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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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November 18th,
2007 - Charges Against Haditha Defendant Questioned |
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Charges Against
Haditha Defendant Questioned By Mark Walker North County Times November 18, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A military
hearing officer said Saturday he has serious doubts over the validity of
criminal charges filed against a Marine lieutenant in the aftermath of the
slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians two years ago. The hearing officer, Col.
Robert Stahlman, said that if 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson was guilty of
dereliction of duty for not ordering an investigation into the slayings,
numerous other members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment command
staff should have been similarly charged. "I would have expected
everyone in that battalion would have been charged and obviously that didn't
happen," Stahlman said. The colonel's comments came
at the close of a hearing at Camp Pendleton over the last week to help determine
if Grayson, a 26-year-old intelligence specialist, should be ordered to face
trial by military court-martial. Stahlman presided over
Grayson's Article 32 hearing, which concluded after four days of testimony
and an unusual Saturday session. Article 32 hearings are akin to probable
cause hearings in civilian courts. The colonel also said he was
anxious to see the prosecution's written arguments on the charge that Grayson
lied to investigators. "I think it is a
stretch to charge that," Stahlman said. He did not specifically
address a third charge of obstruction of justice prosecutors filed against
Grayson last December. That allegation contends Grayson's order to destroy
photos of the slain Iraqis amounted to obstruction. Grayson was the last of four
3rd Battalion officers who were charged with dereliction of duty at Haditha
to have his case aired. Charges against two of the officers were later
withdrawn. The battalion commander at Haditha, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani,
faces trial in April. Grayson is the most junior
of the officers accused of wrongdoing, and after Saturday's hearing and
Stahlman's comments, his attorney Joseph Casas said he believes his client
will be exonerated. "Our position is that
if this had not been Haditha and everything around it, he never would have
been charged," Casas said. "Lieutenant Grayson got caught up in the
whirlwind of Haditha." Testimony during the hearing
showed that Grayson had ordered the destruction of 70 photographs taken by a
member of the intelligence team he led at Haditha. The order, however, was in
keeping with a military policy that photographs deemed not to have any
intelligence value be destroyed. The man who took those
photographs, Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, testified Saturday that his company
commander at Haditha, Capt. Lucas McConnell, also knew of the photographs but
never ordered they be forwarded up the chain of command. Testifying under a grant of
immunity, Laughner acknowledged he had lied repeatedly to investigators about
keeping copies of the photos on his personal computer. He said he did so
because he believed they might one day be important. "It was a sad
day," Laughner said in reference to Nov. 19, 2005, later adding he
believed the deaths were the result of a legitimate combat action. "It
didn't really sink into me that it would become a law of armed conflict
violation." The man in charge of
intelligence gathering for the 3rd Battalion at Haditha, Maj. Jeffrey
Dinsmore, testified Saturday that he considered the photos
"extraneous" and that Grayson and his team were responsible for
developing intelligence leads and not probing civilian killings. Prosecutors contend the
photos alone provided sufficient evidence that a possible violation of the
law of armed conflict had occurred and that a formal investigation should
have been ordered. Grayson's knowledge of those photos and what they portray
was sufficient evidence to support the dereliction charges, the prosecution
contends. The civilian killings came
as Marines searched for the source of a roadside bomb attack that destroyed a
Humvee and subsequent small-arms fire on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The killings were initially
ruled as the result of combat and did not become the subject of a formal
investigation until three months later and after a Time magazine report
suggested the deaths represented a massacre. Four enlisted men involved
in the killings were subsequently charged with murder. Two had charges
dismissed, one has been ordered to trial and the squad leader of the men who
carried out the killings, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is awaiting word on
whether he will face trial. Stahlman gave Grayson's
attorneys and prosecutors until Nov. 28 to file written arguments. Neither
side made closing arguments and Grayson did not testify. Stahlman's recommendation on
how Grayson's case should be resolved will go to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, who
will ultimately make that decision in his role as commander of Marine Corps
Forces, Central Command. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/18/news/top_stories/17_12_0611_17_07.txt |