Posted on 12/21/2006 11:03:18 AM PST by areafiftyone
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A Marine Corps squad leader was charged Thursday with 13 murder counts stemming from the killings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said.
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of murdering individuals and one count of murdering six people by ordering Marines under his charge to "shoot first and ask questions later" when they entered a house, according to charging sheets released by defense attorney Neal Puckett.
As many as eight Marines could be charged in the case, the biggest U.S. criminal case to emerge from the war in Iraq in terms of people killed.
The deaths occurred on Nov. 19, 2005.
Lawyers for two Marines already have said they expect their clients will be charged and it’s believed up to six others could join them.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Any predictions for the 'Pendleton 8' for the Hamandiya incident?
Amen. This enemy is worse than the one in Vietnam. When the enemy resorts to operations in civilian clothing, among civilians, the soldiers have to protect themselves or die.
I'm sorry for the Iraqi civilians, but our guys should not pay the price for illegal and sickening insurgent tactics. I don't even care if they did do it, who are we to say how soldiers should respond when they are attacked and they have to figure out who is trying to kill them? They are also trying to prevent the country from degenerating into a civil war.
Liberals want to pretend that a war looks like a John Wayne movie. Okay, fine, pretend it looks like The Green Berets. There's a nice sequence in there about what happens when the enemy dresses in civilian clothes and infiltrates your position.
Red. Let me say this just once. If the Mrs. is hollering, the best way to shut her up is to plant a great big kiss smack on her lips. WHEN are you guys ever going to learn ! )
Now, as to the subject at hand. God bless you, Mrs. Red! For the short term, they'll be having the crappiest Christmas on record, to be sure. I picture them perhaps staying at the Hostess House on base, barely able to choke down dinner. I have only ever seen one thing in my life that is more disgusting than the way this is being handled and it's too depressing to post.
For the long term, we could to find links like these for the Pendleton 8
http://innocentmarine.com/
http://www.defensefundformy...
http://patriotdefensefund.com/
Accused troops' supporters busy fundraising - Hamdaniya / 'Pendleton 8' defense funds ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1654104/
Some of the familes and supporters of the 7 Hamdaniya Marines & a Navy Corpsman, now charged with multiple criminal offenses, have setup web sites for use in accepting donations for legal defense funds or sending notes of encouragement and support to the detainees and their families.
Cpl. Robert Pennington
http://www.defendrob.com
PFC John Jodka
http://www.innocentmarine.com
Cpl. Trent Thomas
http://www.defensefundformyhero.com
Cpl. Jerry Shumate
http://friendsofjerry.blogspot.com/
"Wrong. I would have a medal-awarding ceremony for them.
They're accused of murder. Hardly deserving of a medal."
Anbody can accuse anybody of anything. It doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Our Marines are defending our country and that means a lot.
The ancient Canaanites used to sacrifice their chlldren to a false God. We sacrifice our Marines to PC and Iraqi street punks.
So what you're saying is that the Marine Corps brass and the Defense Department leadership know without a doubt that these men are innocent but are out to convict them anyway? Either you really, really loath the military or else I'm not the moron here. You want to destroy the faith that the soldiers and marines have to have in their leadership. You want all of them thinking that they can't trust the brass. Destroy the trust between the officers and their men and what kind of military are you going to have?
Now if you still think justice will prevail, no matter what, I was right, you are a MORON. If this posts even puts a glimmer of doubt in my brain about this crappy situation facing these troops, maybe you're not such a moron.
No, but it's told me a lot about the armchair warriors we have around here who claim to support the military but who seem to be out to destroy it.
The first officer on the scene that morning, Lt. Kallop, has not been charged either. Doesn't that seem strange unless some kind of bargain was struck? Here's a bit about him from the Vanity Fair article, Rules of Engagement.
