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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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November 29th,
2009 - Haditha Officer to Face Final Hearing |
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Haditha Officer to Face Final
Hearing Board convening at Camp Pendleton Wednesday to decide fate of Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani By Mark Walker North County Times November 29, 2009 An inquiry board will
convene Wednesday morning at Camp Pendleton to decide if a Marine Corps
officer should be demoted for his actions after the shooting deaths of 24
Iraqi men, women and children four years ago. At issue is whether Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani, who commanded the Camp Pendleton unit that carried out the
slayings, engaged in misconduct in handling the incident. The inquiry board is the
final step in Chessani's case; prosecutors earlier this year dropped two
counts of criminal dereliction of duty. If the board finds there was
no misconduct, the case will be closed. If it decides there was misconduct,
it can recommend that the Secretary of the Navy order Chessani retired at a
lesser rank. Chessani's attorneys have
said the veteran of three Iraq deployments immediately reported the killings
up the chain of command and was not directed to take any further action. One of his attorneys, Robert
Muise, said the father of six, with a seventh child on the way, expects to be
cleared. "He remains
unflappable," Muise said of Chessani during a telephone interview last
week. "He's been doing terrific since the burden of a criminal
prosecution that was hanging over his head was lifted. He anticipates being
cleared and moving on with his intention to retire." ‘Massacre’ never shown Whatever happens, the result
is far from a conviction prosecutors sought in December 2006 when they
charged Chessani and seven others with criminal wrongdoing at Haditha. What was initially portrayed
as a "massacre" has played out in base courtrooms over the last
three years as essentially an unfortunate result of war. After spending millions of
dollars investigating and prosecuting the Nov. 19, 2005, incident,
prosecutors have failed to win a single conviction. Of four enlisted troops
originally accused of murder, only one remains charged in the case: Staff
Sgt. Frank Wuterich. The other three had charges dismissed or withdrawn. Of four officers charged
with mishandling the incident, all had charges withdrawn or dismissed. "The response from the
Marine Corps after the shootings was that these guys were all guilty of
something," Muise said. "I think that approach has hurt our
military. There was a presumption of guilt from the very beginning that was a
terrible injustice to the accused." The Haditha shootings came
at the height of the Iraq war and provided ammunition for those opposed to
it. It also led to the U.S. military tightening the rules of engagement to
require virtually positive identification of an enemy combatant before a shot
can be fired. Chessani commanded the 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Haditha when members of a Kilo Company
squad assaulted a series of homes after a roadside bombing that killed one Marine. Nineteen men, women and
children were slain as the troops searched for the attacker. Five men who
drove up in a car immediately after the bombing also were killed. ‘My men are not murderers’ Chessani's alleged
dereliction of duty was failing to order a full-scale investigation. After years of legal
wrangling, however, the charge was dismissed after a military judge ruled
that unlawful command influence tainted the case. After losing two appeals of
that ruling, the government could have simply dropped the case, but opted
instead to convene the inquiry board. The identities of the board
members won't be publicly known until Wednesday. A Marine Corps spokesman
said the names were withheld so that Chessani supporters would not attempt to
contact them. The inquiry will take place
in three phases. Wednesday is limited to
opening statements by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The panel will then
adjourn to consider a voluminous record from prior court hearings and
investigations. The panel is scheduled to
reconvene Dec. 7 to consider witness testimony. More than three dozen people
are on the government and defense witness list, including Chessani, who can
take the stand or give a statement that isn't subject to cross-examination.
That phase of the proceedings could last a week or more. When initially confronted in
Iraq four years ago with the suggestion that the men had wantonly slain
civilians, Chessani became visibly angry, a witness has testified. "My men are not
murderers," he said. The final step involves
attorneys' closing arguments and the panel then adjourning to deliberate and
render its decision. Prosecutors are forbidden by
military policy from commenting on pending legal actions. Wuterich Case in 2010 Muise said that whatever the
ultimate decision, he hopes the public learns one lesson from Haditha. "We have to put to rest
a myth that there was no insurgency operating in Haditha that day," he
said. "We know that there was. And we have to understand that when we
commit our military to a fight, one of the unfortunate consequences is
civilian casualties." Chessani has remained on
duty at Camp Pendleton since his legal fight began. Among those who staunchly
defend him is Colby Vokey, a retired lieutenant colonel who oversaw the
Marine Corps' West Coast defense attorneys and was on Wuterich's defense team
until he retired earlier this year. "I don't believe Lt.
Col. Chessani has done a single thing wrong," he said. "He was a
tremendous leader for that battalion who easily could have pointed a finger
at all his junior Marines and thrown them under the bus to save himself. He
never did that and he never covered anything up. He has continued to stand up
for what he believes is right." The Wuterich prosecution has
been on hold for months after the government and CBS Television sparred over
access to unaired portions of a "60 Minutes" interview he gave the
network. CBS gave up the fight a few
weeks ago, agreeing to show the outtakes to prosecutors, who contend the
tapes may include incriminating information. No longer charged with
murder but still facing nine counts of manslaughter, Wuterich's attorneys say
they expect to be back in court early next year. One of their first moves,
the attorneys say, is to try and get the charges against him dismissed for
the same unlawful command influence found in the Chessani case. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_0f02f199-4c06-5f04-adf8-74edc14886bb.html |