|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
March 14th,
2007 - Marine Hearing Delayed More Than 2 Months in Haditha Case |
|
Marine Hearing
Delayed More Than 2 Months in Haditha Case By Thomas Watkins Associated Press March 14, 2007 San Diego - What would have
been the first court hearing about the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in
Haditha has been delayed more than two months, an attorney said Wednesday. Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani
was due in a Camp Pendleton courtroom next week for a preliminary hearing,
but the investigating officer can't be there, attorney Brian Rooney said. To accommodate the schedules
of everyone involved, the next hearing was pushed back to May 30, he said. Chessani is charged with
dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order. He is the highest
ranking of eight Marines who were charged. On Nov. 19, 2005, a Marine
squad suffered one fatality when its convoy was rocked by a roadside bomb
blast. In the aftermath of the explosion, troops killed 24 Iraqis. Following several lengthy
investigations, four enlisted Marines were charged in December with unpremeditated
murder and four officers were charged with failing to adequately report the
deaths. Rooney said the charges were
without merit and the defense team would use the delay to review nearly 5,000
pages of newly declassified evidence, which augments an already-bulky,
8,000-page investigation. In the coming weeks, the
attorneys plan to video record depositions by Chessani's intelligence officer
and executive officer before they are redeployed to Iraq, Rooney said.
Lawyers also will review footage from a remotely operated aircraft that could
show Marine reaction to the roadside bomb blast. Rooney works for the Thomas
More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., a nonprofit Christian law firm that
takes on issues of faith, family values and patriotism. Rooney said Chessani,
from Rangely, Colo., is a committed Christian and the firm will represent him
free of charge. "He is a typical,
no-nonsense, just-the-facts, this-is-what-happened career infantry
officer," Rooney said. "We are not hesitant to get into court." Rooney, a recently retired
Marine captain, said he believes the actions of Chessani's battalion were
justifiable and Marines on the ground responded to the bomb blast with the
right amount of force. "I know of instances
where Marines went into homes or hospitals or mosques and didn't go in hard
enough and ended up dead," Rooney said. An attorney for 1st Lt.
Andrew A. Grayson, another officer charged in the case, said his client may
have his pretrial hearing, known as an Article 32 investigation, on April 23.
Hearings for other defendants are expected in the coming months, though the
Marine Corps would not confirm any dates. External link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/16904357.htm |