REPORT: MARINES INADEQUATELY TRAINED FOR MISSION THAT ENDED IN DEATH

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Marines involved in the fatal shooting of a West
Texas teen-ager were not adequately trained for an anti-drug operation
that placed the combat-ready troops among civilians, a military report says.

In the harshest official criticism of the operation yet released, the
internal report also said commanders did not do enough to prevent
escalation of the Marines' encounter last year with Esequiel Hernandez, Jr.

The mission ``appears to have been viewed at every level of Marine
Corps command as more of a training opportunity than a real world
deployment. The failure to appreciate the difference had tragic
consequences,''
wrote retired Marine Maj. Gen. John T. Coyne, who investigated the
shooting.

The report was initially obtained through the Freedom of Information
Act by the San Antonio Current, a weekly newspaper.

The report specifically said brief training on the appropriate use of
force did not balance combat responses drilled into Marines.

``Basic Marine Corps combat training instills an aggressive spirit
while teaching combat skills,'' Coyne said. ``More is needed to
place young fully armed Marines in a domestic environment to perform
non-combat duties.''

Calls to the military requesting comment Wednesday were referred to
Lt. Col. Scott Campbell at Marine Corps headquarters. Campbell did not
return a phone call Wednesday from The Associated Press.

The Marine Corps has previously rebutted the report in a written
response denying the contention that military officials failed to
recognize the operation as a real mission.

The rebuttal further argues that Coyne arbitrarily concluded the
training was inadequate.

It notes several investigations, including those conducted by state
and federal grand juries, which concluded the Marines followed
established rules of engagement and civil rules regarding the use of
force.

``Mr. Hernandez is dead neither because of inadequate training, nor
insufficient training time, nor improper adherence to the ''rules of
engagement, the Marine Corps response said. Hernandez, 18, was killed
May 20, 1997, after crossing paths with a four-man Marine team
conducting anti-drug surveillance in Redford, 200 miles southeast of
El Paso, at the request of the Border Patrol.

Hernandez, who was herding goats near the Rio Grande, fired at the
Marines twice and had raised his .22-caliber rifle a third time when
team leader Cpl. Clemente Banuelos shot him once with an M-16,
according to the military.

No motive was ever given for Hernandez's actions and his family
disputes the military's story. Relatives said the 10th grader would
never knowingly have shot at anyone and only carried the rifle to
protect his livestock from wild dogs and occasionally shoot targets.

The shooting led to the suspension of armed military patrols on the
border and a national outcry among civil rights advocates, who said
the report Wednesday proves the patrols are wrong.

``The whole sense of the report was that the military should not be
involved in domestic law enforcement,'' said Kevin Zeese, president of
Common Sense for Drug Policy, a nonprofit educational group based in
Falls Church, Va. ``They are not prepared for it. They're not trained
for it. They're inappropriate for it.''

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, who supports the use
of troops in drug interdiction, said the shooting underscored the
need for good training, but does not mean the military should not be
used.

``Just about every month in America there's going to be an accidental
shooting by law enforcement officers. It happens,'' said Traficant
chief of staff Paul Marcone. ``Does that mean you stop doing aggressive
law enforcement? No. It just means you give proper training.''

Coyne's investigation did not address the appropriateness of the
Redford mission, focusing instead on the specific actions leading to
the shooting.

He agreed Banuelos was acting according to his training and had
committed no crime. The report did question some of Banuelos' actions,
including his decision to follow Hernandez after the initial gunfire.

Coyne also said mission commander Capt. Lance McDaniel, who was
tracking the situation by radio from a command center more than 60
miles away, was too passive in deferring to Banuelos' judgment.

The investigation said the commander and other supervisors had
disagreed with a corporal's decision in the command center to authorize
Banuelos to return fire, but did not immediately correct it.

``He (McDaniel) should have made a more aggressive effort to obtain
the facts and control the tactical decision making process,'' the
report said.

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee,
who has launched an independent investigation, said the report shows
Hernandez's death was the result of a botched operation. ``There was
poor training and preparation, inept coordination and a lack of
management control,'' Smith said in a statement. ``While I don't
agree with all the conclusions of the report, at least it is an effort
by the Department of Defense to find the truth and hold people
accountable.''

Checked-by: Patrick Henry