Fallujah Hero Now On Trial For Murder at Pat Dollard

Fallujah Hero Now On Trial For Murder

April 2nd, 2009 (35) Posted By Pat Dollard.

When the November 2004 battle for Fallouja was over, Marine Cpl. Ryan Weemer was lauded as one of its heroes. Wounded in the battle for what Marines called Hell House, Weemer was praised for bravery and resourcefulness.

Reporting from Camp Pendleton — A Marine Corps sergeant charged with murdering an Iraqi prisoner told an investigator that he is tormented by the shooting and has tried to forget what happened that day in Fallouja in 2004, according to a tape-recording played Wednesday at his court-martial.

In the recording, Sgt. Ryan Weemer talked of being covered with the blood of his best friend, who was killed by a sniper, and then minutes later being ordered by his squad leader to kill an Iraqi taken prisoner when Marines stormed a house.

“I grabbed a gun and took him to the back of the house,” Weemer is heard telling two agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. “I shot him twice in the chest.”

Weemer, 26, is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, and could face a dishonorable discharge and life in prison. His jury is comprised of eight Marines, all with experience in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.

During the 90-minute interview, conducted in 2006, Weemer did not say that the prisoner tried to grab his gun — although he had said that a month earlier during a job interview with the Secret Service.

Instead, Weemer told of arguing with his squad leader, then-Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, against the order to kill prisoners and then acquiescing. “I definitely wasn’t the type to disobey an order,” he said.

Nazario was acquitted in Riverside federal court in August of killing two prisoners and ordering Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson to each kill one.

The incident occurred on the first day of the Marine assault on insurgent strongholds in Fallouja on Nov. 9, 2004. Prosecutors allege that the Marines killed the prisoners rather than take time to leave the battlefield and take them to a makeshift jail.

“This happened in a split-second; this happened in the fog of war,” Weemer said. “I pulled the trigger and I don’t feel right about it.”

Weemer was no longer on active duty and was working at a Starbucks in Chesterfield, Mo., when he sought a job with the Secret Service. He mentioned the killings to a job interviewer, which led to a criminal investigation. He was recalled to active duty to stand trial.

In the interview, Weemer, his voice occasionally full of emotion, said that during the first day of the Fallouja battle he saw “too much death in a few hours.” He said he rarely talks to anyone about what happened during the battle.

“You never feel right about anything,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how right it is . . . I did what I did because I had to.”

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mindy abraham

i wish him well
http://earthlink nomee1

if needed i will give to his defence fund, the prosicuter better watch his ass, and thats all i will say
arc_angel_gabriel

It’s called WAR, people!!!!!!!! When the fuck did the United States become such pussies?? You want to win “hearts and minds” in combat? Splatter a few minds on the streets. That is how you win a fucking war. We would all be speaking German mixed with a little Japanese right now had we fought WW2 like we have fought these modern wars. Our boys should have flown over Iraq, dropped some warning letters telling the civilians to get the fuck out and then leveled that fucking cesspool of a country. He is a victim of the times…good luck and God be with you brave soldier.
GRIZZ

I think he showed great composure.He only shot him twice.WELL DONE MARINE!
cor

This is definitly not right. I’m all for the US Troops being in Iraq and Afghanistan and admire your marines. But you DO NOT shoot an unarmed prisoner. That’s bad for moral and bad for the marines’ reputation. You are no Jihadists!

http://earthlink nomee1

if the guy they shot posed a threat then shoot the mutha fucker. done :gun: :gun:

GRIZZ

Your right.He should have capyured him,bathed him,fixed his teeth,desyphllisd him,fed him,and then send him to a beach resort where he can throw feces on our marines.FUCK YOU
GRIZZ

Same piece of shit that almost killed PAT.
Bouke60

I personally would like to find the piece of shit, job interviewer, that turned him in. I would have held the Secret Service to a higher standard. 21 years old, the blood of you friend on your hands and face, what do you expect any real man to do. We train to kill! He didn’t do it to bring his friend back, or for revenge, he did it to continue his mission. Here, Family is first. There, Mission is first.

