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Marines visiting a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Scenes include troops walking inside the restaurant and KFC workers preparing and frying chicken and french fries. Click link to see video clip

Marines visiting a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Scenes include troops walking inside the restaurant and KFC workers preparing and frying chicken and french fries.

Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer is accused of murdering an enemy combatant captured a few hours after his squad crossed the line of departure on November 9, 2004 to attack Fallujah, Iraq. The government claims somebody gave Weemer’s squad leader an order over a radio to kill four prisoners they had just captured and Weemer was one of the Marines who complied. Weemer’s former squad leader Jose L. Nazario, and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, an assaultman attached to his squad, are also accused of murder in the affair. After Weemer and Nelson waived their right to legal counsel they both gave voluntary...

Read the indictment here._____________________________________________A former Marine sergeant charged with killing captured enemy combatants in Fallujah, Iraq more than three years ago has taken another bullet from a California federal Grand Jury. The Grand Jury has handed up a superseding indictment charging Jose L. Nazario with the added charges of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, Discharging a Firearm during a Crime of Violence, and Causing an Act – in this case multiple murder – by two junior Marines under his command, the undated indictment shows. The 28-year old former Riverside Police Department rookie and eight year Marine veteran is already charged...

Breaking news!Judge recomends dismissal of manslaughter charges in Sgt John Winnick case. Recommends a minor dereliction charge with nonjudicial punishment. This is a developing story. Check back with Defend Our Marines for details.

A Marine sergeant charged with murdering an enemy combatant captured in Fallujah during the heat of battle repeatedly told Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agents he didn’t do anything wrong. Sergeant Ryan Weemer’s words were captured during a lengthy 2006 interview with NCIS Special Agents Mark Fox and Tess Berg obtained by Defend Our Marines. The interview took place on November 16 in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of Saint Louis. A carefully cherry-picked version of his statement was revealed by the prosecution during Weemer’s Article 32 preliminary hearing last week. Much less was said about Weemer’s apparent confusion, his overwhelming...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A military prosecutor on Friday asked a Marine officer to recommend that a veteran of the legendary Fallujah battle be tried for murder for his admission that he killed a prisoner under his control. "While he is a remarkably sympathetic figure," prosecutor Nick Gannon said of Sgt. Ryan Weemer, "especially on these facts, this is not a gray area. It's black and white. It's right and wrong." Gannon bolstered his argument by pointing to testimony that Marines who took prisoners during the massive 2004 offensive in Fallujah were told to treat the detainees humanely and get them...

A bomb has exploded in the western Iraqi city of Falluja, killing four policemen and a civilian, police say. Fifteen people were injured in the blast outside a bank in the city. Falluja was at the centre of the Sunni Muslim insurgency following the US-led invasion of Iraq, until local tribes turned against al-Qaeda militants. The casualties were people who were inspecting the scene of an earlier blast when the second explosion was detonated, police said. Police did not say who was behind the attack, but al-Qaeda remnants in Anbar province are often blamed for such bombings. The US military...

(Published July 10, 2008) CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer hoped his battle experience in Fallujah and other Iraqi hot zones would pave the way to a job in the Secret Service. Instead, the 25-year-old is among three Marines charged with murdering unarmed captives in November 2004, during some of the heaviest house-to-house fighting of the Iraq war. ADVERTISEMENT Cracking the Code of Sexual Chemistry and Attraction Still Time to Slim Down for Summer More Scholarships for Working Moms Going Back to College Weemer is due in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Thursday for a daylong preliminary hearing, known...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The killing of four unarmed detainees during a battle for Fallujah nearly four years ago is the focus of a hearing this week for a Marine sergeant charged with one of the slayings. Sgt. Ryan Weemer is accused of murder and six counts of dereliction of duty in the incident that authorities say took place during the height of fighting for what was then an insurgent stronghold in Iraq's Anbar province. The hearing, scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday, is the latest chapter in a series of cases involving Camp Pendleton troops charged with unlawful killings...

Five-year-old Ahmed and his father, Warrant Officer Othman Mallouki, an Iraqi policeman with Fallujah Headquarters District, get ready to leave the Joint Command Center after a visit with Marines from Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, June 21. Marines with the team are working with the family to arrange transportation for Ahmed's surgery in Jordan. Photo by Cpl. Chris Mann. FALLUJAH — Sounds of joy and laughter resonate through a police station’s narrow hallways. A young boy slowly enters through a doorway at the end to greet the boisterous group of Marines, but the sounds of...

