Haditha Article 32: LCpl. Stephen B. Tatum

Defend Our Marines ^ | July 12, 2007 | David Allender

[RedRover]

Hearing fact sheet

The hearing is scheduled to commence July 16, 2007.

The accused, LCpl. Stephen Tatum, was 25-years-old at the time of the incident, and was on his second combat tour. In 2004, Tatum fought (along with LCpl. Justin Sharratt) in the "House from Hell" in Fallujah .

Preferred Charges and Specifications:

Charge I: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 118 (Unpremeditated murder)
(Maximum punishment: such punishment other than death as a court-martial may direct. [Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for life])

Specification 1: did murder Noor Salim Rasif.
Specification 2: did murder Zainab Unes Salim.

Charge II: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 134 (Negligent Homicide)
(Maximum punishment: Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for 3 years)

Specification 1: did unlawfully kill Abdul Hameed Husin Ali.
Specification 2: did unlawfully kill Guhid Abdalhamid Hasan.
Specification 3: did unlawfully kill Asmaa Salman Rasif, also known as Asamaa Salman Rasif.
Specification 4: did unlawfully kill Abdullah Waleed Abdul Hameed, also known as Abdullah Waleed Abdul.

Charge III: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 128 (Assault)
(Maximum punishment: Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 8 years)

Specification: did commit an assault upon Eman Waleed Al Hameed and Abid Al Rahman Waleed Al Hameed.

Convening authority: Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Central Commander for Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa.

Investigating officer: Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware.

Defense counsel: Jack B. Zimmermann (civilian attorney); Lt Col. Matthew Cord and Maj. Jeffrey Muñoz (military attorneys)

How the incident in this house occurred according to the media:

Josh White in the Washington Post (January 6, 2007):

[After the IED was detonated] Wuterich, Salinas, Tatum and Lance Cpl. Humberto M. Mendoza formed a team to attack the house, launching grenades first and then busting through the door.
"I told them to treat it as a hostile environment," Wuterich told investigators. "I told them to shoot first, ask questions later."
Defense attorneys have argued that the men were following their "rules of engagement" when they shot into the homes, using effective techniques in a difficult environment....
After entering the first house through a kitchen, Tatum told investigators, he heard what he believed was an AK-47 rifle being "racked," or readied to fire, around a corner. He and Salinas tossed grenades into the room, according to the documents. Waleed Hasan, 37, was killed. Khamisa Ali, 66, was shot dead in the hallway before four others were killed in a bedroom by grenades and rifle fire.
Nine-year-old Eman Hamed told investigators that a grenade landed near her grandfather's bed and exploded, sending shrapnel through the room. Her mother and 4-year-old brother were killed as she huddled, injured, with another brother, Abid, 6, who survived. "All rooms," Abid told investigators. "They were shooting in all rooms."
Several Marines said they quickly cleared the home by fire, shooting through the dust, debris and darkness to eliminate what they believed was a threat.
From there, Wuterich, Mendoza and Tatum said, they moved to a second house after suspecting that insurgents might have escaped. Mendoza told investigators that the Marines approached the second house the same way they did the first, treating it as hostile, according to his sworn statement. Mendoza said he shot a man, 43- year-old Yunis Rasif, through the house's glass kitchen door.
"I fired because I had been told the house was hostile and I was following my training that all individuals in a hostile house are to be shot," Mendoza told investigators. The Marines then entered the house and tossed grenades before firing into a back bedroom, which they later found was filled with women and children.
"Knowing what I know now, I feel badly about killing Iraqi civilians who may have been innocent, but I stand fast in my decisions that day, as I reacted to the threats that I perceived at the time," Tatum said. "I did not shoot randomly with the intent to harm innocent Iraqi civilians."

What to expect at the hearing: The prosecution will hit hardest on the action in house number two. They will argue that the Marines should have stopped to reconsider their tactics after seeing that civilians were killed in house number one.

The greatest weakness of the prosecution's case is that it is largely built on witness testimony, tape recorded in Iraq. Nearly all such testimony was discounted in the LCpl. Sharratt hearing and will undoubtedly be so again.

The only witness to the events in house number two is 13-year-old Safa Younis. She gave wildly different accounts to the media about what happened that morning. If inconsistencies don't disqualify her as a witness, her desire for revenge should. Regarding the Haditha Marines, she told CNN, "I want them to be tortured and killed. And I want them to leave our country."

[jazusamo]

"Quite frankly, you don't need that much visibility to identify a group of children on a bed," Atterbury said.

A really asinine statement from LtCol Atterbury and like others here have noted probably didn't help his case with LtCol Ware. Atterbury's sensationalism and irrelevant questions and statements have not gone unnoticed by Ware, thank goodness Ware is a man who uses common sense.

[Girlene]

I agree, jaz. But, I guess the prosecutors have to say something to try a case that has very little substance to prove unpremeditated murder.

Hey, Red, if Lt. Col. Ware doesn’t know enough about Mendoza, he just needs to read a few of your threads.

[RedRover]

Hey, you never know!

BTW, when the lieutenant colonel commented that the prosecution’s case seemed to be “20/20 hindsight”, Phil Brennan sent me an e-mail message: “Ware for president!”

Men like him should give people faith in the UCMJ (NCIS is a separate issue).

[RedRover]

Word is that IO Ware’s recommendation in the LCpl Tatum case will come out this week or next.

Fingers crossed...

BTW, word also has it that Gen Mattis took heat from some members of the Senate (who he’ll be facing soon at the confirmation for his next promotion) for the exonerations of Capt Stone and LCpl Sharratt. That can’t be proven, and may not even be true, but it’s the scuttlebutt.

[Girlene]

Thanks for the heads up, Red. Why would any senator give Lt. Gen. Mattis any heat for following recommendations of two IO’s from a hearing? Unless those senators want our military to look bad. Unless they prefer punishing innocent Marines to fit an anti-war agenda. Unless they love their power more than they love their country and those who defend her. It’s sad that it’s all too believable that it happened.

I can only hope that Lt. Gen. Mattis loves and respects his country and his Marines more than his next promotion.

[RedRover]

Indeed. Any attempt to influence the authority in a judicial proceeding is outrageous—if not criminal.

Gen Mattis seems like the kind of man to keep this to himself and to do what’s right.

[lilycicero]

Gen Mattis took heat from some members of the Senate

As IF! Gen Mattis would make them wet their pants by his presence. I am a loose cannon today. I think it's retarded to have civilians be in charge of military promotions. If anything, the retired brass should give privy to give promo nods. Keep the cake eaters out of it.

[pinkpanther111]

I can only hope that Lt. Gen. Mattis loves and respects his country and his Marines more than his next promotion..

AMEN to that

[RedRover]

Hey, pink! What’s cooking, good looking? We’ve been missing you.

[jazusamo]

Ditto me and I believe he does.

[lilycicero]

Ya Pinkpather...where have ya been? Come back often.

[pinkpanther111]

FRmail