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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 25th,
2008 - First Haditha Trial to Unfold |
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By Mark Walker North County Times March 25, 2008 Camp Pendleton - No one disputes
that two Iraqi children, Noor and Zainab Salim, huddled inside a bedroom when
a Camp Pendleton Marine lance corporal burst through the door and killed them
with a hail of bullets from his M-16 rifle. The shooting came minutes
after the Marine and his squad mates were hit with a roadside bomb and small
arms fire while returning from a resupply mission in the city of Haditha on
the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance
corporal. Before the sun would set,
the Salim children were among two dozen civilians, none of whom would turn up
on any insurgent lists, that would be shot to death by the Marines,
investigations and court records show. What is greatly disputed,
and what will play out in a base courtroom here over the next two weeks or
more beginning Thursday, is whether the killing of the Salim children by
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum was criminal homicide or a tragic but justifiable
outcome of the squad's search for their attackers. Tatum is the first of four
Marines charged with crimes at Haditha to go to trial. In the months since he
was first charged, he's been working as an administrative clerk. In an earlier interview,
Scott Silliman, a former military lawyer and now director of the Center on
Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University, said each trial will be
watched across the globe "to see if we hold our own accountable for
violations of the laws of war and armed conflict." The trial schedule calls for
final pretrial rulings on Thursday, jury seating and questioning on Friday
and live testimony beginning Monday. Eager for resolution Commanders initially
classified the Haditha deaths as "collateral damage," the
military's antiseptic term for unintended civilian deaths. But questions
about the appropriateness of the Marines' response would result in one of the
larger investigations of the war, and ultimately lead to the largest
prosecution of Marines for actions in Iraq. Tatum, who joined the Marine
Corps in 2003, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one
count of aggravated assault. The jury of Camp Pendleton officers and enlisted
men could sentence him to as much as 18 years behind bars and a dishonorable
discharge "We are eager to get
this resolved," Tatum's lead attorney, Jack Zimmerman of Houston said
during a telephone interview. "This case has been hanging over Lance
Corporal Tatum for a long time." The 27-year-old rifleman and
his squad leader at Haditha, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, are the only two men
from the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment facing homicide charges.
Wuterich is accused of nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated
assault, reckless endangerment and obstruction of justice. Two other enlisted men from
the unit nicknamed the "Thundering Third" saw homicide charges
against them dismissed. The case against Lance Cpl.
Justin Sharratt, now a civilian, evaporated after a general ruled his actions
in killing three men inside a bedroom were in keeping with the rules of
engagement because one of the victims was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. The fourth man initially
accused in the killings, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, is one of the chief
witnesses against Tatum and Wuterich as the result of a deal he cut with
prosecutors to have murder charges against him withdrawn. General oversees case Zimmerman said he isn't
certain if he will put Tatum on the stand during the trial, which also will
test the military's rules of engagement. "We always reserve that
decision until we see the totality of the government's case," said
Zimmerman, a former Marine attorney and judge who has practiced law for more
than 30 years. Opposing Zimmerman is Lt.
Col. Sean Sullivan, an experienced Chicago trial attorney and Marine
reservists called back to duty to prosecute the Haditha defendants. Wuterich, the man who
directed the Marines in the assault of four homes after the bombing and whose
name has become synonymous with Haditha as a result of interviews with the
Washington Post and CBS' "60 Minutes," will go on trial after
Tatum. Wuterich's trial was
supposed to start earlier this month but has been delayed indefinitely as a
result of a government appeal of a ruling denying prosecutors access to
outtakes of the "60 Minutes" interview first broadcast in March
2007. The prosecutors contend those tapes may include admissions by Wuterich
that will prove his guilt. If Tatum is convicted of any
of the charges against him, it will be the jury who decides his punishment.
The jurors' decision will be subject to review by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland,
the Camp Pendleton officer overseeing the case as part of his role as
commander of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East. Helland can reduce any
punishment that might be handed down if Tatum is convicted. He cannot
increase the severity of any sentence. ‘House of cards’ Also facing upcoming trials
at Camp Pendleton are two officers at Haditha, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson and Lt.
Col. Jeffrey Chessani, each of whom face charges related to failing to order
a full-scale investigation into the killings. Similar charges against two
other officers were later dismissed. One of Chessani's attorneys,
Brian Rooney, said Monday that the outcome of the Tatum trial could set the
tone for the remaining cases. "If Lance Corporal
Tatum is exonerated, that can only help our case," Rooney said.
"How could Colonel Chessani's actions be criminal if he reported that
his Marines were attacked and that his Marines responded to that attack and
unfortunately women and children died - that is what he reported. "If he (Tatum) is
exonerated, it means the tent pole that the government has been using to hold
up their house of cards dissolves," Rooney said. As he awaits the scheduled
start of his trial in late April, Chessani has been working as a base
anti-terrorism officer. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/25/news/top_stories/10_40_193_25_08.txt |