Marine Corps Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer will celebrate Independence Day in a Camp Pendleton brig instead of the San Bernardino County Jail, Defend Our Marines has learned. Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer, both veterans of the famous "Hell House" fight at Fallujah, Iraq, are currently being held in the San Bernardino County federal lockup for contempt of court charges. They were locked up after refusing to talk to a Grand Jury seated in Riverside, California. A spokesman at Camp Pendleton is still trying to determine whether they have already been transferred to the Camp Pendleton brig at...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Marines in Fallujah will transfer their headquarters to Ramadi in the next six months, said Marine Col. Lewis Craparotta, commander of Regimental Combat Team 1. The 412 Marines and sailors in the regimental combat team’s headquarters will make the move as part of an effort to reduce the U.S. presence in Fallujah, Craparotta told reporters Monday. Both Fallujah and Ramadi were once hotbeds for the insurgency, but since 2007, local Sunnis have allied with U.S. troops to drive out al-Qaida. On Monday, Craparotta said the enemy in his area has been "neutralized;" however, he noted a series...

The federal trial of former Marine Sgt Jose L. Nazario is on hold until August 19, Defend Our Marines has learned. Presiding US District Judge Steven Larsen issued the order last week. Nazario’s trial was scheduled to begin July 8 at the US District Court for Central California at Riverside. Judge Larsen has also issued an unusual order to Nazario’s defense attorney Kevin B. McDermott to keep the Grand Jury testimony he received in discovery secret, and to return the transcripts to the court undisclosed to the public upon the completion of the case. The delay in the Nazario case...

FALLUJAH — Marines geared for war walk in tactical columns through the once mean streets of Fallujah, ready for what may lay around the next corner. “Mister, mister shokalata! Shokalata!”shout exuberant children from a crowded neighborhood as Marines and Iraqi police pass out candy. Marines with Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, have been working diligently over the past few months to help train Iraqi police to take over their respective areas and become self-supportive in day-to-day operations in the city. Recent increases in the number of Iraqi police have drastically subdued the violence in the...

FALLUJAH — Marines geared for war walk in tactical columns through the once mean streets of Fallujah, ready for what may lay around the next corner.“Mister, mister shokalata! Shokalata!�shout exuberant children from a crowded neighborhood as Marines and Iraqi police pass out candy.Marines with Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, have been working diligently over the past few months to help train Iraqi police to take over their respective areas and become self-supportive in day-to-day operations in the city.Recent increases in the number of Iraqi police have drastically subdued the violence in the city.According to...

He said, "Mom I want to join the Marines, please sign these papers,I am only 17." I said okay. 911 happened. Are you sure? "Yes please let me go, I know I have to go." I said okay. He was only 18. They said you young Marines will go to war and some will not come back. He said, "Don't worry; I have to fight for our country." I said okay. He was only 19. He marched up to Baghdad. Sand swirled all around, the heat was extreme, water was scarce, and sleep was little. Hungry, tired and dirty, he...

RIVERSIDE ---- A second Marine has been found in contempt of court for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury and has been ordered to jail. Sgt. Ryan G. Weemer, charged with murder in the death of an Iraqi detainee in Fallujah in 2004, appeared in uniform before U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson on Thursday and was ordered into custody after a brief hearing Thursday. Weemer can be held for up to 18 months unless he decides to testify before the grand jury. The jury is investigating Weemer's former squad leader, Jose Nazario, who is no longer in...

Grieving Mothers Bond To Learn How Their Sons Died In Fallujah By ANDREA SIMAKIS   Danica Zovko on April 1, 2004, the day after learning her son Jerry was dead. (Photo courtesy of the Zovko Family)     Feb. 7, 2007Donna Zovko rubbed her thumb over the tiny, white enamel dove fastened to her lapel. A nun from Akron sent her the peace pin after Jerry was killed on a dusty road in Fallujah.Jerry.He was the reason she was here, sitting under the vaulted ceilings of a congressional hearing room, not in the cramped office of her body shop...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- After spending more than a week in jail for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions, a Marine accused of killing a suspected insurgent detainee in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 was arraigned in a base courtroom Wednesday morning. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson said during the 25-minute hearing that he would enter a plea to charges of murder and dereliction of duty at a later date. Nelson said little else during the session conducted by Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, the military judge now assigned to the case. Nelson and two others, former Marine Jose L. Nazario...

