Sniper team cleared in 2003 shooting death

Polzovatel

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2800259.php

By Laura Bailey
Times staff writer


A Marine Force Reconnaissance sniper team that shot and killed a Marine corporal a year ago in Baghdad, Iraq, has been cleared of all wrongdoing, according to a military investigation report made public Monday.
The report, released by U.S. Central Command, blamed lack of communication and failure to enforce equipment regulations for the April 14, 2003, death of Cpl. Jason D. Mileo, 20.

Mileo, a rifleman with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, was on a nighttime patrol in Baghdad when a Marine sniper serving with his unit shot him from a rooftop with an M40A3 sniper rifle. The shot ripped through Mileo's back and chest, killing him immediately.

The report said the snipers believed the corporal, who was lying prone on a rooftop, to be an enemy combatant and a threat to U.S. forces in the area.

'There was nothing to indicate that the man was a Marine and the observation team had no information that would cause them to question their conclusion,' the report concluded.

The night of the shooting, the sniper and spotter, both staff sergeants whose names were removed from the report, stood watch on a rooftop at the battalion's command post in Baghdad's Ministry of Taxation building.

As they scanned the dark surrounding neighborhood, the two spotted an individual they thought was an Iraqi enemy fighter preparing to attack U.S. troops.

The armed man was staking out the area from a green-domed building that resembled a mosque; the religious structures were deemed off-limits to U.S. forces under the rules of engagement for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The man, they said, wore no military gear and appeared to be smoking and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. While observing the man, the snipers said they heard sounds of an apparent gunfight nearby and believed the armed man was connected to it.

What they did not know, the report said, was that a six-man Marine patrol had been dispatched from the ministry compound earlier that evening to ambush Iraqi Fedayeen militia forces believed to be using the mosque-like building as a base of operations.

This patrol was Mileo's and the building was a community center - not a mosque. Mileo and his teammates were there waiting for enemy forces to return.

The armed person the snipers were observing through their night-vision scopes was Mileo, who for unknown reasons had taken off his body armor and Kevlar helmet.

Investigating officers blamed the misunderstanding on bad communication within the battalion, which failed to notify the snipers of specific patrols that night and on Mileo's failure to wear protective gear.

'He did not have the distinctive Marine silhouette,' the report states.

'Exacerbating the confusion was the misunderstanding about whether the domed building was a protected mosque where Marines would not normally establish an observation post,' it said.

Fellow Marines on the patrol described Mileo as a stellar Marine and said they did not know why he took off his protective gear.

The report stated that Mileo had been issued an extra-small flak jacket with extra large armor plate inserts and that it may have been difficult for the corporal to lie in the prone position with his flak jacket on, because the plates would have ridden up to the his face and chin making it difficult to employ his weapon.

While the report did not fault the sniper team for its actions, the investigating officer recommended that a company-grade officer in the unit receive a non-punitive letter of caution for failing to ensure that the battalion was aware of and tracking the patrol.

The report recommended also that Mileo's squad leader receive non-judicial punishment for his failure to tell the corporal to put on his flak jacket and helmet.

The squad leader said he was aware Mileo had taken off his gear, but could not correct him because he would have had to yell to the roof and risk giving up the squad's position.