bobdina
08-01-2010, 11:41 PM
Afghan-born Marine threatened with deportation
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 1, 2010 11:40:34 EDT
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A U.S. Marine was nearly stripped of his title and deported to his native country — Afghanistan — after making an off-color comment last Spring that prompted the beating of a suspected insurgent.
Cpl. Ahmad Siddiqi, who speaks Pashto, was questioning a suspect in Farah province, Afghanistan, in 2009 when the suspect verbally threatened him. Siddiqi got angry and made an off-the-cuff comment to two of his fellow squad members over the radio that landed several Marines in the brig.
“Hey, you guys need to come beat this guy up,” he said.
And they did.
Siddiqi’s careless suggestion was not an order, though, because he was not in charge.
But when his buddies came over to Siddiqi’s position, their squad leader surprised them by giving his nod to the idea, assuring the two Marines they would not get in trouble for the beating.
But they did. And so did Siddiqi for merely suggesting it.
Staff Sgt. Melvin Jones, the squad leader, Cpl. Benjamin Turner and Lance Cpl. Bryan Kolton went to jail, got busted down in rank and discharged for their roles in the crime and cover up. Siddiqi, a non-U.S. citizen and one of only six Afghan Marines in the service, narrowly escaped deportation by negotiating a nonjudicial punishment instead of taking his chances at court-martial. A conviction could have sent him back to Afghanistan where, Siddiqi feared, he’d be a sure target for the Taliban.
The incident happened May 9, 2009, as Siddiqi and Jones stood talking with a village elder when a pair of motorcyclists roared past and sent the frightened old man running for cover.
Siddiqi questioned the bikers in their native Pashto and heard threatening enemy chatter over his unit’s radio related to the bikers’ detention.
That’s when he radioed the words that nearly got him deported to the country his family fled in 1990 when he was 2 years old.
“I don’t know what was going through my head when I said ‘beat the guy up.’ I’m the junior guy, they don’t listen to me,” said Siddiqi, 22. His unit, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was 20 days out from redeploying after almost seven months in country.
Though Siddiqi expected to fight the charges at court-martial, his civilian lawyer Haytham Faraj recently negotiated the NJP agreement, eliminating the threat of deportation. Still, a lesson was learned about the thin line between speaking your mind and committing a war crime.
As a native speaker, Siddiqi stayed glued to Jones to help translate and regularly relayed Jones’ orders to the squad over the radio.
When Turner and Kolton heard Siddiqi’s call to action, they were incredulous but assumed the order had come from Jones.
“My exact words were ‘are you serious?’” said Turner, who with Kolton, walked about 200 meters to where Jones and Siddiqi were standing near the motorcyclists to make sure they’d heard correctly. They took the man behind a building and pummeled him, Turner said.
“Siddiqi said it on the radio, but they didn’t react to that. They asked me, and I told them to go ahead,” Jones said. “There was a plan not to mention it unless someone brought it up. Siddiqi wasn’t even there when it happened.”
Turner spent three months in the brig, forfeited three months’ pay and was honorably discharged; Kolton, who could not be reached for comment, spent five months in the brig. It’s unclear what type of discharge he received. Both were busted to the rank of private.
Jones spent three months in jail, received a reprimand, was busted to lance corporal and awaits a review of his discharge.
When the beaten biker showed up at Forward Operating Base Delaram two days later requesting medical help, the entire squad was questioned — first by a battalion officer and then by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The pact of silence unraveled when another Marine spilled the beans.
The squad never went on patrol again, and charges against the four were preferred in September.
Siddiqi’s value to the military as an Afghan native did nothing to protect him from what the convening authority at Camp Lejeune saw as his involvement in the incident.
He stood to lose everything his friends lost, and more. If convicted at court-martial, Siddiqi would likely have served time before being dishonorably discharged and landing in the sights of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency for possible deportation.
Faraj, a former Marine infantry officer, took Siddiqi’s case pro bono and negotiated the NJP, the rough equivalent of a misdemeanor.
Siddiqi, who is set to get out of the Corps in September, intends to plead guilty to two charges of lying and to an additional charge, soliciting an offense, related directly to his radio broadcast suggesting the beating..
Jones and Turner said they were relieved to hear of the NJP, as was Siddiqi.
