Ilario Pantano

Ilario Pantano (born 1971) is a former United States Marine Corps second lieutenant who was accused of premeditated murder in the killing of two Iraqi civilians on April 15, 2004. A military tribunal exonerated Pantano, who maintained he had shot the men as they approached him in a threatening fashion.

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• I'm a New Yorker and 9/11 was a pretty significant event for me, our duty as Marines is, quite frankly, to export violence to the four corners of the globe, to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

• You asked if I had regrets and I want to answer you directly. There are many things about war that I regret. War is the darkest hour of humanity, but if you ask me if I would do what I did again, I say yes.

• It takes hard men willing to do hard things in order to set an example that others can and will follow.

• Sometimes it's not enough to do your best; sometimes you have to do what's necessary.