cor

Do you really train to kill without thinking? Kill unarmed prisoners? This is not what I have heard about the United States Marines. Am I that misguided? I thought they are men of honor. Taking an unarmed man outside and put 2 bullits in its chest? I can imagine this can happen in the midst of heavy fighting but do you think a REAL man like Michael Murphy, Audi Murphy, Alvin York, Pete Heghset, David Bellavia would have done such a thing? Ask them, THEY are real man.

cor

I would like to hear PAT’s opinion about this
cor

Where is my comment on:
GRIZZ
April 2, 2009 at 7:42 am

Are you censuring? Do not like my comment?

http://earthlink nomee1

cor you have never been in battle. this is about servival and making the other guy die for what he belives in, not letting him live to fight again or kill another Marine, and not forefieting your life to let your enemy live. Get a grip of your self.

Strykertyme

cor, Marine is spelled with a capital “M”, always with no exceptions.

I get your drift and yes on paper the Marine was wrong to shoot an unarmed man, regardless of that man’s deeds.

However, in the real world it is very difficult to judge a situation in which we were not involved in. The heat of battle requires quick action, actions which carry heavy consequences.

Should we analyze the situation and try to find better ways to conduct ourselves? Absolutely, but to ruin this brave young man’s life, a young man who put his life on the line for his country, because some Haj didn’t have the sense to stay the fuck home, I think that is bullshit.
Marc Walling

cor I understand where you are coming from but it is very easy to have logical thoughts sitting at your desk typing away…but to understand what combat does to a man can only be understood if you have been part of. Now putting these men in these situations, we shouldnt punish the individuals only the politicians that put them there in the first place.
johnF

It must have been eating at him from the inside for it to come out the way it did. I hope he can find peace. In WW2, they would have executed a prisoner if he was found attacking them with no uniform of a country at war, however, this was clearly against the ROE’s, and a good marine should know the difference between a lawful order and an unlawful one. I don’t know whether or not I would convict if I was on the jury, probably not.
Al

In that kind of “Special Op…” One must never wearing any uniform. Anyway, Cpl. Ryan Weemer will now have a lot of time to think about his confession to that job interviewer. Too sad, he desserved to get through…
That one dude

Al, you need to type clearly so people can understand what you mean, I have to clue what you mean. If you could please re-idorate.

Yes, I agree with both sides here, but what is done, is done. Live and let live. Our government, our any government has no right to prosecute any soldier for wrong doing on the battlefield. They sent those men over there to do a fucking job and we a prosecuting them for doing their job?? I say fuck all of those liberal asswholes, get them out of D.C, and lets replace them with people who can stand behind their owns WORDS!

Al

Sorry ‘That one dude” I mean that if one should do something out of the rules, one must do it without his uniform… One can’t be a Marine and dont respect the Marine’s code. Shooting a prisonner is not alowed in the war conventions and that rule is the same for everyone. In that case, I dont care about the fucker who was shoot, I am thinking about that kid, who risk to spend a hell of time in jail. If that Marine had knew how to managed that kind of act, he will never said anything to that job interviewer, all that story is a mess. Cpl.Ryan Weermer is not a cold blood killer, that’s why he is on trial now.

Gannon

cor,
Check out your history. For instance, when a battle object was assigned, nothing is to interfer with that objective. During WW2, when a beach was landed, there were no prisoners taken alive. I am not talking about the Japanese, but the Germans in Italy.
Fallujah was warned. All the people were told to leave beforehand. The only ones left were fighting…kill ‘em all.
GRIZZ

Please reply Pat
David

He is a poor shot. He should have eliminated him with 1 shot. That way he would have another bullet to eliminate another of those vermin.
In truth, he deserves a medal!
Hugh McCall

1. He needs to learn to deserve victory.
2. The “interviewer” needs to go to Hell.
3. I’m with Gannon
cor

I’m very, very surprised about some of the comments here. I’m surely no lefty and do not think Cpl. Ryan Weemer deserves live in prison but he should be brought to trial.
He murdered an unarmed man. I know it probably was a Jihadist but this is no excuse for what he has done, and he knows it himself (read the article). He told the investigator that he was tormented by the shooting, so that proves he has a conscience and is not a bad man.

