[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8614-8615]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IN SUPPORT OF LIEUTENANT 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, Saturday was the final day 
of the article 32 hearing for a Marine facing murder charges for 
actions he took against Iraqi insurgents in self-defense. A year ago in 
Iraq, Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano made a split-second 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 by Pantano for his lack of leadership abilities, accused him of 
murder. Now the case is in the hands of a hearing officer who must 
determine whether Lieutenant Pantano will face a court-martial.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand here today, as I have many other nights, in 
support of this bright young lieutenant. I have always maintained the 
innocence of Lieutenant Pantano, and I believe last week's hearing 
produced information that will ultimately prove his innocence.
  During the hearing, it became clear that the sergeant who accused 
Lieutenant Pantano, Sergeant Coburn, disobeyed orders to not grant 
interviews to the media on this case. At one point he left the stand 
after the hearing officer read him his rights and explained he could 
face charges for disobeying orders. When he finally did return to 
testify on Saturday, he is reported to have said ``I don't know'' or 
``I can't remember'' over 50 times. His story simply could not hold up 
under cross-examination.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear that this man's testimony cannot be 
considered credible. How can these charges move forward when the 
primary witness is someone who did not actually see the shooting and 
who cannot definitively stick to one recollection of the series of 
events that took place? If that is not enough evidence, let me also 
quote briefly from Navy Medal Corpsman George Gobles, the only other 
person present at the time of the shooting and the prosecution's other 
main witness who took the stand. He called Pantano, and I quote, ``a 
damn good leader.'' He testified, ``I felt the safest with, you know, 
this platoon, because more than anything because of Lieutenant Pantano, 
his leadership.''
  Likewise, Major Brian Neil, the operations officer for Pantano's 
battalion, testified that Lieutenant Pantano was one of the finest 
second lieutenants he has ever known during his 17-year career in the 
corps. He recalled the day of the shooting, testifying: ``To me, it was 
a good day. We killed two obvious insurgents.''
  Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times before, Lieutenant Pantano is 
by all accounts an exceptional Marine. I hope that last week's 
proceedings will finally bring out the truth in this case. I pray that 
the end is near so that the Pantano family can move forward with their 
lives. Hopefully, the facts can bring closure to this serious and sad 
mistake in the history of the Marine Corps.
  In conclusion, I continue to ask my colleagues to research the case 
and consider supporting House Resolution 167, my bill to help support 
Lieutenant Pantano as he faces this battle. I encourage them to visit 
his mother's Web site at www.defendthedefenders.org and learn more 
about this fine young Marine. I would be proud to call him my son or my 
son-in-law.
  I ask as I close today, Mr. Speaker, that God please bless Lieutenant 
Pantano's family, to please bless our men and women in uniform and 
their families, and I ask God to continue to bless America.

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