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June 12th,
2007 - Haditha Killing Inquiry Opens for Marine News article by San Diego
Union-Tribune |
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Haditha Killing Inquiry Opens
for Marine Lance Cpl. Sharratt shot 3 Iraqi brothers By Steve Liewer San Diego Union-Tribune June 12, 2007 Camp Pendleton - Family
members of three brothers killed by a Camp Pendleton Marine in Haditha, Iraq,
might have lied to U.S. investigators about the circumstances of those
deaths, defense attorneys for the Marine said yesterday. Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt,
22, used his 9mm pistol to shoot Jasib, Kahtan and Jamal Aiad Ahmed in
Jamal's house on Nov. 19, 2005. Prosecutors contend that
Sharratt and other members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment killed
24 civilians that day in Haditha as an act of revenge. Earlier that morning,
a roadside bomb had destroyed a Humvee in their convoy and killed a lance
corporal. Sharratt and two fellow
Marines are charged with murder in the incident. In addition, four officers
are accused of dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate the
killings. Yesterday marked the opening
of an Article 32 pretrial inquiry that will help determine whether Sharratt
should be court-martialed. The hearing is expected to continue all week. If
Sharratt does undergo trial and is convicted, he could be sentenced to life
in prison. His attorneys have not
disputed that he fired the fatal shots in the Ahmed home, the last of three
houses attacked by Marines after the bomb blast. But they said the Marines
were engaged in combat with insurgents, that some of the Iraqis were armed
and that civilians unfortunately were used as shields during the battle. Prosecutors have contended
that some of the Iraqis were shot at close range, indicating an execution.
Yesterday, however, Sharratt's defense team suggested otherwise. “The forensics in this case
dispel the notion that this was an execution,” said attorney Gary Myers.
“He's not a murderer. Rather, he's extremely brave.” Prosecutors and defense
attorneys also sparred over the validity of videotaped testimony from the
three Ahmed widows and the teenage son of one of the men. Prosecutors entered
the video into evidence but did not show it in court. The Ahmed family's testimony
was translated by Amir al-Kaysey, an Iraqi-born translator who lives in New
York. Yesterday, he said the witnesses understood that they had sworn to
testify truthfully in the eyes of their god. But Barak Salmoni, deputy
director of the Marine Center for Advanced Operational Cultural Learning and
an expert on Middle East culture, said the testimony should have been taken
in the presence of local religious authorities and Iraqi court officials. During the questioning of
witnesses yesterday, Myers wondered whether an Iraqi attorney representing
all of the Haditha victims' families might have prodded them to falsely
accuse the Marines of murder. He also suggested that
al-Kaysey and the prosecutors, who were dressed in military uniform, could
have intimidated the Ahmed family members into agreeing with their version of
the Haditha incident. The Associated Press
contributed to this report. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070612-9999-1m12sharratt.html Hearing Concludes for Officer
Accused of Not Probing Haditha Deaths By Teri Figueroa North County Times June 12, 2007 8:23 AM PDT Camp Pendleton - The
highest-ranking officer to be charged in connection with the deaths of 24
Iraqis in Haditha appropriately reported the killings and was not criminally
derelict in failing to call for an investigation, the officer's attorney
argued Monday as his 10-day hearing ended. "This case does not
warrant criminal charges," said Robert Muise, a civilian attorney
representing Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, in court. "The actions he took
were in good faith." Chessani is charged with
dereliction of duty for what military prosecutors maintain was his failure to
fully investigate the deaths, which followed a deadly roadside bomb explosion
on a chaotic day of battle on Nov. 19, 2005. Chessani was commander of
Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at the time. His
attorneys contend Chessani reported everything he knew about the incident
immediately after it happened. Aside from Chessani, three
other officers face dereliction charges for not ordering a probe of the
deaths. Three enlisted men from the battalion face murder charges. Military prosecutor Lt. Col.
Sean Sullivan argued that a deeper probe of the deaths - which included the
killings of two women and five children in homes near the bomb site - should
have been an obvious step. "I think it was a
conscious, willful decision not to investigate," Sullivan said.
"That event screamed out for investigation." Both sides made their
closing arguments Monday at a hearing to determine if Chessani should face a
military trial. Hearing officer Col. Christopher Conlin will make his
recommendation to Lt. Gen. James Mattis about whether the officer should be
sent to trial. Chessani could face more
than two years behind bars and dismissal from the service if he is tried and
convicted. Nineteen Iraqis died inside
homes that Marines, who were under gunfire right after the explosion, stormed
in search of insurgents. Five other civilians were killed after emerging from
a car that drove up shortly after the explosion, which killed a lance
corporal and injured two other Marines. Charges arising from the
Haditha deaths make up one of the largest criminal cases in the more than
four years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Prosecutors have argued that
Chessani's faith in the Marines under his command led him to reject the idea
that the fatalities were anything but casualties of war. "You want to believe in
your Marines," Sullivan said, "but that doesn't negate your duty to
investigate." Sullivan also pointed to a
letter that the mayor and members of Haditha's city council supplied in
English to Chessani in the days after the shootings, asking for an
investigation. "The one man that
should have been asking the hard questions was the battalion commander,"
Sullivan said. Muise, Chessani's attorney,
said the letter from Haditha leaders was a propaganda tool, and that some of
them had ties to the insurgency. He also argued that many
high ranking military officers saw the dead as collateral damage in an
attempt to ferret out insurgents who may have been hiding in the homes, and
that the incident raised no red flags for Chessani's superior officers. None
of them called for an investigation either, Muise said. The case surrounds one of
two incidents in which Camp Pendleton Marines are accused of killing at least
one civilian. Several men from another unit are charged with killing a
civilian in the village of Hamdania in 2006. In the Hamdania case Monday,
military prosecutors dropped assault charges they had levied against a Camp
Pendleton sergeant who is also charged with kidnapping and killing a retired
Iraqi policeman. Murder and other charges
still remain in place for that Marine, Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins, who
prosecutors call the alleged architect of the Hamdania slaying plot. In the Haditha case, a media
report in March 2006 on the deaths eventually spurred a criminal probe and a
formal look at how the report of the civilian deaths was handled. In the wake
of the investigations, Chessani was stripped of his command when his unit
returned from Iraq in April 2006 . Chessani's attorney said it
was "crucial to put his decisions in context" of the situation and
the number of battles and firefights that day. "It's very easy for all
of us to sit here today and second guess his decisions," Muise said. Muise argued that stripping
Chessani of his command - which essentially ended his once-bright military
career - was a severe enough punishment. After court, Muise said he
has been told that, prior to the Haditha incident, Chessani was on track to
become a general someday, and had received a number of glowing reports about
his work. Chessani is eligible for full retirement in November, when he
reaches 20 years of service. Chessani's is the second of
the four officers accused of dereliction to have finished up a hearing to
determine if the case should go to trial. Last week, a hearing officer
recommended that the government dismiss criminal charges against Capt. Randy
W. Stone, and handle his case with administrative punishment. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/12/news/top_stories/1_02_336_11_07.txt |