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Haditha - Marine Sergeant Contradicts Murtha’s Charge Of Cold Blooded Murder
Pipeline News ^ | 11 June 2006

Posted on 06/11/2006 3:33:40 AM PDT by Lando Lincoln

June 11, 2006 – San Francisco, CA – PipeLineNews.org - Neal A. Puckett, defense attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich - who led a team of Marines into a now controversial battle in Haditha on November 19 – states in the June 11 edition of the Washington Post that US forces that day were strictly following rules of engagement and expressly refuted charges of indiscriminate use of force:

"It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines," said Neal A. Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigations into the incident. "He's really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians."

Sgt. Wutterich’s first person account differs sharply from band-aid warrior John Murtha’s who charged that Marines in Haditha, “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” and following that statement by telling ABC News, "I will not excuse murder and that what's happened."

As many internet sites including Sweetness & Light and the The American Thinker are now concluding, this “massacre” originally foisted upon the American public by Time magazine [which is stuck in retraction mode on this one] is going South…fast.

This is shaping up to be a potential and major tipping point, making refutation of the leftist’s critique of the war in Iraq all the more likely.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: americanpow; haditha; murtha
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To: Non-Sequitur

"I'm sorry that you have no faith in the military doing the right thing on this. I spent over 25 years in and I found that the wheels of military justice may grind slowly but they grind surely and accurately. If these men are charged, tried, and convicted people like you will believe it's a white-wash and that they were railroaded. If the investigation finds that there is nothing to charge them with then other people will cry white-wash and cover up of murderers. Nobody seems willing to have any faith in the military, and that seems to include the Iraqi people these days. True or false these stories aren't endearing us to the local populace. And if they don't trust us then what good can we do there?"

Hopefully, you are correct.


61 posted on 06/11/2006 12:52:48 PM PDT by strategofr (H-mentor:"pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it"Hillary's Secret War,Poe,p.198)
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To: Non-Sequitur
The trial of public opinion, which seems to be divided between those assuming them guilty and those who wouldn't convict them if they mowed down half of Baghdad, is taking place now.

Silly claim, to say the least. There are PLENTY of us who have presumed innocence from Day One, but have said if they're convicted then they should be punished.

62 posted on 06/11/2006 1:20:17 PM PDT by Coop (FR= a lotta talk, but little action)
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To: sirchtruth; All

Well .. Murtha is the same guy who advised Bubba Clinton to pull troops from Somalia. Clinton listened to him .. and Osama said that act convinced him "America is weak".

So we can thank Murtha for 9/11 - along with Bubba.

And .. I believe some of Murtha's anger is focused on Bush .. because Bush will not take Murth's advice and bring the troops home.


63 posted on 06/11/2006 1:43:49 PM PDT by CyberAnt (US Military: Raining fire from above for the freedom that we love!)
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To: strategofr
The whole world is on the other side. We have to be on the side of the Marines now---or the fight is lost.

These Marines have the majority of the American people at their side and covering their backs, whether they know it or not. We are not a weak or stupid people regardless of how the media portrays us.

The one thing we ask is that our Marines have as much faith in us as we have in them.

64 posted on 06/11/2006 1:46:13 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: CHICAGOFARMER
Why limit it to Washington DC.

DC is the place where they can concentrate the most power and do us the most harm

Love your tag hah ahahha haah

Thanks. I get that a lot... :-)

65 posted on 06/11/2006 4:17:54 PM PDT by dirtbiker (I've tried to see the liberal point of view, but I couldn't get my head that far up my a$$....)
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To: McGavin999

"These Marines have the majority of the American people at their side and covering their backs, whether they know it or not. We are not a weak or stupid people regardless of how the media portrays us."

Things seem to be looking better!

"The one thing we ask is that our Marines have as much faith in us as we have in them."

Well, I'm not sure I would expect these Marines---if they are innocent---to have faith in us in this moment. I suppose it looks pretty bad from where they sit.