He has a jury consisting of Marines with fighting experience in Iraq. I wonder what their judgment will be.

http://twitter.com/ArchInfidel ArchInfidel

Who gives a shit what a jury would think. You would do the same thing and if you think different you are a liar.

Sometimes you just cant lug a pos haji around the battle field all day and night in a the midst of the greatest battle since nam. Think about what your calling for, we must now justify every killing on the battle field?? NO :gun: the haji’s, We gave them a WEEK to surrender, after that all bets are off. WAKE UP!
That one dude

Exactly, like I stated before this man has no reason to go on trial. These men are TRAINED to kill, OK, trained to KILL. Thats what the military does when in wars. What Arch and bunch of other people said, those men are not going to drag around a hostage or captive all day. If they did that did would slow them down and if he had a chance, he would probably have tried to kill one of those Marines. If that would have happened it would have been worse. Maybe the man on trial wouldn’t be on trial today if he didn’t kill him. Plain and simple, like I previously stated, the governement has no right to charge a man of the military for a wrongfull killing. This is war, if you charge one man then you have to charge THEM ALL and they aren’t, are they?

Tom in CO

Will Murtha lead the accusations?
TrumanNihilist

I swear, we are way too obsessed with political correctness. Why can’t we just shut the fuck up, and let these guys do their jobs. For some reason, some people are more concerned with leaving chocolates on their pillows at Gitmo, then they are about bringing them to justice.

Good luck, Marine.
Jerry

Why is it a crime to shoot rats?
http://www.myspace.com/methushelah Demogorgon

From all that I remember hearing and reading about the battle to take Fallujah from the barbarians, it was everything those who fight wars know that war can truly be.

Most of us ‘western’ civilians really do have a simplistic, naive, even ‘foolishly romantic’ view of what warfare really is… especially in the context of our ‘nostalgic memory’ of American wars of the past (e.g. the Second World War).

I once heard a ‘legend’ in regard to the Malmedy massacre (which occurred in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944). The ‘legend’ goes that after the massacre of our soldiers became widely known… an ‘unwritten’ order came down – some say from Eisenhower himself – that Waffen-SS officers were not to be ‘taken’ as prisoners. I’ve no idea if there is any truth to this legend… but if true can you really blame our side for ‘unofficially’ adopting such an attitude?

These vile creatures our people are fighting today don’t even pretend to adhere to any of the ‘accepted’ rules of war (Geneva Conventions et cetera). As far as I’m concerned all Islamic-fascists have forfeited, due to their own hideous actions, any ‘right’ to any mercy from any one of us. This view, of course, may not be acceptable to some.

Regardless of anyone’s ‘opinion’ — Sgt. Weemer should not be made to ‘pay the price’ to placate our civilian society’s illusions and/or squeamishness when it comes to the stark realities of war.

Bouke60

Well said!

cor

Too bad Pat will not comment on this. I would like to now what he thinks about this.
I wonder what the ROE in the Falluja battle were? Kill all prisoners?

Guys I understand your feelings about this, but I do not agree with most of it. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion without being called names or be called a liar.
Wonder how many of you have been in the military. :beer: :beer:

http://patdollard.com Pat

The only moral imperative in war is to achieve total victory. Anything delivered upon the head of the enemy other than a deathblow, is a gift.

At the start of this mission’s combat operations, it was made clear to each and every American combatant that every single military aged male in the city was to be considered an enemy combatant acting with hostile intent, and killed on sight.

Chuck O

The soldier is trained to kill his enemy, not sit down and drink a cup of coffee with them. Let the soldier do his job. Unless you were there, what give you the right to armchair quarterback?
Fallujah Marine

You know all you people complaining saying what the fuck he did was wrong, were not there. Almost everybody in this fucking room has probably never seen combat….anywhere, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. Do you think you would be thinking straight, if you just lost your best friend to a sniper bullet and you are still covered in his brain matter and blood? Trust me, you wont. Semper Fi, Cpl. Only the dead have seen the end of war.

3rd Bn 1st Mar
Raiders of the Thundering Third