“He didn’t even do anything. As a Marine, he would have gotten killed back in Afghanistan,” Turner said, defending his buddy’s loyalty to the Corps and his patriotism. “He was one of us.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/08/marine_siddiqi_080210/
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 1, 2010 11:40:34 EDT
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A U.S. Marine was nearly stripped of his title and deported to his native country — Afghanistan — after making an off-color comment last Spring that prompted the beating of a suspected insurgent.
Cpl. Ahmad Siddiqi, who speaks Pashto, was questioning a suspect in Farah province, Afghanistan, in 2009 when the suspect verbally threatened him. Siddiqi got angry and made an off-the-cuff comment to two of his fellow squad members over the radio that landed several Marines in the brig.
“Hey, you guys need to come beat this guy up,” he said.
And they did.
Siddiqi’s careless suggestion was not an order, though, because he was not in charge.
But when his buddies came over to Siddiqi’s position, their squad leader surprised them by giving his nod to the idea, assuring the two Marines they would not get in trouble for the beating.
But they did. And so did Siddiqi for merely suggesting it.
Staff Sgt. Melvin Jones, the squad leader, Cpl. Benjamin Turner and Lance Cpl. Bryan Kolton went to jail, got busted down in rank and discharged for their roles in the crime and cover up. Siddiqi, a non-U.S. citizen and one of only six Afghan Marines in the service, narrowly escaped deportation by negotiating a nonjudicial punishment instead of taking his chances at court-martial. A conviction could have sent him back to Afghanistan where, Siddiqi feared, he’d be a sure target for the Taliban.
The incident happened May 9, 2009, as Siddiqi and Jones stood talking with a village elder when a pair of motorcyclists roared past and sent the frightened old man running for cover.
Siddiqi questioned the bikers in their native Pashto and heard threatening enemy chatter over his unit’s radio related to the bikers’ detention.
That’s when he radioed the words that nearly got him deported to the country his family fled in 1990 when he was 2 years old.
“I don’t know what was going through my head when I said ‘beat the guy up.’ I’m the junior guy, they don’t listen to me,” said Siddiqi, 22. His unit, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was 20 days out from redeploying after almost seven months in country.
Though Siddiqi expected to fight the charges at court-martial, his civilian lawyer Haytham Faraj recently negotiated the NJP agreement, eliminating the threat of deportation. Still, a lesson was learned about the thin line between speaking your mind and committing a war crime.
As a native speaker, Siddiqi stayed glued to Jones to help translate and regularly relayed Jones’ orders to the squad over the radio.
When Turner and Kolton heard Siddiqi’s call to action, they were incredulous but assumed the order had come from Jones.
“My exact words were ‘are you serious?’” said Turner, who with Kolton, walked about 200 meters to where Jones and Siddiqi were standing near the motorcyclists to make sure they’d heard correctly. They took the man behind a building and pummeled him, Turner said.
“Siddiqi said it on the radio, but they didn’t react to that. They asked me, and I told them to go ahead,” Jones said. “There was a plan not to mention it unless someone brought it up. Siddiqi wasn’t even there when it happened.”
Turner spent three months in the brig, forfeited three months’ pay and was honorably discharged; Kolton, who could not be reached for comment, spent five months in the brig. It’s unclear what type of discharge he received. Both were busted to the rank of private.
Jones spent three months in jail, received a reprimand, was busted to lance corporal and awaits a review of his discharge.
When the beaten biker showed up at Forward Operating Base Delaram two days later requesting medical help, the entire squad was questioned — first by a battalion officer and then by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The pact of silence unraveled when another Marine spilled the beans.
The squad never went on patrol again, and charges against the four were preferred in September.
Siddiqi’s value to the military as an Afghan native did nothing to protect him from what the convening authority at Camp Lejeune saw as his involvement in the incident.
He stood to lose everything his friends lost, and more. If convicted at court-martial, Siddiqi would likely have served time before being dishonorably discharged and landing in the sights of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency for possible deportation.
Faraj, a former Marine infantry officer, took Siddiqi’s case pro bono and negotiated the NJP, the rough equivalent of a misdemeanor.
Siddiqi, who is set to get out of the Corps in September, intends to plead guilty to two charges of lying and to an additional charge, soliciting an offense, related directly to his radio broadcast suggesting the beating..
Jones and Turner said they were relieved to hear of the NJP, as was Siddiqi.
“He didn’t even do anything. As a Marine, he would have gotten killed back in Afghanistan,” Turner said, defending his buddy’s loyalty to the Corps and his patriotism. “He was one of us.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/08/marine_siddiqi_080210/