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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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April 6th,
2007 - Granger Marine Awaits Hearing |
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‘They know they did nothing wrong that day,’ said dad. Son charged
with murdering Iraqis. By Yashekia Smalls South Bend Tribune April 6, 2007 "I am so sorry. None of
you deserve this." These and thousands of other
words flood a Web site set up three months ago in support of Justin Sharratt
- a former Granger resident charged last December with murder in connection
with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in November 2005. Since then, father Darryl
Sharratt hasn't stopped defending the 22-year-old Marine lance corporal. He
faces three counts of unpremeditated murder stemming from the controversial
2005 Haditha, Iraq, incident and remains at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Three other Marines also were
charged with murder, while four Marine officers were charged with dereliction
of duty for not accurately reporting the events. But, from chats with the
Washington Observer-Reporter and NewsMax to efforts to join popular radio
talk show host Michael Savage on the air, Darryl Sharratt is determined to
see his son exonerated. The Sharratt family has
collected at least $500 through a defense fund established for Justin
Sharratt, but his father two weeks ago felt the campaign had been relatively
unsuccessful. "Our Haditha Marines
are left to defend for themselves," Darryl Sharratt said, emphasizing
that all of the Marines involved in the alleged 2005 murders are innocent. When his son returned from
Haditha in early 2006, Darryl Sharratt hired Gary Myers - a civilian attorney
with extensive military experience ranging from the My Lai prosecutions of
the 1970s to the more recent Abu Ghraib prison abuse trials. Myers did not
return repeated calls from The Tribune. Justin Sharratt has been
discouraged from speaking with the media by his attorney, mother Theresa
Sharratt said. The Marine now awaits an Article 32 hearing scheduled for
April 17 at Camp Pendleton - the first of the Marines' hearings, sister
Jaclyn Sharratt, 25, said. The hearing is similar to a
probable cause hearing in civilian court. If the case does proceed to a
court-martial, that hearing could take place in September, Jaclyn Sharratt
said. "He's innocent, and
when we talk to him, you can feel this," Darryl Sharratt said of his
son. "He's strong, upbeat, not worried again because they know they did
nothing wrong that day." Jaclyn Sharratt and her
boyfriend, Matt Smith - who live in Chicago - set up the Web site for her
brother during his visit to the East Coast around New Year's. Their parents
moved to Pennsylvania in 2004 after living in Granger for almost eight years,
she said. "My dad now has gray
hair, my mom's eyes look sad all the time, Justin has lost weight and I
sometimes don't even recognize myself in the mirror," Jaclyn Sharratt
wrote in a February blog. Not much has changed since
then, she told The Tribune this week, recalling how her father has
relinquished much of his recreational golfing to focus on researching and
developing contacts. "Normally, this is the
guy who'd be putting in the backyard," she said. Darryl Sharratt argues that
his son, along with the other Marines, "did not fire under revenge"
that day in Haditha after a roadside improvised explosive device went off,
killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, of El Paso, Texas. The Marines concurred they
were soon under fire from all sides in a complex insurgent attack that lasted
much of the day, and they were simply following the proper rules of
engagement as they were trained to do, Justin Sharratt has told his parents. "This is not a
massacre," Darryl Sharratt said. On the contrary, U.S. Rep.
John Murtha, D-Pa., last year alleged that the Marines had acted "in
cold blood." Darryl Sharratt also argues that Time magazine misreported
the Haditha events in its coverage based on the accounts of survivors and a
videotape. Justin Sharratt, who still
can have visitors and leave the camp on days off, last traveled home to
Pennsylvania in early February. Since then his mother has spoken with him via
telephone each day - his father, almost every day, he said. Now, the nondeployable
Marine is working at Camp Pendleton in facilities maintenance, where he seems
to be happy doing lawn care, his father said. He previously worked as a paper
shuffler and a gym manager, he said. Justin Sharratt's contract
originally ended July 28, after which he had planned to re-enlist for another
four years and probably would have been deployed to Iraq once more, Jaclyn
Sharratt said. If the Article 32 hearing
this month goes in his favor, he will likely move back to Pennsylvania and pursue
an associate degree, she said. "Things change." External link: http://tinyurl.com/2zyd6c |