Weemer: ‘Tormented’ by Fallujah - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Weemer: ‘Tormented’ by Fallujah

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A Marine sergeant charged with murdering an Iraqi prisoner told investigators that he is tormented by the 2004 shooting in Fallujah and wants to forget the incident, according to a tape recording played Wednesday at the serviceman’s court-martial.

During the 90-minute interview, Sgt. Ryan Weemer told two agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that he was covered with the blood of his best friend, who had been killed by a sniper, just before his squad leader ordered him to kill the prisoner.

“I grabbed a gun and took him to the back of the house,” Weemer, 26, said on the tape made in 2006. “I shot him twice in the chest.”

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Weemer said he argued with his squad leader, former Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, before complying with the order to kill the man, who was taken prisoner when Marines stormed a house on the first day of the assault on Fallujah.

“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 another Marine to each kill one.

Prosecutors in Weemer’s case argue that the Marines killed the prisoners instead of bringing them to a makeshift jail to save time.

Weemer is charged with unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty. He could face a dishonorable discharge and life in prison if convicted by a jury of eight Marines who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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

Weemer did not say that the prisoner tried to grab his gun, which is what he said during a job interview with the Secret Service a month before the tape was made.

The interview with the Secret Service led to an investigation and eventual court-martial. He was not on active duty at the time and was recalled to stand trial.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times.