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June 2nd,
2007 - General Blames Report in Haditha Case News article by Los Angeles Times |
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General Blames Report in
Haditha Case He says he didn't order an investigation of 24 civilian deaths because
report was misleading. By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times June
2, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A Marine
general testified Friday that he probably would have ordered an investigation
of the killing of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha but for a
misleading report filed by the commander there. The testimony by Maj. Gen.
Richard Huck is central to the prosecution's case against Marine Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani, 43, accused of dereliction of duty and violating a lawful
order for not launching a complete investigation of the killings. On Nov. 19, 2005, Marines
under Chessani's command shot five young men near their car and then killed
19 members of three families in or near their homes. The incident occurred in
the early morning near the market area of Haditha, a onetime insurgent
stronghold in the Euphrates River valley. The five men shot to death
"were essentially executed," said Lt. Col. Paul Atterbury, a
prosecutor. No weapons were found in or near the car. Eight Iraqis were killed in
the first house, six in the second and four in the third. One civilian was
killed outside one of the homes. Marines lobbed fragmentation grenades into
the houses and then fired M-16s as they entered; evidence suggested that the
Marines fired hundreds of rounds. The report filed by Chessani
that night indicated that the deaths were the result of a roadside bombing
and crossfire between Marines and insurgents. But evidence in Chessani's
Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing, showed that no weapons
or insurgent shell-casings were found in the houses and that the homes were
more than 100 yards from where a bomb had exploded under a Humvee, killing a
Marine and injuring two. Defense attorneys assert
that Chessani informed his bosses that there had been civilian fatalities,
including women and children. But prosecutors say the report was misleading
in suggesting that the Marines were responding to gunfire and that some of
the deaths had been caused by the roadside bomb. Prosecutors emphasized that
the report indicated Chessani had examined the scene of the killings.
According to testimony, Chessani did not go to the scene. Chessani's report violated
the "trust tactics" that Marine officers rely upon to get
information from the battlefield, Huck testified. Huck said that based on
Chessani's report, he decided that no investigation of the incident was
needed. "There is a high level
of confidence when a formal report comes through and says the battalion
commander is on the scene," he said. At the time of the killings,
Huck was commander of the 2nd Marine Division. Chessani commanded the 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The military ordered an
investigation only after Time magazine published a lengthy article that
included accounts from Iraqi witnesses. In December 2006, four officers and
four enlisted Marines were charged in what is the largest war-crime
allegation involving U.S. troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Chessani also did not
forward a demand for an investigation that the Haditha town council made just
after the shootings. During the hearing Friday, Atterbury pressed Huck for
his opinion of that decision. If he had known of the
demand, Huck testified, he would have concluded that "perhaps I should
get an investigation started." A second officer, Lt. Col.
Christopher Starling, said that, like Huck, he saw nothing in the report
filed by Chessani's battalion that provided evidence of a war crime. Starling
testified that battalion commanders had repeatedly been lectured to avoid civilian
casualties. Starling, who was operations
officer for the 2nd Marine Regiment and read Chessani's daily reports, said
civilian casualties undercut the U.S. effort to win the populace's support
away from the insurgency. "If you kill the wrong
people, that's going to reflect on how they view you," Starling said on
a speaker phone from Iraq, where he is now a battalion commander. The hearing officer, Col.
Christopher Conlin, will make a recommendation to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis on
whether the case against Chessani should go to court-martial, be dropped or
be dealt with in an administrative process. The Article 32 hearing is
expected to last another week, as the defense calls character witnesses for
Chessani, a decorated infantry officer who was on his third tour in Iraq. External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-abuse2jun02,1,5458233.story General questions whether
commander fully detailed Haditha killings By Mark Walker North County Times June 2, 2007 12:22 AM PDT Camp Pendleton - A general
said Friday he now questions whether the battalion commander who led U.S.
Marines accused of murder in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in 2005
reported everything he knew about the killings. The general, Maj. Gen. Richard
Huck, said he is uncertain whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was completely
forthright in the days and weeks following the incident. "The question becomes,
did he report everything he knew, and I have some questions about that,"
Huck said at the conclusion of more than two hours of testimony conducted via
a video hookup from the Pentagon in Virginia. Chessani was commander of
Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment until relieved of that
post when the unit returned from Iraq in April 2006. Huck commanded the 2nd
Marine Division and the II Marine Expeditionary Force Forward and was one of
Chessani's bosses when the slayings were carried out the morning of Nov. 19,
2005. Nineteen Iraqis died inside
homes and five were killed while being held at gunpoint after emerging from a
car that drove up shortly after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a
lance corporal and injuring two other Marines. Now working in a planning
position in Washington, Huck gave his testimony on the third day of a hearing
that will determine whether Chessani will face a court-martial on charges of
dereliction of duty for failing to fully report and investigate the deaths. The general said he had
expected that any alleged wrongdoing that emerged would have been reported as
soon as possible. Late in the day of the
killings, Chessani sent a report to regimental headquarters stating that 15
civilians and eight insurgents had died, an inaccurate account based on the
first reports from Marines involved in the incident. That initial report would be
the official account of what happened for several weeks. It remained
unchanged until questions were raised by Time magazine in January 2006. When asked by prosecutor Lt.
Col. Paul Atterbury whether he had ever been made aware that three entire
families were killed, including several women and children, Huck said he did
not learn about the families until after an investigation was ordered in
February 2006. "I would have expected
any new facts or discoveries to be reported," he said. Atterbury asked Huck whether
he had ever learned that Haditha officials alleged within days that the men
in the car were students who had been, in the prosecutor's words,
"essentially executed by the Marines." "That should have been
reported," Huck said. Huck also said he didn't
become aware until this week that the Haditha town council met with Chessani
eight days after the killings and presented a formal letter, written in
English, contending a war crime had been committed. "If that document was
presented, (that) needs to be reported and the commander should be thinking,
'Perhaps I should get an investigation started,' " Huck said. Chessani, 43, and three
other battalion officers were charged Dec. 21 with dereliction of duty for
failing to investigate. Four enlisted men were charged with murder, although
prosecutors dropped charges against one in April in exchange for his
testimony. Testimony from a two-star
general at a preliminary hearing is an unusual occurrence in the military
justice system. Longtime military lawyers say generals rarely testify in
criminal cases, and that an appearance by one carries a great deal of weight
with the officer presiding over the session. Chessani's attorneys sought
Huck's testimony to show that he had in fact reported the killings up the
chain of command. They contend that it was up to commanders above him to
determine whether an investigation was necessary. Huck wasn't the only general
to testify Friday. Brig. Gen. John Toolan also
testified via video hookup from Washington, saying he has known Chessani for
18 years and considers him a man of strong values who always gave commanders
a straight answer. Toolan, who oversees
Southeast Asia issues for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said he doubted
Chessani would sit on bad news. "I don't have any
question that he would ever try to hide it or cover up," Toolan said. Col. Christopher Conlin, the
hearing officer, asked Toolan his opinion of Chessani's failure to go to the
site of the bombing until a day later and not within hours of the event.
Toolan said he was surprised to hear of that. "A battalion commander
should be at the point where there is conflict," he said. The hearing continues today.
It will be closed to reporters and the public on Monday when classified
testimony is scheduled to be heard. When the hearing wraps up,
Conlin will write a report to Lt. Gen. James Mattis stating whether he
believes the charges should move forward to trial. Mattis is head of Marine
Corps forces in the Middle East and is the convening authority over the case. Chessani could face more
than two years behind bars and dismissal from the service if ordered to trial
and convicted. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/02/news/top_stories/23_40_466_1_07.txt |