Marines ‘Serious’ in Probe of Muslim Recruit’s Death: Congresswoman

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who has pressed for answers about the death of a Muslim Marine recruit from Taylor at Parris Island, said Wednesday that she visited the training facility in South Carolina where Raheel Siddiqui died last weekend and is confident “the Marine Corps is treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves."

Dingell, a Democrat from Dearborn, traveled to the training facility, where as many as 20 Marines may face charges or administrative action in a sweeping investigation in Siddiqui’s death and other allegations of misconduct, with Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who also has been looking into Marine training practices at Camp Pendleton in his home state.

Siddiqui, 20, died 11 days after reporting to Parris Island, a training center notorious for its harsh treatment of recruits. The Marine Corps said Siddiqui likely jumped over a wall and fell three stories after his drill sergeant slapped him in the face and forced him to repeatedly run the length of the squad bay.

Dingell and Issa met with the new commanding general at Parris Island, Brigadier Gen. Austin E. Renforth, and other senior leaders to talk about reforms that have been implemented to prevent tragedies like Siddiqui’s death from occurring again.

“The death of Pvt. Siddiqui — a class valedictorian who was loved by all who knew him — has left his family and our entire community searching for answers,” Dingell said in a statement. “While this investigation has brought disturbing information to light, it is now critical that the proceedings move forward in a thorough and just manner, and that the Marine Corps holds those responsible accountable while ensuring this never happens again.”

The Story So Far

• Dingell Presses for Answers on Muslim Marine’s Death
• Investigators Want to Know: How Did Muslim Marine End Up Dead?
• 20 Marines May Be Charged in Death of Muslim Marine from Michigan

Dingell said she was assured by Renforth that “this is personal to him and he is committed to working toward real change to help prevent a tragedy like this from happening in the future.”

“As evidence of this, he has implemented immediate changes in both personnel and policies — including the mandatory suspension of personnel who are being investigated for abuse or hazing, adding more officers to oversee the recruit training process, and implementing other cultural changes,” Dingell said. “This is just a first step and continued monitoring in the weeks and months ahead will be necessary to ensure these policies have their intended effect.”

Dingell said her “heart aches” for Siddiqui’s family.

“No matter what we do we can never bring him back, but we must ensure something good comes of this,” she said. “The men and women who follow in his footsteps must receive fair treatment on their way to becoming our nation’s finest fighters.”

Issa: Suicide Rate 'Unacceptably High'

Issa said men and women in the Marines are owed “appropriate mental and physical care for them to carry out their duties.”

According to the investigation into Siddiqui’s death, he threatened suicide days before his March 18 death, but was still required to report for training and did not receive mental health care.

“Beyond training procedures and safeguards, we must do more to prevent active-duty personnel suicide overall,” Issa said, also in a statement. “Statistics released earlier this year show the number of service members committing suicide remains unacceptably high while reserve suicide rates have increased.”

He said conversations with Marines Corps leaders at both Parris Island and Camp Pendleton “provide assurance that action has been taken to ensure such a tragedy cannot occur in the future.”

Family Disputes Suicide Reports

Siddiqui’s family members have disputed reports that the Marine recruit killed himself. In a statement to the Detroit Free Press, family lawyer Shiraz Khan cited a lack of evidence pointing to suicide and said Siddiqui didn’t have any “disqualifying conditions, medical or otherwise, during recruiting and processing into the U.S. Marine Corps.”

“It’s impossible for his family and friends to accept that he took his own life,” Khan said.

The Marine Corps investigation revealed deviations from established policies and procedures for Marine Corps recruit training, and 20 recruit training regiment personnel have been identified for possible military justice or administrative action.

The son of immigrants, Siddqui was the valedictorian of his high school graduating class at Truman High School in Taylor in 2014. He was a robotics and engineering whiz at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus, where the Marines recruited him. He saw a short-term future as a jet mechanic for the Corps and a longer-term future as an FBI agent.

Report: Muslim Recruit Put in Clothes Dryer

The Marine Corps investigation also revealed that in 2015, the drill instructor who led Siddiqui’s training had been accused of harassing another Muslim recruit.

He allegedly forced the recruit into a front-loading clothes dryer, accused the recruit of helping to plan the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and then switched on the dryer, forcing him to spin around in the machine, a Marine official familiar with the investigation told The Wall Street Journal.

During the recruit’s nearly two-hour ordeal, which included rigorous calisthenics in the shower, at least one other recruit overheard the drill instructor say: “Why are you even here? You’re gonna kill us the first chance you get, aren’t you, you terrorist? What are your plans, are you a terrorist?”

Photo by DVIDSHUB via Flickr commons