Within minutes [after the IED exploded] the force from Sparta Base arrived. It was a squad of about the same size as Wuterich's, led by the only officer present on Route Chestnut the entire morning, a young lieutenant named William Kallop. Like other lieutenants in Kilo Company, Kallop was junior in all but rank to the senior enlisted men, to whom he naturally deferred. He had a reputation of being a little soft, a little lost. He was the pleasant son of a wealthy New York family, who had joined the Marine Corps, it was believed in Kilo Company, to prove something to himself before returning to a life of comfort. As a soldier he was said to be average.
When the allegations against Kilo Company surfaced in the spring of 2006, his parents vigorously reacted. They hired a New York public-relations firm that specializes in legal cases, and then engaged a defense attorney who is a former Marine general and was once one of the top lawyers in the Corps. The implicit warning may have had some effect. While McConnell and Chessani were humiliated and relieved of their commands, and Wuterich was fingered in public, Kallop was left untouched, though technically upon his arrival at Route Chestnut on November 19 he had become the commander on the scene.
Last time I tried that she hit me with a lamp! ;)
Did you bring home one of those leg lamps like in Christmas Story?
How? Accept what the media is saying? Believe the defendants and their families? Well THATS going to give us the facts, isn't it?
The Marine Corps has investigated the matter. I haven't seen a single shred of the evidence that they have compiled and neither have you. The Marine Corps has determined that there is enough evidence to try the men for murder and other crimes. I wasn't privy to the discussion that led to that and neither were you. So in the end I didn't charge them with murder, the Marine Corps did. I accept the decision of the Corps that the trial is justified, and I maintain my faith that the men will get a fair trial. And I believe that if they didn't do what they are accused of doing then they'll go free. And if they did do it, then they deserve their punishment. Now please tell me in all of that where I prejudged anyone?
You, on the other hand, have tried the men without any evidence and found them innocent. You have no more idea of what really happened than I do, yet you have come to the conclusion that the Marine Corps is out the screw the troops and hang innocent men. You seem to be trying to destroy the trust the Marines need to have in their leadership. And when you do that, what kind of Corps will you have left?
murtha speaks:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06356/748222-82.stm
Navy.
No it does not. And please show me where I've convicted the Marines in question? What I've said is that the investigation has determined that enough evidence exists to try the men. And if they're innocent then I believe they'll be acquitted. But if they did, in fact, do what they were charged with then I believe they should spend their lives in prison. What is unfair in any of that?
Marine with ties to area accused in Iraq killings
Friday, December 22, 2006
By Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A U.S. Marine with ties to Western Pennsylvania has been charged with fatally shooting three Iraqi men during an incident last year in which 24 civilians were killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha.
Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, was charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder in the slayings, which occurred after a Marine in his convoy was killed by an improvised explosive device on Nov. 19, 2005. He was one of eight Marines to be charged yesterday in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war.
Cpl. Sharratt, of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, was one of four Marines charged with unpremeditated murder of civilians following the ambush. His squad leader was charged with 12 counts of murder and a separate count of ordering other civilians killed. Four officers who were not there were charged with failing to investigate and report the slayings.
Cpl. Sharratt, who lived as a child in North Huntingdon and whose parents are natives of Washington County, was accused of shooting three men with an M-9 service pistol, according to the charge sheet served to him. He could face up to life in prison if found guilty; the Marines Corps is not seeking the death penalty for any of those charged.
The locations and circumstances of the shootings with which Cpl. Sharratt was charged were not clear, but the victims' names indicated they were related. Military investigators refer to them as Numbers 21, 22 and 23 and identify them as Jasib Aiad Ahmed, Kahtan Aiad Ahmed and Jamal Aiad Ahmed.
Cpl. Sharratt returned from Iraq in the spring and remains at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where the charges were announced yesterday.
His attorney, Gary Myers of Washington, D.C., said a date will be set for an Article 32 hearing to determine whether sufficient evidence exists for him to be court-martialed.
