Court Of Inquiry

posted by Jennifer Hlad on Jan 17

NCIS agent David Kurre took the stand yesterday afternoon to discuss things he viewed as inconsistencies between Marine statements and other evidence, including Afghan statements.

First he talked about the site of the vehicle-born suicide bomb, where gunners said they saw and engaged armed persons, and other Marines said they didn’t see anyone. He also talked about the bullet holes on the blue SUV near the bomb site, which he believed seemed inconsistent with the way gunners described the scene.

Panel president Col. John O’Rourke became visibly frustrated by the discussion, saying the examples Kurre cited as inconsistencies could be explained as different people seeing different things at different times.

Today, he continued his testimony, focusing on statements about things that happened after the convoy crossed the bridge near the blast site.

Maj. Phillip Sanchez, assistant counsel for the government, said it was not unusual for people to remember different details of an event.

“We’re dealing with the fog of war, sir,” he said.

Still, he asked Kurre to point out the inconsistencies he found relevant.

O’Rourke clarified that Kurre was not pointing out any of the statements or information that was consistent between statements and evidence.

“We’re trying to fit the pieces together, and some of them just don’t fit. That’s what I’m trying to point out here,” Kurre said.

A chunk of the discussion focused on varying reports about whether Capt. Noble said something about stopping gun fire, and if so, what he said.

Statements from two Marines — former Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Travers and Sgt. Robinson Cortez — mention Capt. Noble saying something about stopping gunfire, Kurre said.

Cortez said he remembers Noble on the radio, telling the Marines to “cease firing warning shots” and Travers’ statement said Noble said to stop firing unless being engaged.

While Kurre said Noble’s statement mentioned nothing about saying “cease fire,” O’Rourke said it was important to make the distinction between “cease fire” and “cease firing warning shots” or “quit firing unless you’re being fired on.”

Noble’s military lawyer, Maj. Woodard, pointed out that Noble actually did say something in his statement about talking on the radio to tell the Marines to “calm down,” though the statement also said he was not aware of anyone calling for a “cease fire”

posted by Jennifer Hlad on Jan 10

Sgt. Heriberto Becerra-Bravo was the first to take the stand Thursday.

Bravo, as he was referred to by the prosecutors and the defense lawyers, was driving the second vehicle in the convoy March 4, 2007.

Before the blast, Bravo said he saw a car, a van and two more cars coming toward the convoy. The gunners motioned for the vehicles to get out of the way, and while the cars did, the van kept coming toward them, Bravo said.

The van exploded in front of vehicle two. Bravo said he remembers “a giant redness with yellow.”

“I had no idea what was going on,” he said.

Bravo heard shooting, but said the only person he knows for a fact was shooting was Staff Sgt. Josh Henderson, because he was the gunner in the same humvee.

He shot to the left, stopped, then fired to the right, Bravo said.

Bravo also heard distant incoming fire, he said.

Though Bravo incidicated he didn’t see much after the blast — including a blue SUV that was apparently stopped to his left — he said he did see puffs of smoke on a hill top when the convoy had moved past the blast site and over the bridge.

Bravo said Thursday that he never saw anyone shooting at the convoy. But lawyers pointed out that in a previous statement, he said he saw Sgt. Brooks shooting and that he saw two military-age men shooting at the convoy.

Bravo said he doesn’t remember either of those things, and felt the NCIS agents who questioned him were trying to “put me in a corner.”

After he told the NCIS agents he didn’t see Brooks firing, they kept pressing, so he eventually said Brooks was probably firing. He did not write anything down, and only signed a statement after NCIS agents told him he had to, Bravo said.

But, he said, those parts of the statement that are inaccurate.