Posted on 10/06/2006 5:48:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES -- During two tours of duty in Iraq, Navy corpsman Melson J. Bacos said he experienced everything combat had to offer -- fire fights with insurgents, soldiers dying in his arms, thoughts of whether he'd live another day.
Now he's got another unnerving assignment. On Friday, the 21 year old is scheduled to give testimony that military prosecutors hope will help them convict seven Marines accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania.
Bacos, a medic who patrolled with the Marines, will have similar charges dropped in exchange for testimony during his court martial, his attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan III, told The Associated Press.
After graduating from high school in Franklin, Wis., Bacos joined the Navy in 2003. He was first deployed to Iraq in July 2004.
Bacos recounted his time at war in interviews that were videotaped in August at Camp Pendleton, where he has been held pending his court martial. The clips, which span more than 25 minutes, show a somber Bacos, talking slowly, sometimes with his head down.
After five months on the ground, Bacos said he was involved in a major fire fight in which several Marines were killed.
"It's so hard to speak of what I saw," Bacos said.
"I think I could have died so many times," he said. "I thank God I have my life today. I realize how precious life is."
At another point, Bacos described eating with bloodied hands.
"I remember thinking to myself that today was going to be a memorable day," he said. "I'm going to eat with blood on my hands, another person's blood on my hands that died earlier."
The military has said Bacos was with the Marines in April when 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad was kidnapped and murdered. Some of the troops are accused of stealing an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel and placing them in a hole with Awad's body, apparently to make it appear he was an insurgent planting a bomb.
Bacos was accused of firing the AK-47 in the air to expend some shell casings as part of the cover-up. He was charged with murder and kidnapping under a legal principle that anyone who didn't try to stop the crime is as culpable as the triggerman.
After his first tour, in April 2005, Bacos reunited with his wife Heather, also a Navy corpsman, for the birth of their daughter, Alyssa. He shipped out to Iraq in January.
In the videos, Bacos said was initially kept in a cell 23 hours a day and was deemed by the military as "potentially violent and dangerous." He said the last several months have been hard on him and his family, who were heartbroken seeing Bacos handcuffed and kept behind glass. Bacos and the other Marines were granted a more lenient level of restraint in June.
"It was so embarrassing," he said on one of the video clips. "It's psychologically stressful on me and my wife because we didn't even get to spend one loving moment together."
Friends have posted messages of support on his MySpace.com page. His wife said on another Web site that her husband's lawyer had received numerous calls from people wanting to help the family.
"My husband and I are sincerely grateful for the overwhelming support our family has received during this difficult time," she said. "Words cannot express my husband's gratitude for the many kind words and support."
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In the videos, Bacos said was initially kept in a cell 23 hours a day and was deemed by the military as "potentially violent and dangerous." He said the last several months have been hard on him and his family, who were heartbroken seeing Bacos handcuffed and kept behind glass. Bacos and the other Marines were granted a more lenient level of restraint in June.
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Something smells. jmo.
your excerpt is all anyone needs to read to know the score here.
yet, I have been amazed by how many freepers on these threads have these marines convicted, and want them hung (literally), and are willing to accept the testimony from a man who flipped and took a plea after being handcuffed for 23 hours a day - as the primary basis for their conviction.
My point about those muslim morons down at Gitmo is that they ought to be damn glad they didn't get sent to a normal navy brig.
His latest war experience is selling out his buddies to save his own ass.
Having spent some time as a jarhead “in a dixie cup” (old timers will relate). I could not see myself rating out my bros regardless.
This is completely insane. I am ashamed that this is happening to our brave Marines.
Many FReepers have good critical thinking skills- others in here act like Liberals: they use emotion instead of logic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"I Do Not Think This Is What General Puller Had In Mind...."
Ref
Chesty Puller's "Loyalty Down"
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/gunnyg/loyaltydown.html
...and I am not referring to the Navy Corpsman. I am referring to those officers appointed above these fighting Marines and their "Doc," those who caused one to rat on his buddies, rightly or wrongly, make confessions, implicate his comrades!
I know, cops and and other flunkies of the state do it all the time....or even the enemies of our people in POW camps in Korea, Vietnam, etc. I expect that, but we should expect more of The Corps.
"Chesty," I'm sure, really meant loyalty down--not up! yours!
Semper...Fidelis
-DickG
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Don't know about you, Mac--I expect more of The Corps!
~~~~~~~~~~
"The fact of the matter is that war changes men's natures. The barbarities of war are seldom committed by abnormal men. The tragedy of war is that these horrors are committed by normal men in abnormal situations; situations in which the ebb and flow of everyday life have departed and have been replaced by a constant round of fear and anger, blood and death. Soldiers at war are not to be judged by civilian rules, even though they commit acts which calmly viewed afterwards could only be seen as un-Christian and brutal . . . We can not hope to judge such matters unless we ourselves have been submitted to the same pressures, the same provocations, as these men, whose actions are on trial."
--- Major J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson), "Breaker Morant"
Let's not jump on the wagon just yet. Remember we are reading this out of the MSM. They love to take court cases and rip everything out of context to paint a picture that they want to be so.
This is merely a reprint of an AP article. Let's wait till we see court transcripts. I hope it amounts to nothing and these prosecutors are scraping to get any "evidence" they can to get the convictions they desire.
Perhaps this is even being flown out there to cause the Marines he would testify "against" to turn on Bacos.
All I'm saying is that at this point we can't trust what we are reading.
If we kept handcuffs on the killers at Gitmo the whole damned world would be up in arms against us. Yet its ok to treat American soldiers that way. Especially if you are trying to get them to testify against their buddies.
The way these men have been treated by the Ameriican government is atrocious., A disgrace.
American politics as usual. If it's politically expedient to pamper hardened terrorists in GTMO, then that's what they'll do. And if it's politically expedient to torment our own warriors for "war crimes" in Iraq, that's what they'll do. Whatever it takes to deflect the heat and keep the popularity as high as possible, even if it means kicking our troops in the gut, that is what they will do. And yes, I'm one those apostate FReepers who thinks Bush is no different than most other career politicians; he has turned on his base enough times to make that eminently clear.
The President can stop this madness if he chooses, but instead he chose to order "sensitivity training" for our Marines as a result of this alleged incident, which amounts to a condemnation. Some politicians are sleazier than others, but they are all essentially committed to political correctness and, most importantly, re-election, (for themselves or their friends). They will do what it takes to maintain their power. They are all from the same mold. I genuinely feel for our brave warriors who must fight this PC war in Iraq, and when they do their job and kill the enemy without going through an entire chain-of-command first, they get arrested and treated WORSE than terrorists. I just cannot believe this is happening in our own country.
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