in and around Fallujah during their seven-month deployment, with many more wounded. A memorial service was held for them at Twentynine Palms in April.
The unit deployed under the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. That is why court hearings are taking place there.
“There is no doubt who did the killing. What we are going to do is explain how it happened,” said Cook, whose firm is defending Holmes for free.
Cook, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego, works for the law firm of Howrey, LLP., in Irvine.
Holmes has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is being treated in the Camp Pendleton brig, Cook said. The attorney wants to know whether Holmes' superiors knew about the young Marine's condition and what they did or didn't do about it.
After the stabbing, Holmes was restricted to an American base outside Fallujah for his own protection but not jailed. Holmes thought the Marine Corps was reuniting him with his family in February. But when he stepped off a plane stateside, he was shackled. He's been held at the Camp Pendleton brig since Feb. 23.
An investigating officer recommended Holmes face a court-martial, and Lt. Gen. James Mattis agreed. Cook hopes Mattis, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, reconsiders or at least frees his client until his trial.
Holmes is the first Marine reservist charged with murder during the Iraq war, according to a reserve spokesman. At least 12 active-duty, Camp Pendleton-based Marines have been charged with war crimes in the last two years.
August 15, 2007 By Rick Rogers, Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON – Tens of thousands of American and Iraqi troops serve together daily, but last December a dispute while on duty led to a Marine reservist stabbing an Iraqi soldier to death as the two stood watch in Anbar province.
Now Lance Cpl. Delano V. Holmes, 21, is accused of killing Mutather Jasem Muhammed Hassin inside a tiny observation post in Fallujah, according to charges filed by the Marine Corps.
Holmes, an Indianapolis resident who was on his first deployment, was arraigned July 31 and is scheduled for court-martial at Camp Pendleton in December.
The case marks a rare instance of a U.S. service member being charged with killing a member of Iraq's fledging military.
The two men argued and began fighting after Hassin illuminated their position with the glow of a cell phone and then with a cigarette in the early morning hours of Dec. 31, said Orange County defense attorney Stephen Cook, who represents Holmes.
Snipers often targeted the elevated watch post in downtown Fallujah. Holmes, fearing that the cell phone and cigarette would tip off ever-present snipers, gestured to Hassin to stop. A fight ensued when Hassin laughed, Cook said.
Holmes pulled a bayonet from the scabbard slung across his chest and plunged it into the Iraqi multiple times – twice piercing the man's spine – when he thought Hassin was going for his rifle.
Holmes, a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, a reserve unit based in Lansing, Mich., then radioed for help.
“I don't think there is any question that post-traumatic stress disorder and combat incidents played a part in this,” Cook said. “He was extremely well thought of by his unit.”
Cook said Holmes suffered psychologically from months of little sleep and the sight of seeing fellow Marines and civilians maimed and killed in dozen of incidents.
Twenty-two members of the regiment died in and around Fallujah during their seven-month deployment, with many more wounded. A memorial service was held for them at Twentynine Palms in April.
The unit deployed under the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. That is why court hearings are taking place there.
“There is no doubt who did the killing. What we are going to do is explain how it happened,” said Cook, whose firm is defending Holmes for free.
Cook, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego, works for the law firm of Howrey, LLP., in Irvine.
Holmes has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is being treated in the Camp Pendleton brig, Cook said. The attorney wants to know whether Holmes' superiors knew about the young Marine's condition and what they did or didn't do about it.
After the stabbing, Holmes was restricted to an American base outside Fallujah for his own protection but not jailed. Holmes thought the Marine Corps was reuniting him with his family in February. But when he stepped off a plane stateside, he was shackled. He's been held at the Camp Pendleton brig since Feb. 23.
An investigating officer recommended Holmes face a court-martial, and Lt. Gen. James Mattis agreed. Cook hopes Mattis, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, reconsiders or at least frees his client until his trial.
Holmes is the first Marine reservist charged with murder during the Iraq war, according to a reserve spokesman. At least 12 active-duty, Camp Pendleton-based Marines have been charged with war crimes in the last two years.