by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 10, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

A note on Hamdania...
(originally posted 16 November 2006)

Writer G.K. Chesterton, the "Prince of Paradox", once penned, "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him..." On 26 April 2006, a squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman on detail in Hamdania forgot this maxim, instead choosing to lash out against a perceived enemy. Allegedly scouring the town for a suspected insurgent occupying the area, the eight-strong force became enraged and bent on action. Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins III presented the plan to the group, planning to execute Saleh Gowad, a supposed insurgent arrested and released on several occasions by Iraqi police. If unfound, any other warm body would do...they were itching for some blood-sport. Searching in nearby homes, they instead found Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a 52-year-old civilian. The disabled grandfather, without provocation, was dragged from his home, bound and beaten, and taken to a roadside hole. The plan was to make the killing look like the thwarting of a roadside terrorist. As four of the Marines fired their rifles a slight distance away from the captive, the other four opened fire on the hole. Staggering away after the shots rang through the moonless night, Awad fell dead, with at least thirteen bullets in his head and chest. Afterward, the party dragged the body and spent casings to the nearest Iraqi police station. Their story straight, they attempted to wash their hands of the episode. But unfortunately for this octet, the story was just beginning to unravel.

Jodka, the lowest-ranking member of the party, was quickly detained along with the other implicated soldiers, and taken to Camp Pendleton, California. Charged on 21 June 2006 by the Marines, the eight soldiers have sat in confinement awaiting sentencing. While awaiting sentencing, he admitted to shooting Awad, and confessed that there was a premeditated execution plot agreed upon unanimously. Pleading guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice as part of a plea bargain requiring him to testify against his co-defendants, Jodka was pardoned from any possibility of receiving the death penalty. Instead facing a maximum of fifteen years, Jodka sat back to sweat out the time until his 15 November sentencing date and planning new defense strategies.

News has finally arrived from Camp Pendleton, California, that Private First Class John Jodka now faces only eighteen months in custody for his role

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