[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7828]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IN SUPPORT OF LT. ILARIO PANTANO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today is the Article 32 
hearing for Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, a Marine who I have 
talked about at great length and who has served our Nation bravely in 
both gulf wars.
  In an action of self-defense a year ago in Iraq, Lt. Pantano made a 
split-second, battlefield decision to shoot two Iraqi insurgents who 
refused to follow his orders to stop their movement towards him. Two-
and-a-half months later, a sergeant under his command who never even 
saw the shooting and who was earlier demoted for his lack of leadership 
abilities, accused him of murder. Because of that, Lt. Pantano today 
faces an Article 32 hearing where a hearing officer will determine 
whether he will face a court marshal for two counts of premeditated 
murder.
  Mr. Speaker, what is happening to this young man is unfair and an 
injustice. Lt. Pantano has served this Nation with great honor. My 
personal experiences with him and his family convince me that he is a 
dedicated family man who loves his corps and his country.
  Mona Charen, a well-known journalist, puts it best when she writes: 
``Pantano was in the middle of a war zone, not a vacation on the 
Riviera. He had been dodging ambushes and booby traps for weeks. He had 
seen his comrades killed and maimed. Perhaps he acted too hastily in 
shooting those Iraqis. But a murder charge? Has the Marine Corps gone 
PC,'' politically correct?
  I have received letters and e-mails from Vietnam veterans who 
sympathize with him and ask that I do something to help him. They know 
what it is like to be in a battle with an unconventional enemy. One 
second can make the difference between life and death.
  I have also read excerpts from his combat fitness report in which 
superiors praise his leadership and talent and even call for his 
promotion.
  Mr. Speaker, Lt. Pantano was by all accounts an exceptional Marine. I 
hope that in the next day or two, as these hearings end, the hearing 
officer comes to the same conclusion that I and many like myself have 
come to, that Lt. Pantano should never have been charged in the first 
place and that all charges against him are dropped.
  Mr. Speaker, I put in a resolution, H. Res. 167, to support Lt. 
Pantano as he faces trial. I hope that my colleagues in the House will 
take some time to read my resolution and look into this situation for 
themselves. But, most of all, I hope it is not necessary for us to 
discuss this further after this week.
  I close with another quote from Mona Charen that I believe summarizes 
this situation: ``Obviously, the United States cannot turn a blind eye 
to war crimes. If a soldier lines up civilians in front of a pit, My 
Lai style, and massacres them, he would richly deserve, and every self-
respecting American would demand, a court marshal. But good Lord, by 
what possible standards can this be called murder?''
  Mr. Speaker, as I close, I ask God to please bless Lt. Pantano and 
his family, and I ask the good Lord to please bless all of our men and 
women in uniform.
  I close by asking God to please continue to bless America.

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