Sunday, February 14, 2010

Ex-Marine Accused of Murder Running for Congress in N.C.

From the Left: A former Marine once charged with murder in the deaths of two Iraqis is running for Congress as a Republican in North Carolina.
Ilario Pantano announced his candidacy [January 28th] in Wilmington. He is seeking the Republican nomination. The 35-year-old Pantano will challenge Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre for North Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District.
Pantano shot two men in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, in 2004 and hung a warning sign on their corpses. A Marine general decided in 2005 not to bring Pantano to trial, following the advice of an officer who presided over the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing.
Please North Carolina, don’t elect his man to the Congress.
LSB: To be fair, he was never charged with murder. War is hell, and until we've walked in his shoes I won't be passing judgment. However, this bears closer scrutiny and I will be watching to see what further information comes out about this incident.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pantano IS facing a primary against the Republican Nominee from 2008, Will Breazeale. Breazeale is a 3 time Iraq War Veteran and a Major in the Army Reserve. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. Best of all...Breazeale never shot 2 Iraqis 60 times or hung signs on thier bodies. Check out his website at www.awilltowin.com

Anonymous said...

Breazeale is a 3 time veteran who never saw a day of combat in those three bold tours. so of course he never shot anyone, he did however manage to lose his last race by over 38 points.
While Pantano left a six figure job to re-enlist in the Marines.
Check out his story before making any judgments:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/11774/

Anonymous said...

I've been following this race as I live down here. Pantano got decent media attention after his announcement, but lost momentum after getting hit by Breazeale for just registering as a Republican right before filing deadline. Seems like Breazeale is clearly the conservatives favorite which means Pantano will have to run to the left for the Independents in order to win. Should be interesting.