Posted on 07/22/2007 12:29:35 PM PDT by RedRover
In other news, the defense funds for the Marines was the subject of a great write-up in the Sunday New York Times (believe it or not!)
Interesting stuff!
As always, thanks for the pings.
D’oh! Obervations=observations.
He had my support and he had to piss it away.
BTW: Nice write up.
Thanks for the info!
A good 'for instance' is the incident involving the white "taxi" with 4 military age "students" that just happened upon the scene of the fatal ied blast minutes after it happened, during a full scale battle. We were led to believe by murtha and the drive by msm that the ied went off and that was the end of it, except for the so called rampage by the Marines.
We now know, courtesy of Capt. Dinsmore's sworn testimony, that a known "operation" was to take place that day in Haditha and that it would involve a white car carrying terrorists. We also know, according to 2 Marines, that 1 or 2 ak47s were found in the car. Sorta puts the "4 college students with their hands up" in a different perspective.
So....we have SSgt Justin Laughner testifying that there were AK-47s casings at the houses. We have Cpl Robert Stafford testifying that two AK 47s were retrieved from house one and two. We also have Cpl Stafford adding that he believed an AK 47 was retrieved from the white car before prosecutors cut him off. We have Tatum passing a polygraph not only that he thought the house was hostile, but he didn’t know women and children were behind the door.
What does the prosecution have? Wild speculations on what might have happened from very incomplete photos of the dead Iraqis, no autopsies, and no ballistics. And, oh yeah, they have Mendoza who changed his story, has a big motive to lie about what happened, and can’t pass a polygraph.
Do you really think this will go forward to trial?
I do not believe you, Mendoza. I think that testimony was spoonfed to you. I would think you would choke on it.
Hahahahahaha!!!!!
Girlene - I’m sure he must be mistaken. Those were simply innocent students on a morning drive that happened upon a tragic scene and a group of bloodthirsty trained killers out for revenge. After all Dela Cruz aka “Mr PP” said they were standing beside the taxi with their arms raised and tied behind their backs at the same time... And Mr. Murtha said there were no weapons recovered at the scene...
(insert extreme sarcasm tag here)
The persecution has no case. Free the Hidatha 8.
Pray for W and Our Marines
I'm comparing this in my mind to the Sharratt case. In his recommendation, the IO was clear that Justin's account of events was supported by physical evidence. The government's account was not.
I just don't know if we'll get to that place in the Tatum case. There doesn't seem to be strong evidence for either side. So is the IO likelier to recommend dismissal or put it in the hands of a jury?
We'll see how the defense goes about building its case this week. If they make a convincing case that the Iraqis, supposedly shot by Tatum, were actually killed by grenades, then I'd predict a dismissal. Anything much short of that, though, may not be enough to keep this from going forward.
The houses were concrete buildings. Curtains were closed, so the rooms were dark. The ceilings were about three inches of plaster. The Marines led with grenades and the denotations caused the whole house to fill with smoke and plaster dust. The dust would have collected on the goggles the Marines were wearing.
SSgt Laughner testified that it took hours for the clouds of dust to settle. During the house clearing, there was very little chance that the Marines could see much of anything except shapes. It's also unlikely that they could have heard one another well enough to carry out a conversation. People who are wounded and scared are usually not very quiet.
In the morning, there was no way for LCpl Tatum to tell who had hit. I found out recently that Tatum only knew what had happened because he went back inside the houses in the afternoon.
One of the Marines' grenades had failed to detonate. Someone must have forgotten to pull the tape. Whatever the reason, it didn't go off and LCpl Tatum went back to retrieve it. And he was in time to see the bodies of the dead being taken away.
This also explains why Tatum told NCIS that he had killed women and children. He knew what had happened--but not at the time.
Good post and thread.
Good info Red, thanks.
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