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September 21st, 2006 - Most
Marines, Sailors Tied to Haditha Probe Hire Lawyers |
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Most Marines, Sailors Tied
to Haditha Probe Hire Lawyers By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune September 21, 2006 Most of the Camp Pendleton
service members under scrutiny in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha,
Iraq, last fall have hired attorneys, a lawyer for one of them said
yesterday. The development comes as
military investigators have completed their probes into the case and await
word from a panel of prosecutors at Camp Pendleton about whether charges will
be filed. About 10 service members
assigned to the Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment allegedly
shot men, women and children Nov. 19 in Haditha after one of their own died
in a roadside bomb attack. If proved true, the incident would be the United
States' most serious war crime since it led an invasion of Iraq in March
2003. Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen
Tatum of Edmond, Okla., yesterday became the second service member to be
publicly linked to the Haditha killings when his attorneys contacted the
media. Lawyers Jack B. Zimmermann and Kyle Sampson, both from Houston, are
representing Tatum. Staff Sgt. Frank D.
Wuterich, who led the company on Nov. 19, is the other publicly named person. Hiring attorneys before any
charges are filed is a good move, especially in high-profile cases, said
Eugene R. Fidell, who specializes in military law at the firm of Feldesman
Tucker Leifer Fidell in Washington, D.C. “I think someone who is
looking at charges is smart to lawyer up early,” Fidell said. “There are
advantages, such as talking with prosecutors to see if there may be the
makings of a deal or to simply find out more information than what the
government might otherwise tell.” According to military
investigators, Marines and sailors from the Kilo Company went on their
killing rampage after Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, was killed by an
improvised explosive device. The incident first attracted
notice when Time magazine reported in March that the official U.S. account
attributing most of the Iraqi deaths to a roadside bomb seemed to be wrong. The case made headlines
worldwide in May when Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., said that what happened in
Haditha on Nov. 19 was “much worse than reported in Time magazine” and that
Marines had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Lawyers for the service
members being investigated have promised to argue that their clients followed
the military's rules of engagement. None of the potential defendants has been
jailed, and none faces restrictions on his movements. Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis,
commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton,
would likely work with prosecutors to decide what charges, if any, the
Haditha service members would face. Zimmermann worries that the
public will confuse the Haditha incident with the Hamdaniya one, in which
seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are charged with premeditated murder in the
killing of an Iraqi civilian April 26 in Hamdaniya, Iraq. There are certainly
similarities between the cases. Both involve Camp Pendleton units, for
instance, and both affect about the same number of service members. However, Zimmermann said,
there are key differences. “In Haditha, a Marine squad
responded to an attack. In Hamdaniya, I don't think the Marines were under
attack,” the lawyer said. “The issue is going to boil down to whether (the
Haditha) Marines reacted the way they were trained to act and if they did,
then there is no crime. Were these intentional killings? I don't think that
will be shown to be the case.” External link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060921-9999-7m21haditha.html |