Mr. Myers said Cpl. Sharratt is not confined and his activities are not restricted. His parents, Darryl and Theresa Sharratt of Canonsburg, have joined him in California for the holidays, Mr. Myers said.
"We take the view, as we've always taken the view, that these deaths are combat-related,'' said Mr. Myers, adding that he advised Cpl. Sharratt to decline comment
"He is distressed that he's been charged with very egregious crimes, but he has faith in the system. The simple truth is that we will get to the end of this and the system will work.''
Cpl. Sharratt was born in Washington, Pa., and lived in North Huntingdon with his parents and older sister, Jaclyn, until he was in the sixth grade. His family then moved to Granger, Ind., where he graduated from high school and joined the Marines in 2003. He saw combat in Fallujah during his first tour in 2004.
His parents, who moved to Canonsburg two years ago, did not return calls yesterday. But in an interview last month, Mrs. Sharratt said her son told them he "followed the rules of engagement'' in Haditha and that her family believes he did nothing wrong.
The Marine Corps initially reported that 15 Iraqi civilians died in the IED explosion and that Marines killed eight insurgents in an ensuing firefight. But at a news conference yesterday, officials with the Marine Corps Central Command said that report was false and that no civilians were killed by the IED blast.
An investigation of the incident became public this year when Time magazine, after conducting interviews in Iraq, reported that the killings were deliberate attacks, not unintended casualties as the Marines had contended.
It gained further attention when U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, said Marines in Haditha killed the civilians "in cold blood" and tried to cover up the incident.
"From the very start I said that the pressure on these young people is tremendous, but that doesn't excuse what happened,'' Mr. Murtha, a former Marine who advocates the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, said in a statement yesterday.
"I spoke out and talked about the necessity for a timely and complete investigation. This investigation has led to the preferring of court martial charges against certain individuals and now the judicial process will move forward.''
Facing the most serious charges was Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad leader, who was charged with murdering 12 civilians. He also is charged with participating in the murders of six others in which he disregarded standard military procedures while his squad was clearing a house. He was accused of telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later," according to court papers released by his attorney.
Sgt. Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., also is charged with making a false statement and with soliciting another Marine to make a false statement about the shootings.
The highest-ranking defendant was Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 42, of Rangely, Colo. He was accused of failing to obey an order or regulation, encompassing dereliction of duty.
Also charged was Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, 24, of Chicago, who was accused of unpremeditated murders of five people and making a false statement. Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25, of Edmond, Okla., was accused of unpremeditated murders of two Iraqis, negligent homicide of four Iraqis and assault.
The other officers charged were 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, 25, hometown not available; Capt. Lucas McConnell, 31, of Napa, Calif.; and Capt. Randy Stone, 34, a military attorney.
Military officials at the news conference would not discuss what they believe prompted the killings. But investigators have raised the possibility that the men went on a rampage after the ambush and bombing that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas, and wounded two other Marines.
Defense attorneys have disputed that, saying their clients were doing what they were trained to do: responding to a perceived threat with legitimate force. Cpl. Terrazas' father denounced the charges, saying his son was murdered by insurgents.
"What they are doing to our troops ... it's just wrong," Martin Terrazas said in Texas. "I feel for their families. They are in my prayers."
You have no experience in command or military law.
A politically correct one.
The big people destroying some little people for trying to survive while doing what the big people told'm to do.
NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.dugh.....no freedom of speach,no catharasis.....
P.C. is the end of this country.
I'll try e-mailing the lawyers today to see if I can find anything else out. Anyone else, naturally, is welcome to do the same. Just be sure to report back!
PS to ma: Mrs Red didn't really hit me with a lamp, but if I brought home a leg lamp--you can bet there'd be a first time.
The people in that house may have been a microchasmic "state sponsor of terrorism" "but only "big" peple can make a decision like that!"
That's NOT all you talked about, Jack, you called them murderers, flat out!!!
You said they "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" !!!
Just listen to yourself say it!! Here!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.