Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
November 16, 2006
By Rick Rogers and David Hasemyer, Staff Writers
In a dark chapter of wartime history, a Marine from Encinitas was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday for helping gun down a crippled grandfather in Iraq last spring.
The presiding judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, wanted to hand out a five-year punishment based on charges of aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. But he had to honor the terms of a plea agreement.
“You have a very fortuitous pretrial agreement,” Jones said to Pfc. John J. Jodka III, a 20-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses.
Jodka will receive a general discharge if he fulfills his promise to testify against his co-defendants.
Jones' verdict came after prosecutors showed a video recorded by Jodka's unit two days after the April 26 killing in Hamdaniya, a town in the insurgent-filled Anbar province. The footage shows Jodka and his squad mates shouting curses, making racist remarks and joking about killing more car bombers and other people.
Jodka characterized his participation in the video as a way to blow off steam.
“I was . . . trying to start the day off with a little levity,” he said.
At the start of his hearing at Camp Pendleton, Jodka spent nearly an hour giving an unsworn statement, which meant that prosecutors couldn't cross-examine him. He acknowledged that it was illegal to abduct and kill Hashim Ibrahim Awad, then attempt to cover up the execution.
“Foremost, I offer a sincere apology to the Awad family for the suffering my actions in Iraq caused them,” Jodka said.
He then asserted that poor military leadership, insufficient training, gloating insurgents and peer pressure led him and seven other servicemen to commit their crime. His remarks offered a glimpse into the stress and exasperation among overstretched Marines trying to maintain order in western Iraq.
Once his squad arrived in Anbar province, Jodka said, it had to grapple with unexpected issues such as petty crimes, poor living conditions and the struggle to identify locals who played a key role in creating urban warfare.
“It was very frustrating for us. Almost every person we detained was released. It undermined our efforts to protect the civilians,” he said. “We wanted to accomplish our mission, but we really didn't have the tools.”
Jodka said he was well-trained on how to handle small weapons and engage in firefights. But he said he had no instruction in counter-insurgency actions and humanitarian efforts.
He also suggested that leaders in his unit took advantage of his allegiance to superiors. Duty and loyalty are everything in the Marine Corps, Jodka said, especially when combat buddies rely on one another for survival in a foreign land.
“In combat, there is nothing but your squad,” he said. “You depend on the Marine on the left and on the right.”
But the judge suggested that following orders didn't mitigate Jodka's responsibility for helping to kill Awad, a former police officer.
Jodka told Jones that he understood the gravity of his actions.
“I apologize to my Marine Corps, whose highest ideals I have failed to uphold,” Jodka said. “The most difficult part was weighing the need for truth as opposed to the loyalty to the squad I had bonded with in Iraq.”
Lt. Col. John Baker, the lead prosecutor, questioned Jodka's remorse by playing a video showing him and his squad mates atop a personnel carrier on the morning of April 28.
Jodka and another Marine could be heard talking about shooting people during the one-minute, 23-second clip.
A voice that seems to come from the camera's operator says: “JJ – You gonna kill some more (expletive) today?”
“Yeah,” is the answer, apparently by Jodka.
A different member of the unit yells out seconds later: “Who's been responsible for the most bombings?”
The response from an unidentifiable voice: “Arab men.”
Someone chimes in with an expletive, then says, “Kill 'em. God will sort it out.”
Soon afterward, the camera pans to a truck driving nearby and the squad mates shout, “White truck, white truck!” One Marine says, “I betcha he's gonna plant some bombs later today, get that (expletive).”
The judge initially decided not to air the video in court, but changed his mind after returning from a conference with lawyers from both sides.
“There is a great need to know that we are a public forum,” Jones said. “I've made my preference known that we play all evidence in open court.”
Jodka is the second member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to be sentenced and one of three who have pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement. A fourth plea deal is expected to be finalized next week.
In previous testimony, Jodka and others have said the unit's commander, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, concocted a vigilante-style plot to abduct and kill a suspected insurgent named Saleh Gowad, whom Iraqi police had arrested but then released three times.
Amid the darkness of night, some of the squad's members went to arrest Gowad, according to court documents. After they couldn't find him, the troops allegedly went to a neighboring house and snatched 52-year-old Awad.
They bound Awad and forced him into a shallow hole, court records show. Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on April 26, Jodka and his squad mates allegedly shot Awad to death. Awad was hit at least 13 times.
Jodka and his squad mates have been confined since May.
Jodka, a graduate of St. James and San Dieguito academies, said yesterday that he became interested in the military during high school, though he decided instead to go to college first. He enrolled at the University of California Riverside and was there for one semester before deciding to enter the Marine Corps.
Jodka said he still hopes to become a history teacher some day.
He went through boot camp in San Diego starting in May 2005 and then to infantry training at Camp Pendleton. The day Jodka finished boot camp was the “proudest” day of his life, he said.
His mother, Carolyn Jodka, testified during the morning on behalf of her son. She recounted her anguish in seeing him brought to her in the brig in shackles and “to see this conflict between loyalty to his squad and to the core values of the Marines.”
She implored Jones to consider Jodka's youth.
“He understands his role and he understands what he did was wrong,” she said. “What I hope is you will enter a just decision and a wise decision so he can go on and have a life beyond this.”
She added: “I know this will shape his life. I hope it doesn't define his life.”
