Army agrees to fly widows to Kuwait for hearing of alleged killer

NEW YORK-The U.S. Army has agreed to fly the widows of two New York National Guard officers to Kuwait for a military hearing for an American soldier accused of killing their husbands in a “fragging” incident in Iraq. The women waged an intense campaign to be allowed to attend the proceeding after military officials rejected their request last month to provide a video link between Iraq and New York so they could watch the hearing. The case was later moved from Iraq to Kuwait. Over the weekend, the pair said they were told that Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of the Multinational Corps-Iraq, had agreed to underwrite their travel expenses to attend the hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury, where witnesses will be interviewed. Col. William J. Buckner, spokesman for Multinational Corps-Iraq, said the Army was “working with the families to arrange for them to travel to Kuwait.” The hearing, scheduled to open Oct. 31 and last three days, will be open to the public. “I am grateful and relieved,” Siobhan Esposito of Suffern said in a telephone interview. “I felt from the very beginning that we had a right to be there. Everyone came through for us.” Capt. Phillip Esposito, 30, a West Point graduate and an information specialist with an investment firm, was killed along with 1st Lt. Louis Allen, 34, a high school science teacher at Tuxedo’s George F. Baker High School, last June 7 in an explosion at their base in Tikrit. Both were officers of the 42nd Infantry Division, New York National Guard in Troy. Alberto Martinez, 37, of Troy, a supply specialist, is charged with two counts of premeditated murder. Martinez allegedly rigged the explosion to make it look like an enemy mortar attack. In military parlance, the killing of superiors is known as “fragging,” a term derived from fragmentation grenade, that dates from the Vietnam era. In addition to bringing the widows to Kuwait, the Army will set up an audio feed between the Kuwait courtroom and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, to enable other family members to listen to the proceedings. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., who initially criticized the Army for “pure stubbornness,” said he was satisfied with the outcome. “This is the least the Army can do for these women who have suffered so much,” he said. The women said they were glad the hearing was moved to the relatively safety of Kuwait. Esposito has a 2-year-old daughter and Allen’s widow, Barbara, has four boys, ages, 2 to 7, who live in Mildford, Pa. “The Army was stunned with what we did, but it worked,” Allen said. “We got their attention.”