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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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June 12th,
2008 - Haditha Prosecutions Under Fire |
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Haditha Prosecutions Under Fire By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times June 12, 2008 With the court-martial of
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani approaching, the prosecution of eight Marines in
the death of 24 Iraqis in Haditha is getting a lot of comment. Six of the
eight have been kicked loose, including Lt. Andrew Grayson, who was found not
guilty in a court-martial last week at Camp Pendleton. This from Andrew Lubin,
reporter, journalism professor, author of "A Marine Artillery Battery in
Iraq," and now embedded with Marines in Afghanistan: "There was
never any justification for bringing any of these spurious charges. This was
rammed through by the Army in order to deflect attention from Abu
Ghraib." And from Gary Solis, former
Marine, law of war expert and law professor at Georgetown, after the Grayson
acquittal: "Haditha has had a strange history. It was initially a very
aggressive charging by the Marine Corps. Then it became a media-driven
prosecution and finally it's become a media-driven case of honorable warriors
done wrong by their too-eager-to-charge leadership. Perhaps we're merely
seeing the military justice system reach the correct results." Chessani, the battalion
commander, is charged with dereliction of duty for not launching a more
thorough investigation into the actions of his Marines on Nov. 19, 2005.
Solis said he believes this is the first time since the prosecution of Army
Capt. Ernest Medina for the My Lai massacre of Vietnam that a senior officer
has been criminally prosecuted for alleged offenses committed by subordinates. Chessani's trial is set for
July, unless a defense motion succeeds in getting the case thrown out because
of undue command influence. The trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad
leader, is on hold pending an appeals court decision on discovery matters. Solis continues: "If
Wuterich and Chessani are convicted, they will be remembered as the 'Haditha
case' and the acquittals will probably fade from public memory. If both are
acquitted, an ever greater possibility, it will be interesting to see what
the media makes of the case." External link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/06/with-the-trial.html |