November 16, 2006
By Rick Rogers and David Hasemyer, Staff Writers
In a dark chapter of wartime history, a Marine from Encinitas was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday for helping gun down a crippled grandfather in Iraq last spring.
The presiding judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, wanted to hand out a five-year punishment based on charges of aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice. But he had to honor the terms of a plea agreement.
“You have a very fortuitous pretrial agreement,” Jones said to Pfc. John J. Jodka III, a 20-year-old with wire-rimmed glasses.
Jodka will receive a general discharge if he fulfills his promise to testify against his co-defendants.
Jones' verdict came after prosecutors showed a video recorded by Jodka's unit two days after the April 26 killing in Hamdaniya, a town in the insurgent-filled Anbar province. The footage shows Jodka and his squad mates shouting curses, making racist remarks and joking about killing more car bombers and other people.
Jodka characterized his participation in the video as a way to blow off steam.
“I was . . . trying to start the day off with a little levity,” he said.
At the start of his hearing at Camp Pendleton, Jodka spent nearly an hour giving an unsworn statement, which meant that prosecutors couldn't cross-examine him. He acknowledged that it was illegal to abduct and kill Hashim Ibrahim Awad, then attempt to cover up the execution.
“Foremost, I offer a sincere apology to the Awad family for the suffering my actions in Iraq caused them,” Jodka said.
He then asserted that poor military leadership, insufficient training, gloating insurgents and peer pressure led him and seven other servicemen to commit their crime. His remarks offered a glimpse into the stress and exasperation among overstretched Marines trying to maintain order in western Iraq.
Once his squad arrived in Anbar province, Jodka said, it had to grapple with unexpected issues such as petty crimes, poor living conditions and the struggle to identify locals who played a key role in creating urban warfare.
“It was very frustrating for us. Almost every person we detained was released. It undermined our efforts to protect the civilians,” he said. “We wanted to accomplish our mission, but we really didn't have the tools.”
Jodka said he was well-trained on how to handle small weapons and engage in firefights. But he said he had no instruction in counter-insurgency actions and humanitarian efforts.
He also suggested that leaders in his unit took advantage of his allegiance to superiors. Duty and loyalty are everything in the Marine Corps, Jodka said, especially when combat buddies rely on one another for survival in a foreign land.
“In combat, there is nothing but your squad,” he said. “You depend on the Marine on the left and on the right.”
But the judge suggested that following orders didn't mitigate Jodka's responsibility for helping to kill Awad, a former police officer.
Jodka told Jones that he understood the gravity of his actions.
“I apologize to my Marine Corps, whose highest ideals I have failed to uphold,” Jodka said. “The most difficult part was weighing the need for truth as opposed to the loyalty to the squad I had bonded with in Iraq.”
Lt. Col. John Baker, the lead prosecutor, questioned Jodka's remorse by playing a video showing him and his squad mates atop a personnel carrier on the morning of April 28.
Jodka and another Marine could be heard talking about shooting people during the one-minute, 23-second clip.
A voice that seems to come from the camera's operator says: “JJ – You gonna kill some more (expletive) today?”
“Yeah,” is the answer, apparently by Jodka.
A different member of the unit yells out seconds later: “Who's been responsible for the most bombings?”
The response from an unidentifiable voice: “Arab men.”
Someone chimes in with an expletive, then says, “Kill 'em. God will sort it out.”
Soon afterward, the camera pans to a truck driving nearby and the squad mates shout, “White truck, white truck!” One Marine says, “I betcha he's gonna plant some bombs later today, get that (expletive).”
The judge initially decided not to air the video in court, but changed his mind after returning from a conference with lawyers from both sides.
“There is a great need to know that we are a public forum,” Jones said. “I've made my preference known that we play all evidence in open court.”
Jodka is the second member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to be sentenced and one of three who have pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement. A fourth plea deal is expected to be finalized next week.
In previous testimony, Jodka and others have said the unit's commander, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, concocted a vigilante-style plot to abduct and kill a suspected insurgent named Saleh Gowad, whom Iraqi police had arrested but then released three times.
Amid the darkness of night, some of the squad's members went to arrest Gowad, according to court documents. After they couldn't find him, the troops allegedly went to a neighboring house and snatched 52-year-old Awad.
They bound Awad and forced him into a shallow hole, court records show. Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on April 26, Jodka and his squad mates allegedly shot Awad to death. Awad was hit at least 13 times.
Jodka and his squad mates have been confined since May.
Jodka, a graduate of St. James and San Dieguito academies, said yesterday that he became interested in the military during high school, though he decided instead to go to college first. He enrolled at the University of California Riverside and was there for one semester before deciding to enter the Marine Corps.
Jodka said he still hopes to become a history teacher some day.
He went through boot camp in San Diego starting in May 2005 and then to infantry training at Camp Pendleton. The day Jodka finished boot camp was the “proudest” day of his life, he said.
His mother, Carolyn Jodka, testified during the morning on behalf of her son. She recounted her anguish in seeing him brought to her in the brig in shackles and “to see this conflict between loyalty to his squad and to the core values of the Marines.”
She implored Jones to consider Jodka's youth.
“He understands his role and he understands what he did was wrong,” she said. “What I hope is you will enter a just decision and a wise decision so he can go on and have a life beyond this.”
She added: “I know this will shape his life. I hope it doesn't define his life.”