A Marine sergeant accused of murdering an Iraqi insurgent at Fallujah more then three years ago was returned to Marine Corps control Thursday after spending a week in a Los Angeles civilian jail on federal contempt charges. US District Judge Percy Anderson ordered Sergeant Jermaine Nelson released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles a week after ordering him confined for refusing to testify against his former squad leader in a related federal murder investigation, his lawyer Joseph Low said. Nelson is charged by the Marine Corps with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty for allegedly shooting an Iraqi...

BAGHDAD — A U.S. Marine handed out coins promoting Christianity to Muslims in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, outraged Sunni officials said Friday. The U.S. military responded quickly, removing a trooper from duty pending an investigation.

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand. Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked. He flipped it over, and on the...

Dubai, 27 May (AKI ) - By Hamza Boccolini - A new video called "Nuclear Terrorism" has been posted on the worldwide web calling for jihadists to use nuclear or chemical weapons to strike the west. A simple jihadi propaganda video or a dangerous message to a sleeper cell in the west? That is the question raised by the video and no-one has yet claimed responsibility for it. "Strike civilians in the west without mercy using weapons of mass destruction" is one of the calls made in the 39-minute video. The question now being asked is whether the video is...

A Marine charged with murder for killing an insurgent prisoner has been jailed in California for refusing to testify at a federal Grand Jury hearing evidence of alleged murder at Fallujah, Iraq. US District Judge Percy Anderson Wednesday ordered Sergeant Jermaine Nelson to confinement at the federal lockup in Los Angeles after giving him several opportunities to relent. “It was a beautiful thing to see,” said lawyer Joseph H. Low IV, the former Marine infantryman representing Nelson. “The prosecutors are attempting to break the bonds formed in combat. Nelson told them he’d rather go to jail than rat out a...

Marine Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson has been ordered to testify against a former squad leader charged in federal court with killing two Iraqi prisoners at Fallujah, Iraq in return for testimonial immunity. Nelson, charged by the Marine Corps with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, has been ordered to testify against former Sergeant Jose L Nazario at a federal Grand Jury hearing evidence against him in Riverside, Calif. Under current federal rules anything Nelson reveals that is not already in the hands of federal prosecutors cannot be used against him at his own court-martial, a lawyer defending Nazario said. Nazario...

The court-martial of the highest ranking Marine Corps officer accused of crimes in the infamous incident at Haditha, Iraq will face further delays if the Military Court of Appeals grants motions filed there by his defense team today. The Thomas More Law Center that represents Lt. Col Jeffrey Chessani announced today that it has filed a “Petition for Extraordinary Relief” with the United States Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington, D.C on his behalf. The petition asks the military appellate court to reverse the judge’s order denying the defense counsel’s request for evidence it deems essential to his...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — The battlefield of today is much different than in wars past with an enemy who prefers to cower in hiding and use his weapon of choice, the improvised explosive device; a diabolical tool of destruction, ominously waiting road-side to mangle unsuspecting Coalition vehicles. Combating this ever popular threat are the brave men conducting route clearance throughout Iraq such as the Marines of Reaper platoon, Company A, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 1. The Reapers deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in October of last year for a seven month tour supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom with Regimental...

I am a military writer and reporter by trade, and write extensively about the "Haditha Incident," as well as the so-called "Fallujah murders" your editors failed to mention. Coincidentally, I am also a combat veteran and former police officer. The incidents at Haditha and Fallujah represent only two of a litany of prosecutions of combatants currently underway in both military and civilian courts. It has become fashionable to prosecute our service members for war crimes. It seems your editorial board - like the people responsible for eating our young - have confused the warriors with the war, a tragically familiar...

April 21, 2008, Riverside, California--The defense team representing Marine infantryman Jose Luis Nazario asked a federal court judge Monday to dismiss voluntary manslaughter charges against their client for allegedly killing two Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq more than three years ago. At the time Nazario was a squad leader engaged in desperate house-to-house combat. The decorated Marine veteran was assigned to 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines when the incident allegedly occurred. A year later four enlisted members of the same platoon would be charged with murder and other war crimes in the unrelated “Haditha Massacre” incident. Government...

