Posted on 08/30/2007 3:30:44 AM PDT by RedRover
Fact sheet
The accused, SSgt. Frank Wuterich, was 26-years-old at the time of the incident, and was on his first combat tour.
Two months after the Haditha incident, an officer recommended Wuterich for a medal. In his memorandum, the officer wrote that Wuterich's "calm and confident decisiveness that day doubtlessly prevented further injury or death to fellow Marines and innocent civilians."
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 Ahmed Khutar Musleh, also known as Ahmed Fenr Muselh.
Specification 2: did murder Wagdi Aida Alzawi, also known as Wgedi Aida Abd.
Specification 3: did murder Kaled Aida Alzawi, also known as Kaled Aida Abd.
Specification 4: did murder Mohmed Tabal Ahmed, also known as Mohmed Betel Ahmed.
Specification 5: did murder Akram Hamid Flaeh, also known as Akram Hmid Fluih.
Specification 6: did murder Huda Yasin Ahmed.
Specification 7: did murder Aida Yasin Ahmed.
Specification 8: did murder Mohmed Yunis Salim.
Specification 9: did murder Aisha Unes Salim.
Specification 10: did murder Sebea Yunis Salim.
Specification 11: did murder Zainab Unes Salim.
Specification 12: did murder Marwan Aiad Ahmed.
Specification 13: did murder six persons inside a house identified as House 1, by disregarding the requirement to have positive identification prior to engaging a target; and participating in clearing House 1 with deadly force without conducting positive identification prior to engaging individuals in House 1.
Charge II: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 134 (Soliciting Another to commit an offense) (Maximum punishment: Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years)
Specification 1: did wrongfully solicit Corporal Dela Cruz to make a false official statement.
Specification 2: did wrongfully solicit Corporal Dela Cruz to make a false official statement.
Charge III: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 107 (False official statement) (Maximum punishment: Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years)
Specification: did with intent to deceive, make a false official statement.
Investigating officer: Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware.
Convening authority: Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Central Commander for Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa.
Defense counsel: Neal Puckett and Mark Zaid (civilian attorneys).
What to expect at the hearing: At least two Marines will testify against SSgt Wuterich. They are Sgt Sanick Dela Cruz and LCpl Humberto Mendoza. Both also testified against LCpl Tatum (in front of the same IO) and their testimony was simply not believed. Expect headlines from Dela Cruz's testimony, but it should have little effect on the outcome of the hearing. Attorney Neal Puckett has also made statements to press that suggest we could be in for some real surprises.
The biggest challenge for the defense will be house 2. They will have to establish that SSgt Wuterich acted reasonably in continuing to clear the area. To ensure a fair hearing, it is past time that a key witness, Cpl Hector Salinas be given testimonial immunity.
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Based on details in media reports, the four incidents involving Sgt. Wuterich look something like this:
The White Taxi
1. A Marine in the first Humvee in a convoy motions an approaching taxi to the side of the road.
2. An IED explodes, killing one Marine and wounding two. The Marines come under fire.
3. SSgt Wuterich is charged with killing the five occupants of the taxi. What actually happened will be established in SSgt Wuterich's Article 32 hearing.
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House 1
The Marines identify fire coming from a house about 50 yards from the road. Lt. William Kallop orders a fire team, led by SSgt. Frank Wuterich, to clear the area.
Cpl Salinas enters house 1 and shoots and kills an Iraqi in the hallway by the stairs.
LCpl Mendoza moves to the room to the right of the hallway. He observes an Iraqi male making a movement toward the closet and kills him.
Cpl Salinas, LCpl Tatum and SSgt Wuterich hear someone rack an AK-47 rifle. LCpl Tatum and Cpl Salinas throw grenades into the room. One of the two grenades explode and SSgt Wuterich and LCpl Tatum enter the room and fire at its occupants.
SSgt Wuterich sees someone run out of the house toward house 2. SSgt Wuterich orders the Marines to pursue the runner into house 2.
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House 2
SSgt Wuterich, Cpl Salinas and LCpl Mendoza take positions outside house 2 next to one door. LCpl Mendoza kept watch toward a second door. One of the Marines knocked or rang a bell at the door.
As an Iraqi male approaches the second door, LCpl Mendoza shoots through the door and kills him.
SSgt Wuterich, LCpl Mendoza, and LCpl Tatum enter house 2. SSgt Wuterich orders LCpl Tatum to "frag" the next room in the home.
Unknown to the Marines at that time was that there were two adult women and six children in the far back corner room of the house 2.
SSgt Wuterich ordered the Marines to continue to clear house 2. At some point a Marine threw a grenade into the back room but it did not explode. SSgt Wuterich entered the room and fired at the occupants.
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House 3 and 4
1. After the assaults to the South were completed and insurgent activity and firefights had all but ceased, LCpl Sharratt, Cpl Salinas and SSgt Wuterich man an observation post established by 2ndLt Kallop. The Marines notice several men peeking over a privacy wall at the Ahmed houses. The Marines suspect that the men might be forward observers for another assault or IED attack. SSgt Wuterich takes a team of Marines to investigate. p>2. The Marines approach house 3 and find only women and children inside. They ask where the men are and discover that there are two houses within the courtyard. Cpl Salinas stays with the women and children in house 3 while SSgt Wuterich and LCpl Sharratt go to search house 4.
3. LCpl Sharratt sees a man with an AK-47 and shoots him. He notices a second man retrieving the AK-47. LCpl Sharratt shoots him as well. There were two more men inside the room. LCpl Sharratt shoots the third man inside the room. The fourth man moves toward the wall locker (closet) as LCpl Sharratt yells that his weapon is empty. SSgt Wuterich moves forward and fires his M16 and kills the fourth man.
