Marine Guilty of Abusing Iraqi Prisoners

[Nambe]

CAMP PENDLETON, CA (AP)

A Marine reservist was found guilty Thursday of dereliction of duty and the abuse of prisoners last year at a makeshift detention camp in Iraq, but cleared of assaulting a 52- year-old Iraqi man who later died there.

Marine Sgt. Gary Pittman's wife cried as the military jury's verdict was read following four hours of deliberation. Pittman, wearing a khaki-and- green uniform adorned with his service ribbons, stood without reaction.

Pittman, 40, a federal prison guard in New York in his civilian life, was acquitted of the most serious charge, of karate-kicking 52-year-old Nagem Hatab in the chest shortly before the Iraqi was found dead in a dusty yard at the facility known as Camp Whitehorse.

An autopsy found Hatab had six broken ribs, as well as several deep bruises, and apparently died from suffocation caused by a broken bone in his throat. ..
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