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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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April 11th,
2008 - Haditha Battalion Commander in Court Next Week |
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Haditha Battalion
Commander in Court Next Week By Mark Walker North County Times April 11, 2008 Camp Pendleton - The
highest-ranking U.S. Marine officer accused of wrongdoing in the wake of the
slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005 is due to appear
in a Camp Pendleton courtroom on Tuesday. The officer, Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani, 44, is charged with dereliction of duty and violating a
lawful order for failing to order a full-scale investigation into the
civilian deaths. He faces up to 30 months in jail and dismissal from the
service if convicted and sentenced to the maximum punishment. Next week's court session
could last as long as three days, as his attorneys are scheduled to argue a
series of motions in advance of his trial by military court-martial. One of his attorneys, Brian
Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., said Friday that
Chessani will ask the military judge presiding over next week's hearing to
move the trial date from April 28 to mid-June. More time is needed to
interview 47 people that the government added to its potential witness list
this week, bringing the number of potential prosecution witnesses to 75. The defense witness list
includes 40 names, including eight character witnesses. Chessani was in command of
Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in Haditha when the
civilians were killed by a squad that had been attacked by a roadside bomb
and small-arms fire. The dead included several women and children. His attorneys argue that his
initial reports to his superiors in Iraq reflected at least 15 civilian
deaths, and that no one above him believed the incident warranted an
investigation. The Haditha killings
initially resulted in eight local Marines being charged - four enlisted men
with murder and four officers for failing to order a probe of what occurred. Since then, charges have
been dropped against three of the enlisted men and two of the officers. Besides Chessani, the two
still facing charges are 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson and Staff Sgt. Frank
Wuterich. The civilians died after Wuterich
directed his squad to search for their attackers after a roadside bomb
exploded Nov. 19, 2005. Courts-martial for Wuterich
and Grayson are scheduled to take place at Camp Pendleton later this year. Late last month, the Marine
Corps dropped charges of involuntary manslaughter and related offenses
against one of the enlisted men, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, on the eve of his
trial. When it dropped the charges,
the Marine Corps issued a statement saying the dismissal was ordered "in
order to continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha
incident." As part of the dismissal,
Tatum is required to testify at the Wuterich trial as a government witness. Rooney said Chessani has
never been offered a plea deal and will never seek one. "It is not in his
constitution to say he is guilty of something he is not guilty of,"
Rooney said during a telephone interview. "We would welcome a resolution
in the manner of those that have occurred, but right now our focus is on
preparing for trial." Chessani and the other
Marines were first charged in December 2006. A Colorado native, Chessani
remains stationed at Camp Pendleton where he is working as an anti-terrorism
officer. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/11/military/eaacf3a6c44c26ab88257428005caa41.txt |