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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 167 Introduced in House (IH)]

109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 167

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
     Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, United States Marine Corps.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2005

 Mr. Jones of North Carolina submitted the following resolution; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
     Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, United States Marine Corps.

Whereas Ilario Pantano enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on August 23, 
        1989, through an early entry program at the age of 17;
Whereas Ilario Pantano fought honorably in Operation Desert Storm in 1991;
Whereas Ilario Pantano returned to the United States in 1991 as a corporal and 
        again served his country honorably in Yugoslavia, Morocco, and the 
        Mediterranean;
Whereas Sergeant Pantano separated from the Marine Corps under with an honorable 
        discharge, earned a bachelors degree in economics in three years, and 
        spent eight years in the private sector as an energy trader and an 
        entrepreneur in media and film;
Whereas, following the attack on the Nation of September 11, 2001, Ilario 
        Pantano displayed courage, dedication to the Nation, and self-sacrifice 
        by rejoining the Marine Corps and, after attending Officer Candidate 
        School, was commissioned as a second lieutenant;
Whereas in March 2004, Second Lieutenant Pantano was sent to Iraq to participate 
        in Operation Iraqi Freedom;
Whereas, on April 15th, 2004, Second Lieutenant Pantano led a platoon in 
        Mahmudiyah, Iraq, that apprehended two Iraqis who were suspected 
        insurgents;
Whereas Second Lieutenant Pantano ordered the suspected insurgents to be 
        detained, then ordered them to search their own vehicle in the event 
        that it contained explosives;
Whereas the vehicle's seats were not bolted down, a tactic commonly used by 
        insurgents to retrieve weapons, and nails and bolts were found in the 
        trunk of the vehicle, items commonly found in improvised explosive 
        devices;
Whereas, in response to threatening movements by the suspected insurgents, 
        Second Lieutenant Pantano took action in self defense that resulted in 
        their deaths;
Whereas accusations that Second Lieutenant Pantano's actions were something 
        other than self-defense did not surface until almost two months after 
        the incident in Mahmudiyah;
Whereas, in his Combat Fitness Report dated August 5, 2004--nearly four months 
        after the incident--Second Lieutenant Pantano's superior officers gave 
        the following evaluation of his performance from March through July, 
        2004:

    G    (1) His ``progression as a young platoon commander and leader has 
been impressive''.

    G    (2) ``With a calm demeanor that spoke of confidence, Lieutenant 
Pantano has led his platoon into urban combat in Latafiyah and he also 
conducted conventional operations in Fallujah and Zaidon Province, Iraq''.

    G    (3) He is a Marine who ``leads from the front always and balances 
his aggressive style with true concern for the welfare of his Marines''.

    G    (4) He was ``ready for increased responsibility,'' and was a 
soldier who the Marine Corps should ``retain, promote and assign to 
challenging assignments'': Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, United States Marine 
        Corps, was defending the cause of freedom, democracy, and 
        liberty in his actions of April 15, 2004, that resulted in the 
        deaths of two suspected Iraqi insurgents and that subsequently 
        have given rise to certain charges against him; and
            (2) the United States Government should dismiss all charges 
        against Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano arising from the 
        actions referred to in paragraph (1).
                                 <all>
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