Posted on 10/21/2007 7:33:12 AM PDT by RedRover
Gee wheez. That is a bit sexist taint it. Then again, you may be right. Nadya. hmmmmmm. The NCIS probably hired her after she admitted she used to work for the KGB.
I could never top that one! Simply perfect.
“This from a “LEAD” investigator?!?!?!”
Proper use of quotes, since it appears that she was the case agents involved in following up leads ... not in any sense of her being the team leader.
“Q. But you were the case agent by 8 June. Correct?
A. Right.
Q. So he wouldn’t have gone to interview him without you directing him to do it. Correct?
A. I don’t direct all the agents to do it. But yeah, I write the leads. And it is divvied up from there by supervisors.
“
What an astonishing testimony. Does agent Mannie represent the best this Country has to offer when it involves investigating highly charged cases such as Haditha?
>> I’m sure LtCol Ware was really impressed with Mannle...NOT!
Incompetence can be used to achieve a specific outcome.
Un~freakin~believable! And this is an agent we trusted to do an unbiased investigation of honorable Marines????
Yes, and it seems they don’t come much more incompetent than Mannle, what an embarrassment.
Q. Special Agent Mannle, what is your current role in this investigation?
A. I am the case agent.
Q. Describe what a case agent -- what they are responsible for.
A. Basically, the case agent writes all the reports. We call them report of investigation. But they are the interims. What it does is it takes all the information and summarizes all the investigative actions that are conducted in the field so it can be read in one cohesive document. And there is one responsibility for major report writing on a case. And then also the case agent coordinates the efforts as much as possible under the supervision of seniors of all agents involved, especially in this case. We had agents in Iraq working, California, and then later on the east coast. Actually, agents all over the United States were on it. So coordinating those efforts and informing them of the case and making sure they are asking the questions that we needed to be asked on a case when they were not, themselves, as familiar with it.
I would identify any leads that would need to be done in the case. And I would write and forward those leads to the agents that we need to conduct those. I created the investigative plan, attended all meetings on the case, briefed the case daily to our seniors, and conducted all briefings at the government level on this case, and kept the agents that were working on it informed of each other's products when they were doing new interviews so that they were up to speed on the information so they could ask better questions, if you will.
I also ensured that the evidence would be sent to Camp Pendleton to our field office there as part of the taskforce that was formulated and attended all the meetings for that.
Q. When did you assume the role of case agent? Do you remember the date?
A. That decision was actually made when I arrived back to the U.S. from Iraq. That was about not quite a month later, mid-April.
Q. Mid-April 2006?
A. Right. What they did do, I should note to give my co-case agent credit here, Agent Tony Blane out of Camp Pendleton was designated as the point of contact from Camp Pendleton. And we worked together as co-case agents. But most of the responsibilities were with me at our headquarters in terms of the writing and briefing of the case.
Good post, Red. That clears up any parsing of words by some.
“Well, you could call her the case agent, if you prefer. Whatever term you want to use,”
Not what I prefer ... it’s her title, what she describes herself as, along with others
“And we worked together as co-case agents. “
Now YOU may want to call her “lead” , but she certainly knows and says exactly who the “lead” was.
“Q. Now, you said this team, y’all got to Haditha and operated inside the Haditha dam second and third deck. Special Agent Cranfield is still lead at this time?
A. Yes. Upon his arrival, he was the most senior agent onsite; and he was the lead. “
From her own description of her work that you included, It seems she is more of an office manager.
It’s sometimes a problem that titles (like “case agent” and even “investigating officer”) don’t mean anything to the general public.
Sometimes it’s clearer to just call them by their function.
You’re comparing two different points in time. Her responsiblities changed in April.
Regardless, calling her an office manager is just silly. She is a lawyer, an accomplished professional, and conducted an interview of witnesses in a high-profile murder investigation.
Look again at the responsibilities she was given.
I’m not sure why you want to diminish her inportance to the investigation.
In any event, look at her sworn testimony that is the basis of this thread.
You usually have zero tolerance for inconsistencies. Are you fine with her testimony?
“She is a lawyer, an accomplished professional, and conducted an interview of witnesses in a high-profile murder investigation.”
LOL - I’m not the one who is attempting to ridicule her.
“A. The intended role was I was going to be a team member in assisting with the measurement and documenting as a note taker on everything we were doing. However, we planned for the contingency, if we were met by any potential witnesses, especially if there was going to be any females among the potential witnesses, that I would attempt to conduct an interview with them.”
