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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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August 10th,
2007 - General Drops Charges for Two Marines in Haditha Shootings |
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General Drops Charges for
Two Marines in Haditha Shootings By Teri Figueroa North County Times August 10, 2007 9:59 AM PDT A general has dismissed charges
against two Marines accused in the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in fall
2005, signaling that he will offer relief to a handful of Camp Pendleton
troops accused of war crimes. Lt. Gen. James Mattis'
decision, announced Thursday, came just days after he freed two junior
Marines convicted in an unrelated incident, a kidnapping and killing plot
that left an Iraqi man dead on the side of a road in the village of Hamdania. The Haditha shootings
occurred Nov. 19, 2005, when two dozen Iraqis were killed by Marines. On Thursday, Mattis released
a statement saying that the brutalities of war led him to drop the charges
against one of the accused triggermen in the Haditha shootings and a Marine
lawyer accused of not investigating the deaths. Mattis ruled that neither
Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 23, who said he killed Iraqi men in self defense,
nor Capt. Randy Stone will face court-martial. Reached at the family home
in Pennsylvania, Sharratt's father said his son called Thursday to tell his
parents the charges had been dropped. "We believed in
Justin's innocence all along," Darryl Sharratt said, his voice cracking
on the phone. "We knew that he was not capable of what he was accused of
doing. ... We felt this could only end one way, that this would end in
dismissal." More than half of the 24
victims died in homes stormed by a squad of Camp Pendleton Marines moments
after a roadside bomb shredded a Humvee and killed a lance corporal. The squad members said they
dodged gunfire after the explosion and raided the homes to chase their
attackers. The Marines have argued they
followed their training, tossing grenades and spraying bullets in the first
homes they entered. But the attack left Iraqi women and children dead. Mattis said the killings
were the result of "fighting a shadowy enemy who hides among the
innocent people, does not comply with any aspect of the law of war, and
routinely targets and intentionally draws fire toward civilians." "The challenges of
combat in this environment put extreme pressures on our Marines," Mattis
continued. He also noted, "The experience of combat is difficult to
understand intellectually and very difficult to appreciate emotionally." Mattis is the head of Marine
Corps forces in the Middle East and commander of the I Marine Expeditionary
Force, and has authority over the prosecutions of the troops accused in the
Haditha killings and the other murder case. With the cases under a media
microscope, Mattis apparently spent much of this week dealing with the legal
outcomes of both the Hamdania and Haditha incidents. The decision to drop the
charges against Sharratt and Stone closely follows recommendations by
investigating officers who heard evidence in the cases in the last few
months. The general also said he
will not slap either man with an administrative punishment - even though one
had been recommended in Stone's case. The move to dismiss charges
against Sharratt and Stone comes on the heels of the general's decision on
Monday to shave the remaining few months off jail sentences for two Marines
in the Hamdania slaying. Mattis is also considering
leniency for the two Marines still jailed in the Hamdania case, including a
sergeant sentenced last week to 15 years for murder. Under federal law, Congress
gives some commanders power to lighten sentences or drop charges against
their troops. As what the military calls the convening authority in the war
crime cases, Mattis has that power. The convening authority is
the person is in charge of the command and the one who determines whether to
bring charges. "This is Gen. Mattis
exercising the lawful power of a convening authority in a way he considers
best for the Marine Corps and the nation," said Gary Solis, a former
Marine Corps attorney and now a military law professor at Georgetown
University. "Some may disagree. Some may cheer. But he's only fulfilling
his role in the military justice system in the way he considers
appropriate." External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/10/news/top_stories/20_12_528_9_07.txt |