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A larger file of house 1 and 2 in one diagram:
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Diagram, and overhead map, from the Los Angeles Times:
As usual Red. Thanks for the easy to read details. And both, thanks for the ping. It is going down to the wire.
I don’t either, and I thank God for it, and for Mendoza.
I think I’d call that witness tampering.
It would be great if the wire was not around the Marines’ throat, eh? Good to see you, Unc.
ADDITIONAL CHARGES FOR MARINE OFFICER IN HADITHA DEATHS
The Associated Press Article Launched: 08/30/2007 05:25:29 PM PDT
Thanks for the PING!
Good to hear one of the counts was dropped—now let’s watch them ALL go *thud*.
Far From The Iraq War, Wuterich Case Opens
By JESSE HAMILTON | (Hartford)Courant Staff Writer August 31,
The cross-examination from Wuterich's defense team - which is made up of civilian lawyers Neal Puckett and Mark Zaid, along with two military lawyers - attacked Mendoza with Perry Mason aggressiveness, suggesting he was lying, contradicting earlier statements and changing his story significantly after being granted immunity. But the government's chief attorney, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, shot from his seat repeatedly, objecting to defense attorney Maj. Haytham Faraj's questioning and accusing him of unethical behavior, although he later withdrew the accusation.
http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hc-wuterich0831.artaug31,0,5405289.story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083000235.html
10:35 PM
Mendoza, who spent several hours testifying in a base courtroom, said earlier in the day that he never saw Wuterich kill any Iraqis inside the two homes.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/31/news/top_stories/22_15_258_30_07.txt
This statement was made to me by a “cool” insider when I noted that I thought SSgt Wuterich looked sad.
I was told it is his confident, going to whip the world look. That his demeanor says, follow me, I know what I am doing.
Frank should be confident. He’s on his way to be being exonerated.
Prayers for the Wuterich family.
And the farmer hauled another load away...
Nothing like a debate during the heat of a battle... so now he’s fingering Salinas and not Tatum? I guess since Ware slapped his testimony down in Tatum’s case, he has to find someone else to blame things on. i agree with Maj Faraj - I think Mendoza was the loose cannon on the team.
Marine to Testify in Haditha Hearing, Associated Press, August 31, 2007.
Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich has admitted shooting a group of Iraqi men by a car in Haditha, but the circumstances under which he did so remain in dispute.
Wuterich, 27, claims the killings were justified because he had identified the men as military-age males close to where a roadside bomb had killed one of his squad members. He said they tried to run from the car, instead of obeying an order not to.
However, another member of the squad, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, testified in a hearing in May that Wuterich shot the men while they had their hands in the air.
``They were just standing, looking around, had hands up,'' Dela Cruz said. ``Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sgt. Wuterich shooting.''
The two accounts were expected to play out in a military courtroom Friday, where Dela Cruz was scheduled to testify at a preliminary hearing to determine whether Wuterich should face a court-martial on 17 counts of unpremeditated murder.
One of Wuterich's defense attorneys, Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, said Dela Cruz's account was incorrect and that the Marine had changed his story several times during the investigation.
``He has given many statements and given many different versions. Dela Cruz is all over the map,'' Vokey said.
Wuterich was initially charged with murdering 18 Iraqis in a bloody combat operation that left 24 Iraqi civilians dead, but at the outset of his hearing Thursday, prosecutors withdrew one murder count.
Dela Cruz also was charged with murder, but prosecutors dismissed his charges and gave him immunity to testify against Wuterich.
The case centers on whether Wuterich, who had never experienced combat before, acted within Marine rules of engagement when he shot the men by the car, then led his squad in a string of house raids.
Wuterich asserts that he was following combat rules and that he attacked the houses because he thought gunfire was coming from them.
The first witness to testify in his hearing was Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza, who also was granted immunity to testify.
Mendoza described the events of Nov. 19, 2005, as a fast-flowing series of engagements. After a Marine Humvee driver was killed in a roadside bomb, the troops raided several homes.
``When I opened the door, the first thing I see is women and kids laying down on a bed,'' Mendoza said. ``I believe they were scared.''
Mendoza testified that he had shot an unarmed Iraqi man who opened the front door to the home, and that he shot a different man in another house who he thought was reaching for a weapon. Mendoza said the killings were within combat rules because the occupants of the homes had been declared hostile.
He also testified that he saw Wuterich open fire by the scene of the bomb blast before the house clearing began.
Aerial footage from an unmanned drone in the minutes after the bomb blast shows several bodies clustered close to a car. The tape obtained Thursday by The Associated Press also shows Marines engaged in several other gun fights in the city that day.
Asked by the defense what he thought of Wuterich, Mendoza replied: ``I think he's a great Marine, sir.''
The Article 32 hearing is similar to a grand jury probe, but the defense gets to cross-examine government witnesses. At the end of the hearing, investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware will make a recommendation about whether Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., should stand trial. Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who is overseeing the case, makes the final decision.
Ware has already presided over two separate hearings in the Haditha case, those of lance corporals Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, who were charged with murder. In both cases, Ware found prosecutors could not prove the Marines operated outside combat rules and recommended the charges be dismissed.
Wuterich is also charged with making a false official statement and telling another Marine to do the same. He faces a possible life sentence and dishonorable discharge if found guilty.
I look forward to Wuterich’s attorney nailing Dela Cruz to the wall about seeing the man in the middle lean forward and THEN looking at Wuterich and seeing him firing. Was Wuterich using a super duper silencer or something? Is it POSSIBLE that the man was making a move for a weapon and THEN Wuterich fired - I certainly think so.
I am very disappointed in Mendoza and Dela Cruz. They will have to go through the rest of their lives knowing that they turned their back on the best brothers they could ever have and have been partially responsible for the legal hell the Marines have been through.
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