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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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March 6th,
2007 - Hearing Set for Lieutenant Colonel Charged in Haditha Case |
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Hearing Set for Lieutenant Colonel
Charged in Haditha Case By Mark Walker North County Times March 6, 2007 2:32 PM PST Camp Pendleton - A hearing
to help determine whether the highest ranking Marine charged in the case of
24 civilian deaths in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005 is set to get under way in two
weeks. The Article 32 hearing for
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani will feature as many as 20 witnesses called in his
defense, according to one of two civilian attorneys from a Michigan
faith-based organization hired to help defend him. "This is one of the
rare times where we have the luxury of defending an innocent man," said
Brian Rooney. "The facts are in our favor." Rooney and Robert Muise from
the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, a nonprofit group that works on
anti-abortion causes and defends Christians accused of wrongdoing, will
represent the 42-year-old Chessani along with appointed military attorneys
Lt. Col. Jon Shelburne and Capt. Jeffery King. Shelburne is a Marine
reservist who teaches law at Robert Williams University in Rhode Island and
King is a defense attorney stationed at Camp Pendleton. Rooney said the defense
intends to take full advantage of the hearing slated to start on March 21. The witnesses will show that
the former battalion commander charged with violation of a lawful order and
two counts of dereliction of duty for the way he handled the initial
investigation did nothing wrong, Rooney said. An Article 32 hearing is
comparable to a probable cause hearing in civilian court where prosecutors
work to establish that sufficient evidence exists to order and an accused to
trial. "Lt. Col. Chessani was
forthright with the investigators and everything he did was proper,"
Rooney said during a telephone interview Tuesday morning. "We believe
that we will be able to show that what Lt. Col. Chessani did that day was
sufficient for the situation that occurred." Chessani was one of eight
Camp Pendleton Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment charged on
Dec. 21 with offenses arising out of the two dozen civilian deaths that
occurred following a roadside bomb explosion in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. Chessani was relieved from
his post as battalion commander when the unit returned to Camp Pendleton in
April. He remains on active duty at the base and faces up to three years
confinement and dismissal from the service if convicted. Rooney, a former Marine
attorney who served with Chessani in the battle for the city of Fallujah in
November 2004, said his client is a committed Christian who has faith that
the military justice system will exonerate him. "He is very
professional and helpful in his own defense and is not angry at the Marine
Corps and not frantic about what is happening," Rooney said. But as a father of five who
has been in the Marine Corps for 19 years, Chessani is concerned about the
potential long-term consequences, Rooney said. "He's worried about how
this could affect his retirement and his family," the attorney said.
"He has a lot at stake besides having been relieved of command." Chessani was on his third
assignment to Iraq when the Haditha killings took place. An experienced infantry
officer whose name was not immediately available has been assigned to preside
over the hearing, Rooney said. "We believe he will be
able to see that what Lt. Col. Chessani did was sufficient for the
situation," the attorney said. "He gave reports about what happened
after visiting the scene and relying on what subordinates told him." The hearing for Chessani, a native
of Colorado, will be the first for any of the men charged in the Haditha
incident. Three other officers, Capts.
Lucas McConnell and Randy Stone and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, also are charged
with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to properly investigate and
report the incident. Four enlisted men are
charged with the actual killings. They are Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, Sgt.
Sanick Dela Cruz and Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum. Attorneys for all the
accused maintain their clients are innocent and that their actions were the
direct response of the bombing that killed a lance corporal and injured
another Marine. Rooney said the bombing and
subsequent small arms fire from one or more of the four houses the Marines
eventually assaulted and where most of the civilians died was one of several
insurgent attacks in Haditha that day. "This was a complex
attack that occurred with the terrorists using civilians as cover to launch
their assault and then fade away," Rooney said. Chessani's background
includes having served in the first Iraqi war in 1991. He later attended the
Command and Staff College in Quantico, Va., where he earned a master's degree
in military studies. He was promoted to
lieutenant colonel in 2004 and assigned to the post of operations officer for
the 1st Marines in Iraq. His first combat command
came in May 2005, when he took over the base's 3rd Battalion. Chessani majored in
meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado and received his Marine
Corps commission in 1988. During the U.S. invasion of
Panama in 1989, he captured several of former President Manuel Noriega's top
officers. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/06/news/top_stories/1_02_350_5_07.txt |