Posted on 06/01/2006 7:53:01 PM PDT by kristinn
Criminal investigators are hoping to exhume the bodies of several Iraqi civilians allegedly gunned down by a group of U.S. Marines last year in the city of Haditha, aiming to recover potentially important forensic evidence, according to defense officials familiar with the investigation.
A source close to the inquiry said Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials have interviewed families of the dead several times and have visited the homes where the shootings allegedly occurred to collect as much evidence as possible. Exhuming the bodies could help investigators determine the distance at which shots were fired, the caliber of the bullets and the angles of the shots, possibly crucial details in determining how events unfolded and who might have been involved.
SNIP
"I think it's going to be a very difficult case for them to prove," said Vaughan Taylor, a former military prosecutor and instructor in criminal law at the Army's Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School. On balance, he said, he would rather be a defense counsel in the case than prosecute for the government.
"I think there's plenty of avenues for defense in this case -- the fact that it wasn't initially investigated, the fact that there's been plenty of time for witnesses to play with stories. There's a lot of wiggle room in there."
The gap between the incident and the beginning of the NCIS investigation is going to cause major problems in prosecuting any charges, a Marine officer familiar with the case agreed. "They have huge proof problems," he said, citing the lack of identified bodies.
"The long and the short of it is, until they prove the cause of death," they don't have anything, said one civilian defense lawyer representing a Kilo Company Marine. "Photographs won't be enough to do it. Good luck with that."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Thanks for the ping!
...from your lips to God's ear....if this is indeed the case and these Marines were "set up"....nothing would be more deserved thab to have President Bush hold a news conference blasting the main stream media for putting our troops in harm's way.....it's long overdue....
There's an interesting little factoid that I haven't heard before. Do you have any more info on that?
As I commented about this elsewhere -- these "sources close to the probe" and "Defense Department officials" need to cowboy up. They are traitors to the investigative/judicial process. Anyone wanna take bets that you can replace the majority of those "anonymous source" references with "Congressman Murtha?"
ROFLMAO! Ditto that.
(*Mainstream media Democrat water carriers)
Congress hearings will sort the facts from whatever.
The caliber of the round will prove nothing. The after-the-fact photos are just one piece of evidence -- from an unsecured crime scene no less. Iraqi eyewitnesses might be impeachable for a whole range of reasons.
This case is going to turn on whether or not they can get one of the Marines to confess & roll on the rest of the Squad. You can bet that kind of pressure has already been made, and someone knows whether this happened the way the MSM has been portraying it (or not).
I think that this investigation is going to shift to a possible coverup anyway. The MSM isn't really interested in getting a few grunts anyway. They want to nail officers -- the higher the better. Just look at Murtha's statements. He has already made statements that suggest that the Chain of Command is solely responsible for putting the Marines in an impossible position. This is a squishy charge that can mean anything on any given day. It could mean 'unrealistic rules of engagement', or it might be about the battalion commander who ordered the patrol, all the way to the President for committing the troops. Murtha's charge can be telescoped to attack any level of the War from the tactical all the way to the strategic.
No forensic evidence yet they are guilty. Nice Murtha you fat lying s.o.b.
FYI
that pos is an absolute disgrace
Thank you. Most interesting.
For me, this little tidbit alone serves to kick at least one leg out from under the basic credibility of the story.
Thank you sheeza. I'm going to try to find that piece so it can be listed also. I've heard mention of the shrapnel wounds but not about the brother and her being found together.
This is becoming a fascinating case.
The danger of command influence is ever-present, and that will throw the whole case out in according with long-standing principles of the UCMJ.
Now we have the issue of proving who are, where were, and how were any produced bodies slain?
We have an experienced UCMJ lawyers saying he'd prefer to be on the defense side on this.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm..............
I have thought that very thing.
Somebody whose been there can probably comment authoritatively, but my guess would be that it is fairly rare, especially in patrol operations. Other Marines will tend to attack toward the sound of AK-47 fire, and I wouldn't want to be in an urban combat situation with a weapon that sounds like the enemy.
Why can't they just dig the bullets out of the bodies and see if they match any of the rifles of the soldiers in question. This is done in murder cases every day in the US. Is there anything about miltary rifles which prevents this?
Unless these "sources" are being put out there by the Pentagon itself in an effort to blunt the final effects of these reports.
The fact that nobody seems in a big hurry to shut them up tells me the story is being leaked on purpose.
If these bodies have 7.62mm holes in them, and bullets recoverd from them are sub 140 grain, Murtha needs to resign.
If it turns out these folks were human shields, and shot by our Marines, Murtha should resign.
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