Assisting with measurement ... note taker ... IF we met witnessess ?
“But one of things that I was a participant in was interviewing on Lance Corporal Sharratt regarding the U.S. Army questionnaire that they provided us to ask them.”
This “lead invstigators” job appears to have been to read him a list of questions that were given to her and write down the answers.
“Q. And did anything with regards to what happened in house four come up during that interview?
A. No.
Q. Did you talk about anything with regards to what happened on 19 November 2005 in that interview?
A. No. “
She also mentions “assisting” at the end of an interview with Kallop.
Not a lot of responsibility there.
I don’t believe that you seriously think she was a mastermind sent out to specifically not bring her tape recorder so she could make promises to and falsify the testimony of the Iraqi women through a third-party interpreter,
... especially considering that “But the information we had was that we were likely to just get to homes that were empty, as they were in one and two.”
This “lead invstigators” job appears to have been to read him a list of questions that were given to her and write down the answers.
You're cherry-picking and making a muddle.
The Army conducted a separate Haditha investigation. An NCIS agent, no matter what his or her status, has no responsibility to the Army hierarchy. She solicited answers to a questionnaire. Since she was not involved in the Watt or Bargewell investigations, it would have been bizarre if she had departed from their script and started asking her own questions.
Just so I have this straight. You have no problem with her testimony?
” An NCIS agent, no matter what his or her status, has no responsibility to the Army hierarchy.”
Correct - So would NCIS assign a “lead” investigator to do this, or someone who gets assignments like “assisting and note-taking” ?
“You have no problem with her testimony?”
I’m not sure of the importance of her testimony, - but I’ll address what you seem to feel is important.
She didn’t have a recorder with her ... she bad. Maybe the lead investigator should have issued her a tactical pack.
Do you suspect that SHE made up the story that the men were taken out and shot ?
You’re still trying to say that the case agent for the Haditha investigation is just an office manager?
Her supervisor, SA Cranfill, considered himself a team coordinator. His own testimony about the reporting relationship doesn’t support the hierarchy above Mannle you keep suggesting. He wasn’t, by his own testimony, bustling around giving orders to flunkies.
If you don’t consider Mannle a lead investigator, you’ll have to explain why she was assigned to interview crucial witnesses, for starters.
And, yes, she interviewed women but she also interviewed men.
You’re right that this bit of testimony was not important to LCpl Sharratt’s exoneration.
It’s just a sidebar that provides a window into NCIS procedures and mentality. A little comic relief for people who’ve been following the case for the past 18 months. Sorry it failed to amuse.
“If you don’t consider Mannle a lead investigator, you’ll have to explain why she was assigned to interview crucial witnesses, for starters.”
How about ... she wasn’t - At the house she was tasked with interviewing anyone IF they found someone and they expected not not find anyone - hardly “crucial”.
With Sharratt she was tasked with reading others questions and taking down answers, and as you say NOT deviating in any way.
With Kallop she assisted at the end, whatever that means.
Someone was telling her what to do and when to do it.
Even when they asked her about titling Sharratt, she has to explain “ Well, I didn’t decide to title anybody, me myself.”
Q. Would that have affected your recommendation as regards to the titling decision?
So, it appears she makes a reccomendation ( as other co-case agents might do ) and someone else makes the decision - fit’s being an office manager.
“Her supervisor, SA Cranfill, considered himself a team coordinator. His own testimony ...”
Got Link ?
So you maintain the case agent for the Haditha investigation is not a lead investigator.
You do realize that Mannle conducted more than one interview with LCpl Sharratt. The interview she conducted for the Army is irrelevant to her status within NCIS.
Her supervisor measured walls in house 4. Does that make him a flunky, too?
Mannle only mentions one co-case agent. “But,” she says, “most of the responsibilities were with me at our headquarters in terms of the writing and briefing of the case.”
And that was after the actual investigatory work was complete.
“You do realize that Mannle conducted more than one interview with LCpl Sharratt.”
No I don’t ... the testimony dosen’t say it - in fact ...
“Q. Were you involved in any other interviews regarding Lance Corporal Sharratt, like with Special Agent McDaniel?
A. No. That was conducted before the second team’s arrival. That was just when the first three agents on ground were there.
Q. So you did not participate in that interview at all?
A. That is correct. “
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