66 posted on 06/11/2006 4:28:43 PM PDT by strategofr (H-mentor:"pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it"Hillary's Secret War,Poe,p.198)
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To: armydawg1

"political correctness and weakness in the senior leadership caused the relief of the Marines implicated"

And, this is the aspect of this story that bothers me the most. If PC begins dictating military policy in a big way, we are finished.


67 posted on 06/11/2006 4:41:18 PM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: strategofr

Faith has nothing to do with how things "look". Faith is believing even when things "look" bad.


68 posted on 06/11/2006 10:09:53 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: Orlando

This is an outrage! Shackled! Like the guys are going to make a run for it. Please!!!! I am sure this incident is going to help recruitment.....(sarcasm off)


69 posted on 06/11/2006 10:14:24 PM PDT by Sprite518
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To: Lando Lincoln
Murtha is from the officer class that I so detested in Vietnam. He is the kind whom I overheard use the phrase "acceptable kill ratio" when describing casualties in unnecessary bodycount missions staged to advance promotions. He accepts that good GIs and Marines are expendable when the cause right. He is willing to sacrifice the Haditha Marines if that will get him the leadership position or his party the White House.
70 posted on 06/11/2006 10:20:52 PM PDT by Natural Law
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To: Lando Lincoln
Wait a minute! How dare that person contradict Murtha's assertion that the military of today are a bunch of blood thirsty beby killers! After all, Murtha was a Marine! What's that person done to even hold a candle to the service that Murtha gave to his country!.... Huh? A Marine? In combat? Oh, never mind...

Mark

71 posted on 06/11/2006 10:22:43 PM PDT by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
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To: MEG33
I am outraged.

As every fair minded American should be.

The MSM and the politically motivated Murtha & co. have already tried, convicted, and sentenced those Marines, and I don't think that any amount of truth that may come out now about what actually took place regarding that tragic episode will correct the deliberate misrepresentation of the incident in the minds of a large number of people who seem to want to believe the worst about our fighting men and women involved in this very difficult situation in Iraq.

72 posted on 06/11/2006 10:26:02 PM PDT by epow (The way of the cross leads home.)
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To: epow

Ok, someone knowledgeable help me here. When I go to look at my posts, or new comments to me, my ping list, the words in the comments aren't wrapping around today, suddenly, and I don't know what's happened. How do I make it go back to wrapping around? Did a poltergeist attack my pings list?


73 posted on 06/11/2006 10:33:42 PM PDT by flaglady47
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To: EyeGuy

The Defense Dept is already eaten up with PC, hence the "sensitivity training" in the middle of a war zone, The women in combat in direct violation of law and the "blame Marines First" attitude that we are seeing now all point to a leadership that may be very close to failing every GI as well as the country as a whole.


74 posted on 06/12/2006 4:04:10 AM PDT by armydawg1 (" America must win this war..." PVT Martin Treptow, KIA, WW1)
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To: flaglady47
Ok, someone knowledgeable help me here

Sorry flaglady, that word knowledgeable rules me out. I would like to help but I'm technically challenged when it comes to computer stuff, to put it mildly.

75 posted on 06/12/2006 4:31:18 AM PDT by epow (The way of the cross leads home.)
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To: armydawg1

"the "blame Marines First" attitude that we are seeing now all point to a leadership that may be very close to failing every GI as well as the country as a whole."

They had better do right by these Marines, and quickly or I fear we will soon be no longer able to field a military in sufficient numbers. What young peson would subject themselves to this crap, when there are so many other alternatives?

Unless there is strong, multiple source evidence of unneccessary, pre-mediated action against innocents (HIGHLY unlikely, in my opinion), these Marines should be able to resume their service without a mark on their record.


76 posted on 06/12/2006 5:07:19 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: EyeGuy

I couldnt agree more.


77 posted on 06/12/2006 2:25:54 PM PDT by armydawg1 (" America must win this war..." PVT Martin Treptow, KIA, WW1)
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