Posted on 10/19/2007 6:51:06 PM PDT by RedRover
Camp Pendleton, California – U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R. Chessani and Lance Corporal Stephen B. Tatum will face general courts-martial for their roles in a controversial firefight following an al Qaeda-led insurgent ambush in Haditha, Iraq almost three years ago in which 24 Iraqi citizens died.
Also on trial is whether combatants caught in a no-quarter duel can be successfully prosecuted for the life or death decisions they make in the white-hot crucible of combat.
The decision to bring the two Marines to courts-martial was made by Lieutenant General James N. Mattis, the convening authority in the case and its final arbiter. He upheld the recommendation of the investigating officer in Chessani’s case to charge him with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order. Mattis overrode the decision of the investigating officer in Tatum’s case to dismiss all the charges – including multiple counts of unpremeditated murder - against the veteran enlisted Marine.
Instead, Mattis referred charges against Tatum for involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. He dismissed charges of murder and negligent homicide against the survivor of the horrific “Hell House” fight at Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004.
The general’s decision brought an immediate reaction from the defense lawyers.
“Referring this case to trial imperils every young Marine and soldier who faces a split second decision in combat,” according to a statement from veteran Marines Jack Zimmerman and Kyle R. Sampson, the Houston, Texas attorneys who represent Tatum. Zimmerman, a former infantryman, was decorated for valor twice while serving in Vietnam.
Chessani, a career Marine infantryman, is the former commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. Chessani is charged with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for failing to accurately report and investigate the incident.
His battalion was attacked in a coordinated al Qaeda-led “complex ambush” on December 19, 2005, the Marine Corps says. During the engagement one Marine was killed and 11 others were wounded. According to intelligence information gleaned from Iraqi informants and captured insurgents the insurgent’s plan was to attack the battalion in several locations simultaneously to cause maximum carnage among Iraqi civilians.
Chessani’s attorneys at the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said they are particularly disappointed with the decision to bring their client to trial because of the “chilling effect” the case has on the military’s sacrosanct chain of command.
Attorney Brian Rooney, himself a Marine combat veteran and one of the attorneys representing Chessani said second-guessing the actions of combatants is tantamount to the Soviet “commissar” theory of command. During the Communist era of the former Soviet Union political officers called commissars could countermand the orders of combat leaders in the name of political expediency.
“You might as well have a political officer in every battalion to make sure every order is politically correct,” Rooney said.
Both Marines had been in combat in Iraq in al Anbar Province during two deployments when the Haditha incident occurred. The incident began when a squad from Kilo Company, 3/1 was ambushed December 19, 2005 on a road at the outskirts of Haditha. In the ensuing day-long fight 24 Iraqi citizens were killed in the cross-fire between insurgents and counter-attacking Marines.
Three months later the attack was brought to light in a series of inaccurate and highly inflammatory reports initiated by a March 6, 2006 article in Time Magazine by reporter Tim McGirk. His report and those that followed claimed the Marines had killed the Iraqis in cold-blood in retaliation for the death of Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas. The story was picked up by Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, who went on international television to claim the Marines had killed the Iraqis for revenge.
The furor generated by the reports and Murtha’s outlandish rhetoric sparked two separate investigations of the battalion’s actions. Last December those investigations resulted in the charging of eight Marines with murder, assault, and dereliction of duty for allegedly covering up the crimes. Subsequently four of those Marines were exonerated.
During the summer-long Article 32 investigatory hearings at Camp Pendleton the hearing officers charged with looking into the matter determined no murders had been committed.
So far Chessani and Tatum are the only 3/1 Marine ordered to courts-martial in the incident. Three other Marines, including Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the squad leader of the ambushed squad, still face the possibility of general court-martial.
Wuterich is waiting to discover whether he will be charged with 17 counts of unpremeditated murder and uttering a false statement. Lt. Col. Paul Ware, the investigating officer in his case, recommended that the murder charges be reduced to seven counts of negligent homicide. Mattis can accept the investigating officer’s recommendations, ignore them, or charge him with other offenses.
One source close to the investigation said Friday afternoon that Wuterich is expected to learn his fate sometime next week. In addition, a junior officer, Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, must still undergo ab Article 32 investigation to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring them to trial for dereliction of duty.
Despite Mattis’ decision to bring the two Marines to trial their lawyers remain confident they will be exonerated.
“We are very disappointed that the Commanding General did not follow the recommendation to withdraw and dismiss all charges made by the experienced trial judge who heard all the evidence during the Article 32 Investigation,” Tatum’s attorneys said. “However, Lance Corporal Tatum did not commit any crime, and we will take the fight to the courtroom. We will vigorously challenge the government's case, and nothing will be left undone in defense of this fine young Marine.
“We remain convinced that the military justice system eventually will reach the right result,” they concluded.
Rooney offered similar sentiments.
“We expect that Lieutenant Colonel Chessani will be fully exonerated when this goes to trial. While we are disappointed with the decision we look forward to going to court-martial to show that no stone was left unturned and nothing was swept under the rug in an effort to discover the truth of what happened at Haditha,” Rooney said.
Pray.
I guess it was just wishful thinking.
Col. Chessani is getting the PC shaftola.
IN HIS DEFENSE, MilitaryCorruption.Com will be running a story on Monday about this latest betrayal of our warriors in uniform.
You heard it here first.
And now we must help them fight their war here at home!
I'm confident they will be exonerated.
What is that mean? Is the Court Martial a sure way to conviction?!
These Marines served honorably and received this in return. I am ashamed and very very sad.
You bet, Albion. Prayers up.
Sorry, Brian -- that is already in place now; they are from JAG and are now attached to almost all levels of command, to provide 'guidance in the LOAC and ROE'. The reason we didn't hit the funeral gathering of the Al Qaida group of almost 50 insurgents was because the JAG officer would not sign off as pertinent to a valid prosecution of the ROE.
What a waste of time. When is Turda going to testify?? Is he still pressuring the Generals??
Pray for W and Our Marines
“........complex ambush” on December 19, 2005,
Am I the only one that counts this as almost 2 years?
Prayers to our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen!
What???!!!! I imagine that Mattis was quite tempted to exhonerate all these Marines to lay the groundwork for Murtha’s lawsuit. I can only hope Mattis has a heck of a good reason for doing this.
Wow, what a horrific disappointment Mattis turned out to be. Disgusting.
It makes you wonder if this was part of the deal for that fourth star.
There is absolutely no excuse for this obscenity. There goes any respect I had for Mattis.
Please keep us posted on the story, Wills.
Since I am really just a 46 year old kid, when did everything change, did it start in Korea?
If Chessani didn’t think it was worth investigating further, good enough, end of story.
Really feel for Tatum and his family.
And if it isn’t overstepping the bounds,can we give Harry Truman another shot? He knew what to do.
I’m pretty sure more than 24 “innocent civilians” were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You and both. I believe Gen Mattis is beyond political influence. But the timing of this fourth-star confirmation hearing leaves plenty of room to wonder.
No, it doesn't mean that at all. It's sad, IMHO, that this has to go forward, but it means nothing at this point. Chessani and Tatum will be defended, the burden will be on the prosecution, which is suspect at best. We should all be saddened that it's gone this far.
This is disturbing news, and we, all of us, must redouble our efforts to aid these men.
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