Originally Posted by Lady's Human
Here is another article which describes the scene a little more and gives
some more background on the soldier involved.
August 16, 2007
Hoosier accused of killing Iraqi soldier
Marine from Indianapolis says he acted in self-defense during 2006 incident
By Rob Schneider and Diana Penner
[email protected]
When Marine Lance Cpl. Delano V. Holmes returned to the United States from the battlefront in Iraq, the Indianapolis man thought he was heading home to be reunited with his family.
Instead, after landing at an Air Force base in California in February, Holmes, 21, was put in shackles and taken to the maximum-security section of the brig at Camp Pendleton.
After the military's version of a grand jury hearing July 18 and 25, the Ben Davis High School grad was charged with murdering an Iraqi soldier as the two stood watch at a tiny observation post at Camp Fallujah. Holmes also was charged with making a false statement about the incident.
Holmes doesn't deny he killed the man but says he acted in self-defense. A Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Pendleton confirmed the charges against Holmes but provided few details on the case.
Those who know Holmes, including a teacher, his foster mother and fraternity brothers from his days at IUPUI, described him as a "good guy" who joined the Marines because of the Corps' reputation as the toughest and most demanding branch of the service.
Holmes graduated from Ben Davis in 2003. Sandy Plyley, a former math teacher and now assistant principal there, remembered Holmes as a "very pleasant, friendly kid," who always had a smile on his face.
He joined the Marine Reserve in 2004 and continued his political science studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the Rev. Jenni Crowley said.
Crowley came to know Holmes during his junior year at Ben Davis and then became his foster mother. Even though he is now an adult , her family is in the process of formally adopting Holmes, who assisted Crowley with her duties as director of the youth program at Orchard Park Presbyterian Church.
She said Holmes volunteered for duty in Iraq when he heard the Marines needed more machine gunners in the field.
Under fire
Holmes was a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, a Marine Reserve unit based in Lansing, Mich.
After months of training and preparation, the outfit arrived in Iraq in September. Holmes served with a quick-response team, said his California attorney, Stephen Cook, which swung into action whenever there was trouble. By October, roadside bombs had claimed the first lives of Marines in his battalion.
The quick-response team saw constant action, Cook said. Statements from Holmes' officers and fellow enlisted men painted a picture of a serviceman who was highly respected.
"He was consistently placed in a lead gun truck as the lead turret gunner because they trusted and valued his judgment," Cook said. "He was cool under pressure."
A former federal prosecutor in San Diego, Cook said the steady toll of wounded and slain that the unit suffered had begun to wear on Holmes by December.
On the night of Dec. 31, Holmes was paired with an Iraqi soldier he had never met before to stand watch, Pvt. Munther Jasem Muhammed Hassin.
The two occupied a small observation post that was elevated above Camp Fallujah, Cook said. The post was just big enough for the two men to squeeze into with their gear.
Cook described it as an "extremely dangerous post," one that had been shot at a number of times in the days before the incident, including one time when a sniper wounded a Marine.
A language barrier kept the two men from talking to each other, Cook said. "He knew nothing about the soldier's background, his training." Some Marines had concerns about the training the Iraqi soldiers had received and whom they were loyal to, he added.
As Holmes stood watch, Hassin pulled out a cell phone, the glow of which lit up their post, Cook said. The man was doing something with the keypad on his cell phone, and Holmes couldn't tell what he was doing. Hassin quickly put the phone away and lit a cigarette.
Holmes tried repeatedly to get Hassin to put the cigarette out, Cook said, and made gestures and did everything he could think of to get his point across. The soldier only laughed.
"Finally, Lance Corporal Holmes reached over and knocked it out of his hands. The soldier grabbed him and they started wrestling."
In the pitch black, Holmes could feel Hassin move his hands and thought he was reaching for a weapon, Cook said. The only weapon available was a bayonet strapped to his chest, Holmes' attorney said. "He pulled it out and started striking at the soldier until he stopped fighting back."
Then Holmes called for help.
Aftermath
Christopher Kolomjec was the military attorney attached to Holmes' unit, as well as the public affairs officer.
Kolomjec was among the early advisers to the unit commander about the case, but he declined to talk in detail about the facts or the decision to charge Holmes.
Kolomjec said he did not know Holmes well before the slaying, but that he was not known to be a trouble-maker. If anything, he was considered "quiet and reserved," Kolomjec said.
Now in private practice and living in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., Kolomjec said Holmes was sent back to California soon after the slaying partly because the unit had nowhere to confine someone accused of such a crime at the camp. Kolomjec said he was sent to Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, to be detained pending the outcome of the military's investigation.
He is scheduled for court-martial in December.
When Crowley first heard from her foster son after he reached Camp Pendleton, he had one message for her: He was innocent.
"It's a nightmare," he told her.
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