Former Marine’s past fuels his candidacy - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Former Marine’s past fuels his candidacy

WILMINGTON, N.C. — North Carolina’s latest would-be congressman has a compelling resume: child of an immigrant father, Marine combat veteran, Wall Street trader, law officer. But Ilario Pantano acknowledges he’s leveraging a different experience to help land him in Congress: Accused of murder and exonerated.

Pantano was charged with a capital crime for slaying two Iraqis during a raid in 2004 and hanging a sign over their bodies with a Marine slogan, “No better friend, no worse enemy.” Ultimately cleared of the charges, Pantano went on to write a book about the experience. He hopes the notoriety will help him win the Republican nomination.

“This is my effort to turn a negative into a positive,” Pantano told The Associated Press during a recent interview at his Wilmington home. “I think that the voters in this district will see a life story ... of a guy who has chosen to serve over personal gain.”

Pantano’s opponent in the May 4 Republican primary, who served as an officer in Iraq himself, said he believes Pantano’s past will hurt him in the bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre, who has represented North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District since 1997.

“Controversy does not breed a victory. I happen to think his background is bad,” said Will Breazeale, an airline pilot who won the GOP nomination in 2008.

Pantano was a Marine platoon leader six years ago when he led his men on a raid of a suspected insurgent compound in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. As his Marines approached, two Iraqi men left in a car.

Pantano stopped the car while some of his men raided the compound and uncovered weapons and propaganda, according to Associated Press accounts of the case. The two men in the car began speaking Arabic. Pantano told them to stop when they made a menacing move toward him. Pantano fired his M-16, emptying two magazines and killing both of them. Pantano then hung the sign over their bodies.

The shootings led to charges of premeditated murder and brought national attention on Pantano, one of the first service members charged with a capital crime in the Iraq War. After the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing, a Marine general decided in 2005 not to bring Pantano to trial.

Pantano resigned his commission and wrote a book about the experience. He became a New Hanover County deputy sheriff in 2006 and is still a special deputy. But he says he struggled to find a new place to serve, until now.

Pantano, a 38-year-old married father of two boys, says his experience as a combat Marine officer, including the shooting near Fallujah, and his stint on Wall Street give him the experience to tackle tough problems facing the district. He’s spent the last few weeks talking to voters about jobs and the economy.

What makes him an attractive candidate for some in the GOP, however, is not policy but his personal story.

“We believe Ilario Pantano is a very unique candidate. He has an incredibly compelling story and a work ethic that is one of the kind,” said Andy Sere, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has not endorsed a candidate in the race.

Born to an Italian immigrant father and raised in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, Pantano earned a scholarship to one of New York’s most prestigious private schools.

Instead of going straight to college, he joined the Marine Corps at 17 because he wanted to serve his country. After fighting in the Gulf War of the early 1990s, he returned to New York, got an economics degree from New York University and went to work at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street. In 1998, disgusted by what he considered Wall Street greed, he left to work for a media company and then started his own business.

Pantano’s life changed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“I knew instantly we were at war. I had a single place to be. It was about getting back to the fight,” Pantano said.

He tried to re-enlist that day. He went back in as an infantry officer and eventually deployed to Iraq. When one of his men mentioned the 2004 shooting to higher ups, Pantano came under investigation.

Prosecutors alleged Pantano intended to make an example of the men by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their bodies. Marines who served with Pantano told a different story. They called him a good Marine who was friendly with Iraqis.

Pantano does not deny hanging the sign or shooting the men repeatedly. He says he acted in self-defense.

“I’m the guy that has stepped up and fought. I’ve killed terrorists. I’ve been at the tip of the spear,” he said.

Pantano says he had a spiritual experience and was born again last summer. Since then, he said, he has been humbled and rededicated to serving others and God.

“I have been a ground level, eyeball to eyeball, practitioner. A lot of people go to war, but there are very few in combat,” Pantano said. “We need a guy that has actually done something.”