Fallujah is strange, sullen, wild-eyed, badass, and just plain mean,” writes Bing West in his 2005 war chronicle No True Glory. “Fallujans don’t like strangers, which includes anyone not homebred. Wear lipstick or Western-style long hair, sip a beer or listen to an American CD, and you risk the whip or a beating.” Fallujah has been Iraq’s bad-boy city since at least the time of the British in Mesopotamia; even then, travelers were warned to stay out. More recently, Saddam Hussein recruited some of his regime’s most ruthless officers from Fallujah. Even though it was a quieter city than most...

“I feel the sincerity in the American support for the Iraqi civilians here,” one Fallujah resident tells me. “I am not going to say any bad words about Americans. I can feel that they really are eager to accomplish that mission.” Another Fallujan, who works as a money changer, says, “It will be a shame on all of us if the terrorists ever come back.” “Security is good now because the coalition, Iraqi army, and Iraqi police all work together,” says a third, the owner of a fruit stand. “One hand does not clap.” Fallujans say this sort of thing...

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 3, 2008 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division is directing an $85 million central wastewater treatment facility for Fallujah’s estimated 200,000 residents. Workers weld a hatch beside the sludge-drying beds of the sewage treatment facility under construction in Fallujah, Iraq. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Started in May, the project is the largest in Anbar province and is 45 percent complete, officials said. The facility is projected to be sufficient for all of Fallujah’s wastewater treatment needs when the city integrates its own collection systems later and through...

The Iraqi security force known as Sons of Iraq opened its first office in Fallujah Wednesday in a ceremony attended by Iraqi government officials. Faleh al-Dulami, a spokesman for the group, said the opening of the office foreshadows several others pending in Fallujah following the March 10 approval of a headquarters for the group by councilmen from the area. Ahmed Abu Risha, the leader of the Awakening Councils, a Sunni group overseeing the militia, attended the ceremony with several Fallujah representatives and government officials, Voices of Iraq said. The brother of Abu Risha, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, established the Awakening...

The tarnished image of the Marine Corps continues to darken as more trials, more aquittals and more scandals corrode the brightly burnished steel that armors America’s premier fighting force. Defense attorneys and beleaguered Marines say their cherished Corps’ surprise decision Friday to dismiss criminal charges against a Marine infantryman accused of mass murder at Haditha, Iraq, is just another billboard announcing the troubles plaguing Marine Corps morale today. Loyalty up and down the ranks, the bedrock on which the 232-year old fighting force was built, is under attack. “First the Corps takes their innocence, and then the enemy tries to...

NARRATIVE NOMINATING SSG DAVID BELLAVIA FOR THE MEDAL OF HONOR DURING OPERATION PHANTOM FURY FALLUJAH, IRAQ On the night of 10 November 2004 Third Platoon, A Company, Task Force 2-2 IN near OBJ Wolf in Fallujah, Iraq, was ordered to attack to destroy six to eight Anti Iraqi Forces (AIF). 1LT Edward Iwan, the A Company Executive Officer, had identified six to eight AIF who had entered a block of twelve buildings. These AIF had engaged A55 and tanks from Team Tank with automatic weapons and rocket fire. Having a 25 mm cannon malfunction, 1LT Edward Iwan cordoned off the...

CAMP PENDLETON -- A court hearing is scheduled to begin Friday in the case of three Marines charged with killing prisoners during the 2004 battle for Fallujah, Iraq. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson is accused of murder and dereliction of duty for his alleged role in the incident, which took place on Nov. 9, 2004, according to Marine Corps officials. Prosecutors say that Nelson and two other members of his squad shot four unarmed prisoners captured during a fight to wrest the city from insurgent control. Attorneys representing the accused troops contend there is no evidence beyond a statement from one of...

It’s new, it’s so bad they named it after the hated American mercenaries, because it kills the innocent just like they do. Slamming Blackwater is always fun and really adds some zing to this story suggesting that an Iraqi malaria epidemic is being kept secret. Too bad these moron reporters not only don’t know their subject, they apparently don’t know how to use Google. IPS News: FALLUJAH, Mar 26 (IPS) - Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (March 19, 2008) -- March 20, 2003, televisions glowed in living rooms across America. Families glued to the screens, watching Coalition troops brave austere desert conditions and cross the threshold, invading the hostile nation of Iraq. Advances in the media’s technology gave unprecedented coverage of troops, humvees, and armored vehicles rolling across desolate stretches of sand. For the first time, Americans and people around the world were able to witness two nations wage war on live television; capturing step by step, the reality of combat and the raw emotion of American sons and daughters. In April 2003, the...

