Ilario Pantano became a conservative cause celebre after he survived war crimes charges in Iraq stemming from his shooting of unarmed Iraqi prisoners. He parlayed his story into a book and then a highly competitive, but unsuccessful, run for Congress in 2010 in North Carolina against Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC). Pantano is running again in 2012 and has a powerful ally fundraising for him this month in Washington: former Defense Secretry Donald Rumsfeld.
“There is no greater honor than to have received the encouragement of the former Secretary of Defense. We are humbled that Secretary Rumsfeld would make the time and the effort to single out our race for support,” Pantano said in a statement, per Politico.