SAN DIEGO -- A Camp Pendleton Marine has been charged with murder and dereliction of duty for his alleged role three years ago in the killing of a detainee in Fallujah, Iraq. Sgt. Ryan Weemer on Tuesday became the third person charged in the case that centers on allegations that a Marine squad shot a group of unarmed captives during heavy fighting in November 2004. The case came to light when the 25-year-old Weemer applied for a job with the Secret Service. Investigators claim Weemer described the killing during a polygraph test that included a question about whether he had...

The worst moment in Gary Stokes' life was not the day a couple of Marines in dress uniform showed up at his door to tell him his son had been killed in Iraq. That was bad, no doubt. He had spent two years wondering whether he would receive those unwelcome visitors. The worst moment came later, after the tears and the grief. The worst moment came slowly. It was the horrible realization that Sean was gone forever. He would never see his son again. Never again go fishing or camping, or watch him get married and have children of his...

ALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hollywood action star Chuck Norris, known for his martial arts prowess and tough-guy image, has become a cult figure among the U.S. military in Iraq and an unlikely hero for some in Iraq's security forces. A small cardboard shrine is dedicated to Norris at a U.S. military helicopter hub in Baghdad, and comments lauding the manliness and virility of the actor have been left on toilet walls across Iraq and even in neighboring Kuwait, soldiers say. "The fastest way to a man's heart is with Chuck Norris's fist," reads one message at the shrine, which consists...

More from the very front lines.

Marine Corps News Sisters of Fallujah help to protect city March 2, 2008; Submitted on: 03/02/2008 11:32:56 AM ; Story ID#: 200832113256 By Sgt. Nathaniel C. LeBlanc, 1st Marine Division A Sister of Fallujah, searches a woman’s bag of canned tomatoes at Entry Control Point 1 in Fallujah, Iraq. She searches every woman, child and their belonging at the ECP before entering the city; looking for any suspicious items that could be harmful to the public such as bomb-making material. A Sister of Fallujah, searches a woman’s purse at Entry Control Point 1 in Fallujah, Iraq. She searches every...

Next to the Joint Communications Center in downtown Fallujah is a squalid and war-shattered warehouse for human beings.

I have just had the privilege of returning to Iraq and more specifically to Al Anbar Province for my third tour. I say privilege for a number of different reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to again serve with young Americans ---- the best of their generation ---- in combat. A second reason is there is no greater honor for any man or woman than to protect one's country in time of grave danger while wearing the nation's cloth. Finally, I do not think there can be anything more gratifying on this earth for an American than...

Marine Cpl. Sean Stokes was almost pathologically reluctant to accept praise, even though his courage on the battlefield saved fellow Marines' lives and was chronicled in a book. He might have been embarrassed, then, by a ceremony at Camp Pendleton Wednesday awarding him the third-highest award for combat valor. But Stokes wasn't there to receive his Silver Star, awarded for his actions during the battle of Fallujah in 2004. The Northern California native was killed last summer during his third tour of duty in Iraq, two weeks after learning he would receive the medal. Stokes, who died at age 23,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A secret intelligence assessment of the first battle of Fallujah shows the U.S. military believes it lost control over information about what was happening in the town, leading to political pressure that ended its April 2004 offensive with control being handed to Sunni insurgents. "The outcome of a purely military contest in Fallujah was always a foregone conclusion -- coalition victory," reads the assessment, prepared by analysts at the U.S. Army's National Ground Intelligence Center. "But Fallujah was not simply a military action, it was a political and informational battle. … The effects of media...

FALLUJAH – The United States military plans to formally hand over Anbar Province to the Iraqis this spring because the insurgency truly is finished in that part of the country. Most Americans have heard about the success in this province by now, but few seem to be aware that the cities of Anbar were the scenes of the most ferocious fighting: Ramadi, Haditha, and – worst of all – Fallujah. The Americans in Fallujah are focused now on what they expect to be their last mission: the training of the Iraqi Police to replace the Marines.

FALLUJAH – At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah. Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent. All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city. A skeleton crew of a mere 250 Marines is all that remains as the United States wraps up its final mission in what was once Iraq's most violent city. “The Iraqi Police could almost take over now,” Second Lieutenant Gary Laughlin told me. “Most logistics problems are slowly being resolved. My platoon will probably be the last...